Launching into the wind - would appreciate some advice.

I was frustrated for about 20 mins today as I had to launch into a 15 knot headwind. It was on a lake and the ramp is in a cove, and the water level was low so I was not able to put the daggers down and had to let my rudders skim near the top of the water.

The cove was cutting off the angles I felt I needed to take. I tried with the jib furled (turned me to much into the wind) and unfurled (pushed me off the wind and backwards into the shore!). Traveler out and traveler in. It seemed I pulled every string - just not the right ones at the same time.

There was an F16 (no jib used) that got out fairly well. He was a more experienced sailor too. We ended up pushing the boat 50 yards down the shore to get a better angle out. There were 3 of us on the boat so a heavy crew.

Any thing or tricks I could have tried to get more forward motion that high into the wind? .

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1984 Hobie 18

Yep, skill level... weight... shallow water. All hard to deal with. Daggers down a fraction will help. Push off the shore with some momentum. Pull down the beach for a better angle as you did.

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Matt said "Daggers down a bit would help" ....

That is an understatement ..... just 6's" of exposed Daggerboard will make a HUGE difference .....

Also if you can sail the boat w/ the bows slightly "down" ..... the huge "flat" sides of the bow will help prevent the boat from slipping sideways .... they act as increased daggerboard area ..... and the H18 will point higher.

Note, the rudder blades stick down slightly further then the dagger boards .... so if you can "lock" your rudders down you have enough water depth for your daggerboards. Now if you rudder blades "rattle/shake" slightly that means they are very close to touching bottom .... lift your dagger boards slightly first since they do not have a "kick-up" mechism ..... then unlock the rudders but try to keep them as far "down" as possible ....

Take the time to "calibrate" your daggerboard depth ... w/ the boat on the trailer or on beachwheels measure the exposure depth and mark the top of the daggerboard w/ a permante marker at the different exposure depths. I do it w/ lines drawn in several colors so at just a glance I can tell my crew more depth .... or less depth .....

Finally let the boat accelerate first ... then let the boat tell you through the helm how high you can point up. W/ "increased flow" over the blades the boats ability to point increases .... ( you may have been too far aft on the boat ... and pointing too high too soon .... but that's only a quess since I wasn't there ....)

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HarryMurphey
H-18 mag/ #9458
Fleet 54 Div 11

Great idea with calibrating the daggers. I was sitting near the rear bar, on the wind side. I weigh 270 and the two crew were forward near the front cross bars. Total forward crew weight was about 330#s.

I could have lowered the dagger some. I was concerned about underwater branches and uneven bottom. But Im sure 6" would have been fine. My weight more forward makes sense as well.

This ramp gets this Southern wind fairly often this time of year so I am sure I will have a chance to try this out again.

Once again, thank you

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1984 Hobie 18

Also pay attention to your "angle of heal" ....

If the boat is angled to the windward .... usually from crew weight ... it just won't go .... (you are stalling the sail ....)

The boat needs to be leaning to leeward!!! ....

{Learned from videos of Buddy Melges/America's Cup Campaign ... and I do believe he is a better sailor then I'll ever be ....}

So ... lean the boat over to leeward .... and be forward also !!!! .... + a little daggerboard .... then accelerate the boat before "carving/pinching up" ....

... and you should be able to sneak on off the leeward shore ....

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HarryMurphey
H-18 mag/ #9458
Fleet 54 Div 11