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First time out with the whole family, that is my wife and our 16 year old Bronze V son, on our new (used) 1989 SX18 with original sails. A lovely afternoon, sunny, warm, partly cloudy, Westerly 8 knots, gusting to 12 knots. I looked at the jib, and reminded myself that only two weeks ago, I had stuck on around 40' of 6" wide mylar here and there to keep the sail in good condition. Life is good, the boat is tracking well, and I smiled.
Then the white puffy clouds turned gray then black and within minutes, the wind picked up. We tried to tack, however in the waves, the rotator line got itself wrapped around a jib block. My buddy with his 14 year old on could not hold his H18, and they capsized, and began drifting down river, safely sideways in the water with the Hobie Bob doing its job.
With my jib jammed, and head to wind, I let the Hobie SX sail sideways/backwards to shore. Up with the boards and the rudders, and in about 3' of water, we jumped overboard and held the boat so I could drop the main. Just in time, as a huge blast of wind hit us. I watched in horror as the jib began flogging itself to death, so much so that it loosened the jib sheet shackle, and in disbelief, I saw bits of the clear Mylar being blown off the jib.
After 20 minutes in warm water, the worst of the storm cell had moved east and away from us, so we tied up the furled jib, raised the main, and ran back to the Club. Before I raised the snorkel, I looked at the jib.....about half of the mylar on
the leech edge has gone....should I try and repair this with that mylar in a roll, or do I look on Craig's List or do I call Chip?
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2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'
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