Can one over RAKE the mast?

I have the mast raked back quite far on my 2nd (newer hobie) not really seeing much difference from more foward on my older boat. In fake - when I really pull down on the main sheet and get the boom about as low as it can be drawn up - I actually slow and have to allow some slack to pick up speed again. (though this is in low to medium wind).

I stop to wonder - is there a such thing as over raking the mast? or am I just sheeting in to hard for the current wind conditions?

You need to travel out the main!! on the beach go sheet in hard then stand directly behind the boat if you cant see the mast you need to travel out til you do and sail it that way. The boat will perform like its supposed to! also with that much rake you might need to travel out the Jib a bit

Thanks but very puzzled.. "travel out the main!!" ????

like what is that you're saying? NOT have the main sheets car centered in the track? have the sail out from center?

Beach - check
sheet hard. check (sheet it hard with the sail where? centered on the boat?

Stand behind... If you can't see the mast? (at the top? at the bottom? the whole mast from tip to stem? wouldn't that depend on where the sail is positioned? AND how much wind is in the sail as it sits on the beach? No wind the sail will be flat - with wind the sail will have it's foil shape? so I'm completely puzzled as to what your saying.

"With that much rake" (how much rake - how do you know how much I have?) Travel out the jib? to where from where? My jib is always out left or right of the mast.

Really I just wondered if one over sheets - can it slow the boat? Or if one over rakes the mast, does it slow the boat? Also - when we tighten the jib (the 4 inches of recommend slack) that will pull the mast forward a bit from normal position. (where the side shrouds normally hold it) Now as we sheet in the main hard - I assume the mast pulls back (so that the front forestay once again becomes taught? the slack that the jib put in the forestay will be gone?

I've read you can rake the mast as low as you want - limited only by the space between aft boom and aft tramp area - the blocks between the boom and aft tramp/track would be the limiting factor... we can only rake back as much as the main blocks allow? since I now have the larger Hobie 18 6:1 on my 16... I don't think I could over rake the mast with this block setup? (surely the stock 6:1 low profile setup would allow the mast to rake back even more?

Yes, it does. The leech (trailing edge) "hooks" when you're sheeted too tight. This likens changing the sail from a flowing, thrust producing, foil shape, to a bag, catching air and slowing the boat down.

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When going up wind the mast will rotate to its stop, right? Draw a straight (perpindcular) line from the trailing edge of the mast (luff track) to the rear beam, that's what, four to six inches off center? This is where your main traveller is going up wind (close hauled)

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thanks

Like J_Eaton said, too much rake bags the leech pretty bad in lighter air. The other thing to be concerned with as it has happened to us once in heavy wind, is putting too much tension on the rig. Dependent on how far you want to rake the mast you have to be careful how much tension you have in the jib halyard. We had the rig set up super tight and were cranked during a race and all of a sudden both me and my crew were in the water. When we shook our heads and got above water, we saw we had demasted. The shackle on the jib halyard had snapped and the slop in the forestay from the rig being so tight didn't stop the mast from popping straight out of the step. This is a rare case for sure, but if you have the rig tensioned hard and are pushing it, keep that in mind. Depending on how hard I'm going to sheet in on a particular day, we'll keep the jib halyard tension in the back of our mind as well.

I don't know if it works on the H16, but when you can't get a consistant shape from bottom to top, piling on the downhaul will open up the top of the sail. Its really only usefull in light air. I'm not sure with a 6:1, dacron, and a pin head sail if it works though.