Hammond wrote:
I hate to bash here but there is nothing difficult about learning to sail on a catamaran. To suggest a board boat or any monohull as required for basic skills is mad!!! My family, our entire neighborhood of kids, and most of the people I sail with learned to sail on a catamaran.
My niece started sailing lessons on a Sabot. If you are not from Southern California, think Opti. She was terrified. The boat was unstable both in direction and in platform. Only she could be in the boat because an adult added to the boat added to instability. She made one tack out and back and returned in tears.
Fast and Fun was in town so I took her there and explained to her that the boat would be faster but easier to sail. Five minutes later she was sailing around without help and was disapointed when it was time to leave.
I bought a wave to teach my kids and friends a short time later.
I have repeated this 5 minute sailing lesson on the beach with more than ten people in the last year alone. Only one learner needed help to get back to the beach; he capsized after trying to fly a hull (he saw other cats doing it and it looked fun), but he didn't have the weight to right the boat. I haven't seen a bigger grin on his face ever. After we righted the boat, he sailed me to shore and kept sailing until sundown. This was a 14 year old boy from Kentucky who had never seen a catamaran or any sailboat until he saw mine.
What I am trying to say is that catamarans are perfect learning platforms for basic sailing. What determines success is proper equipment (rigged correctly), a sheltered sailing area (few waves, lots of landing sights, you basic lake or bay), a mild day (6-10kts, warm air and water), and good instruction (and the ability to laugh at mistakes).
Catamarans are stable (initial stability), can carry a larger load, are able to self rescue, and responsive to sail trim (you have feedback on when it's right or not). Most of all, the fast boat is a fun boat.
One other note. Notice that I say proper equipment not beginner equipment. The Wave is a perfect family/kid boat, but it is not a "beginner boat". The Hobie Tiger is a High Performance boat. You can learn on the Tiger, but realize that you don't need to rig the spinnaker or tweak every line on the boat to learn the basics. On a performance boat, pick a mild day, proper crew weight, set all adjustments on the beach and only adjust/use the main sheet, jib sheet, and maybe the traveler. Add more skills/adjustments only after understanding the last set.
Of the current Hobie Boats, the 16 is still the best learning platform. Just enough not to be intimidating but plently of room to grow into.
I totally agree. I learned on a Hobie 14. Also not to bash raceing but hobie points racing has turned off more of my friends to sailing than the opposite !!! In general most racers are to into the race aspect of sailing and never just go sailing, you know they might blow out their sails or break something on their boat.
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