Anchoring a hobie cat

Hello everyone, I'm new on this board which seems to have a lot of information about hobie cat...
I'm the new owner of a few years old hobie cat 14 that I'll retrieve in April...and that will be used in Brittany during the summer where is our vacation home. I've searched the board on "anchor" and "anchoring" but didn't found the right information, let me explain my issue.
Where we are (see picture below), there is a tide that during high tide "hides" completly the beach, making it impossible to let the hobie cat beached overnight or during the day when not used. It is impossible to carry the boat over to the garden as there is a staircase and the garden/house are a few meters up from the sea level (might change in a few centuries...), we are in the house in front of the sea, just left of the "white wall" bordering the beach. The view of the hobie cat during bbq and for breakfast would be a nice thing too, knowing it's ours and that we can use it...


So, I was thinking on just having an anchor and anchoring the hobie cat in front of the house and if you have any advice : anchor size/weight, rope/chain lenght, best place to attach it on the hobie cat (14), it would be nice.
I know it's not good to let a hobie cat in the water but it will only be for 3/4 weeks during summer and then it will be rinsed and storaged in a garage.

Thanks for your input, past experience and advices on this plan...
Nicolas

I would abandon the anchoring idea. You should devote your mind energy to figuring out a way to get her over that seawall easily (a ramp of some kind?, plywood ramp and a pulley system?)

Also, your place looks awesome. Can I come over and help you build the ramp?

Anchoring is easy, but very bad for the boat. Hobie Cats are not meant to be stored in the water.

I suggest a lightweight pivoting ramp that can be used to lift the boat up and over the seawall.

Your best bet would probably be to make a bridle from a 10 to 15 foot long piece of rope that you connect to the bow tangs on each hull. Then connect your anchor rope to the center of the bridle. I'd probaly put a float on the anchor line and then have each bridle connect to the bow tang with a quick-release shackle.

You would also want to make the rig good and snug so it doesn't bang around. Either tighten up the shrouds or string a line from the forestay to the front crossbar and pull it tight to take the slack out of the rig. I'd also lash the tiller arms in place real well.

You'll probably also want to be sure to drain the hulls before you go for a sail.

sm

What are the currents around there? If you have high currents than you need a bigger anchor. If you have lower currents than a big mushroom would probaly be best or a set of 2 or 3. You need to anchor your boat out far enough that when the tide is at dead low its not beached or else it may end up on a rock and a bunch of kids playing on it Also consider the type of ground your anchoring in (sand, rock) certain anchors work best in certain conditions. It looks sandy over there so i recommend a claw or bruce anchor because you can turn the anchor 360 degrees and it will still hold.

Since you don't really want to keep the anchor on the hobie put a float on the end of the rope so instead of pulling it up and down you can just leave it down there and to anchor you just hook up to it. In general you want to anchor at high tide so when the line hits the ground let it out around a ratio of 1:3 to 1:5 (aka if the ground is 10 ft put 50 ft of line out) so it has some drift room and if any big waves hit it it will not break something. (Don't forget about the length of your bridle) Put some chain for the first few feet to help keep the anchor on the ground.

Hope this helps

Thanks everyone for these replies, it gives me some hints..I thought about a ramp & cords but it is really quite high (5/6 meters) and I really don't know where I could put in the garage the whole setup when not in used....
Over the phone a neighbour just suggested to beach the hobie cat on a part of the beach that is on the left of the picture and that is not reached by the tide. He said me there is already some hobie cat and other boats staying there...
But I really like the mooring idea and will work on this, following Youngsailor and SRM suggestions, there is some tide current over there but I know them and have experience with a motorboat on the kind of anchor to use in this sand.

For those who want to know more about this Britanny area (NW of France), you might check google earth and type "Ile Tudy" then zoom on the satelitte images, it's the place where the famous sailor Eric Tabarly used to sail on Pen Duick. It's a very nice area and the sailing schools over there have many hobie cats (14,15,16, wave...).

Thanks again for all your inputs and comments about this, once I'll get the boat in April, I'll post some picture of my hobie cat in case you have any suggestion for the parts to replace.

Nicolas

Welcome Nicolas,

Welcome to the forum. Be sure to post pics when you get the boat and I would be interested in knowing how you solve your mooring, anchoring, storage problem.

_________________
'88 Nationals Blue
Hobie Alter Signature Model
Sail #11

Hobie Mirage Classic

Hey there!

I have a bunch of family and a house in Brittany as well(welll...my parents do). Were closer Le Pouliguen / La Baule in a place called Batz Sur Mer. As far as anchoring, I recently was camping in the Keys and had to anchor my 16 for a few nights. We used two anchors. One we borrowed from my 13' whaler, and one was a larger one we found thats probably more suitable for a 30+ plus boat. Defintely overkill but it wasnt going anywhere. Make sure you use enough chain!

I anchor sometimes using a 15 lb fluke anchor
anchor line at least 7 times water depth longer is always better
I clip line to bridle connection
The hobies are not meant to stay anchored for very long I use the above for as long as several days
I have a very small fluke anchor to secure boat when visiting islands or just using boat as a swim area on calm days If I can I bury the anchor on shore and use 50' of small line
I also use this setup when cat is on the beach I bury the anchor under the dolphin bar and tie it tight My boat has blown over in storms but not ever when tied down
Hope this helps
Gary Hobie 21 SE

Hi there,

I didn't read all the replies too carefully, but here is my suggestion. I had a similar problem long time ago and back then I build up a floating dock out of polyethylen tanks and wood. I then anchored the dock and pulled the boat on top of it. That worked nicely. I know that there is similar kind of commercial solutions for dry docking a motor boat...

Mooring can be a bad idea since Hobies have a loose rig and the motion of the ocean causes the rig to bang from side to side and puts a lot of stress on the rigging. Good suggestions are:
1. Floating dock
2. Keep it where the other boats are
3. Build a ramp (maybe us a winch to move the boat to/from the water)
4. Is there a public ramp nearby? If so then use beach wheels to move the boat from the house to the public ramp.

Good luck finding a solution.

I dont have a hobie right now, but I do have a similar designed Macgregor 15 cat. We have a place on an inlet from Long Island Sound in Connecticut. Theres no reasonable place to launch/ pull the cat out after every use, so for the past 2 seasons Ive been mooring. Very simple, using weights from a barbel set (tagsale), and some line with a buoy for a float. I just tie it up around the tramp's bars. This area has just about 0 wave action, so it is perfect solution to not being able to drag it up onshore.

If you DO end up mooring offshore, you MUST use a bottom paint, or barnacles and algae WILL accumulate. I repainted my hulls before last season, but didnt go up to the waterline by mistake, and slowly noticed quite a bit of buildup in the unprotected areas. You will be in for a hell of a fun barnacle scraping session if you dont paint the hulls.

_________________
-Andrew
I like sailing.

I have a question, is it worth me getting a colapsable anchor for my hobie for the beach oh do i need to hold on to my money?

_________________
Hayden 1988 national H16

If you are just pulling up on the beach you could pull it up on the beach (only if sandy you dont want to wreck your hulls) but if its rocky than a collapsible anchor would probably be a good bet. Buy one used its easy to see if they broken and its cheaper