Flew a hull tonight for the 1st time.

Ok after tonight if I wasn't hooked before I am now! 1st, remember I have only sailed 7 times now in my whole life, 6 times on the 14t.

Went out on my 14t tonight. At 1st the wind was so strong on the boat ramp it took me ~ 1/2 hour to get off the shore. Every time I would push off and just get going the wind changed direction ~ 90 degrees and would push me back on shore. I tried with and without the jib and finally decided it was too strong for the jib. So the wind decided to finally stay in one direction long enough to get off the beach and I sheeted in a bit.. WHOAH off I went. The wind was ripping. White caps and the waves were ~1-2 foot high. This is on a lake. I am guessing there were some 20 mph gusts.

So I get feeling a bit more comfortable with the wind and the boat so I start turning in a bit more and sheeting in a bit more and I was flying! I flew the hull about 4-5 times. What a feeling! I didn't have the trapeze set up as I don't have a harness yet so I was just hanging over the edge of the tramp. I guess 230 is enough to keep it down!

I was feeling pretty good and I was going with the wind and that's when it happened... Pitchpole! I let ALL the sheet out but once the port bow dug in it was like slow motion. I tried crawling backward as fast as humanly possible, even went as far back as the rudder but nope no saving it! So there I am going in the drink and realizing dam! I don't have a strap on the glasses! I managed to save them, and get on the hull. I have a righting rope on mine. So, I grab the rope and hang my 230# fatness off the rope. By now the mast is almost straight down. The mast started coming up pretty quick. I finally get the mast up to the surface and I throw the righting rope over the top hull and lay my pork into it. Pop! up she comes, I grab the hull on the way down to keep it from going over the other way and get dunked and guess what happens to the glasses? Yep lost 'em this time. Dam. So I climb back on and everything is fine, so I sheet in and off I go again.

I sailed for at least another 1-1/2 hours after splash down. The wind dropped off a bit it seemed so I headed for the ramp so I wouldn't have to row to shore. The wind usually completely dies at this lake it seems at dark. Managed to sail to shore and not wreck so I felt pretty good about the night.

Hooked on sailing!

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84 14T Redline #67 Blue Hawaii faded but still working!
82 Yellow hull16 '81 Boomer nationals 20.9 on GPS
83 White hull 16 No sails "Clean and Purty Now!"
87 White hull no sails no tramp

Great story!!! Sounds like you had a little of everything going on and sounds like you really had a blast!!!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

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Marty
1984 H16 Yellow Nationals Redline, "Yellow Fever"
Lake Martin, 'Bama.

I forgot to mention, YES I was wearing my pfd!

I am not sure If I have my rudders totally aligned right yet. When I was gong at ludicrous speed it took a good amount of force to turn but, I mean I was going fast enough there was a sizzling sound as the hulls were cutting through the water. Is this normal or do I still have some mis-alignment?

Quite a sense of euphoria back on the beach after! The wind was blowing so hard the flags around the lake were straight out, and the tops of the 1-2 foot swells were blowing off. I don't know what the wind speed actually was maybe one of you more experienced sailors could give me a guesstimate?

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84 14T Redline #67 Blue Hawaii faded but still working!
82 Yellow hull16 '81 Boomer nationals 20.9 on GPS
83 White hull 16 No sails "Clean and Purty Now!"
87 White hull no sails no tramp

I personally like to hear the sound of the rudders humming.

Happy boat means happy sailor.

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Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

Based on your description, I'd guess over 20 MPH winds, which usually means you get gusts close to 30 or more. A very exciting day!

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Icebirds" - 1974 Skeeter iceboat
Too many canoes and kayaks

Funny you mention the rudders humming, That was definitely the fastest I have gone on my hobie. I have gen 1 epo's on it and other times I had been out the rudders hummed but maybe this time I was past the resonance frequency speed because they only hummed once when I first started going. The whole rest of the time they were not humming and I was clearly going faster than past times when they did hum.

I was guessing 20 the way the tops were blowing off the waves. I know it felt like a 100 when my adrenaline was racing!

There was a small mono out when I was trying to get off the beach. He came all the way across the lake from the windward side and he ended up getting blown onto the shore on my side of the lake. He was stuck on shore for a couple minutes before he finally got the boat back off the beach. Then I watched him sail back across the lake and disappear. Guessing he called it a day! The whole time I was watching his sail was luffing ALOT. I think he was afraid to sheet it in at all.

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84 14T Redline #67 Blue Hawaii faded but still working!
82 Yellow hull16 '81 Boomer nationals 20.9 on GPS
83 White hull 16 No sails "Clean and Purty Now!"
87 White hull no sails no tramp

I don't know about epo rudders humming since mine are lexan and they continue to hum the faster you go.

Whenever I cross a power boats wake, I like to lift a hull so the boat will cut thru smoother and you are less likely to be splashed.

Glad to see you now have the "Need for Speed" and flying.

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Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

I read that the rudders hum due to a bead on the trailing edge formed in the original manufacture. They said that you could file that bulb down to eliminate the hum but I never did. I agree that it was good to hear it when your speed picked up.

If the rudders aren't set at the right angle or if one pops part way up, it could cause a strong weather helm which would affect the force needed to steer. On an H 16, if a rudder pops up, the steering gets very heavy.

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Howard

I also like to hear the rudders hum, let's me know I'm haulin'...well you know.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

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Marty
1984 H16 Yellow Nationals Redline, "Yellow Fever"
Lake Martin, 'Bama.

I thought of the rudder hum as the boat is getting happy sound!

But, for whatever reason the last couple times out they didn't hum even though I was going fast enough for the rudders to hum in the past.

Maybe I need gale force winds now for them to hum??

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84 14T Redline #67 Blue Hawaii faded but still working!
82 Yellow hull16 '81 Boomer nationals 20.9 on GPS
83 White hull 16 No sails "Clean and Purty Now!"
87 White hull no sails no tramp

You got the full value out of sailing a Hobie that day. Taming these beasts is half the fun.

The first time I properly flew a hull I too lost my glasses.

It is something else when you're hanging off the side of the boat and you see the hull come up out of the water. Definitely gets you hooked for life.

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1978 16, "Bifrost"

Right on! I have a good flying hull story... on my honeymoon we rented a wave (wife’s first time sailing) and we were just cruising when the wind picked up. I asked her if she wanted to push it or head back in. She said let’s have some fun. So we did and flew a hull a couple of times. Kept pushing it till we went over eventually. What was the first thing I did , dove away from the sail and held my glasses to my face. I came up and said “don’t worry I didn’t lose my glasses” well that was not the right answer. She was freaking out thinking I sunk the boat and that we were stuck. The mast had a bob on it so it didn’t even turtle. Didn’t matter my sailing day was over and I have never lived that story down. It’s always “remember that time you saved your glasses before me...”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I tell people new to my boat that in the (not entirely unlikely) event of a capsize that it is every man for himself between passing the tipping point and getting back to the boat.

I hereby absolve you for saving your glasses.

Well,
I went out tonight in I am guessing less than 10 knots but there were definitely some better gusts. There was an occasional whitecap but very few. There were a ton of powerboat wakes though. I came really close to flying the hull many times but every time I was almost there I would come up on the dam powerboat wakes. I would get the leeward hull a couple inches above the surface all set to go for it and see a bunch of 1-2 foot wakes and sheet out a bit to not pitch-pole.

If I wasn't 230# I bet the leeward hull wouldn't be so deep. Do the hobie bow planes do much good? I am more likely to put those on than lose a ton of weight this summer!

Best sailing night so far for me. The winds were the most consistent and I had over 3 hours of sailing in tonight. Ended with a beautiful sunset and I sailed all the way to shore with no paddling.

Dam this is fun!

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84 14T Redline #67 Blue Hawaii faded but still working!
82 Yellow hull16 '81 Boomer nationals 20.9 on GPS
83 White hull 16 No sails "Clean and Purty Now!"
87 White hull no sails no tramp