Heeling on the TI

I am a new owner of a TI tandem and love sailing it.

I was out last weekend with my wife and we were hit suddenly with some fairly large gusts of wind-probably around 20 knots around 90 degrees to the direction we were headed. The boat took off and heeled enough to make her uncomfortable and to ask me to get it flatter as soon as possible. At the time, I was not sure whether it was better to head the boat more into the wind or more off the wind-I have seen both suggestions in sailing manuals. In any case, I let out the sail and got my wife (who was sitting in front) to use the furling line to reef the sail around 1/3. This worked great and we did not have any more problems. However, I was wondering is anyone has suggestions in terms of how to lessen the heeling of the boat if it is making a passenger (or the skipper) uncomfortable.

A related question is whether there is an angle of heeling where one has to worry about capsizing or if this is unlikely in less than hurricane conditions.

I am relatively new to sailing but eager to learn-so I appreciate the help I have received in this forum!

To me just de-powering the sail is the fastest thing you can do. Uncleat it and let it out. Then I re-set everything and continue on.

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2011 TI

Do like you did... Adjust the amount of sail for the amount of wind (and her com fort). The AI & TI are wonderful at that. Just a few moments to make it feel like a different boat just by reefing.

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Hobie Island Sailing since 2006

If closer to upwind direction... head up / sheet out.

If closer to a reach... head down / hold the sheet steady.

May also depend on swell / chop conditions or room to maneuver.

Then reef.

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

rhyolken:
If you get good wind like that the best thing is to go back to shore, drop the wife off, then go back out and have some real fun (just kidding). It's not likely you will tip the boat (the sail is designed to bend and spill the excess air), what I would do in that situation if closer to upwind is turn into the wind more (turning away could make it worse) if you have the room to do it, otherwise release the sheet a little. Once the boat is under control reef the sail in a turn or two. When the winds are over 15mph you can probably go just as fast or faster with the sail reefed because the wind creates more power than the boat can handle. At least on my boat when I get a big gust when in a down wind reach and I have the boat loaded down, the bow tends to dive underwater getting the front passenger soaked (that's maybe why they call tandems divorce boats). When that happens or the AMA goes completely under water the boat almost stops. I've found reefing the sail to fit the conditions makes for a comfortable and predictable ride. Hope this helps.
Bob

No! No! No! Throw her out on the windward tramp. Let the sail out full and tighten the sheet!

If so inclined, get out there and join her.

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

rhyolken,

Just a couple of weeks ago, my wife & I were sailing with some folks from this forum at Canyon Lake, TX. Up to that day, my wife had always been uncomfortable sailing in our TI... she mainly worried about capsize.

At different points in the video below, you can see two TI's heeling nearly to capsize. TxYakMan (on this forum) goes first, then, we heeled in excess of 41° to port. It all happened faster than either of us could respond to. (I have slow reflexes!) As the situation played out, the wind spilled from the main and we recovered immediately without even trying. In fact, I thought for sure that we were going to dump it, but as the port ama became buried, we were slowed to a near stop and turned into the wind with the sail flapping vigorously overhead... a lot of sound and fury, but nothing of consequence.

The best part of the whole experience is that my wife now has a LOT of faith in the TI, and she's much more confident that the TI is unlikely to capsize without strong assistance by wave activity. You can even see her in the video laughing after the incident. I was amazed, as I thought she'd want to go ashore after that. Instead, it transformed her from a white-knuckle sailor into a TI sailor.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HumkB_55NKM[/youtube]

The TI is our first boat of any kind (other than a sea kayak). I too used to fear capsizing it. Some of my fears were alleviated when I went to YouTube and watched videos of catamarans capsizing. It's there that I also learned about something called a "pitchpole".

A pitchpole is an amazing, frightening, and even funny sight to behold (although it's VERY UNLIKELY the TI could ever pitchpole). To my amazement, after a pitchpole and/or capsize, the crews in the videos simply righted their boat, got back aboard, and started sailing straight away as though nothing happened. There are several of these videos, so seek 'em out.

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RC
Houston, TX.
2010 Golden Papaya TI, "Trifurcatus"

Hi, Capsizing is my biggest concern on the TI. I have yet to purchase one, but will soon, as it looks like so much fun. But reading the responses to this post, has set my mind at ease. I too worried that if the front of the boat sinks into the water, that I would capsize head over heals! But if you say that the boat just stalls, I can live with that. Would it stall too if both the front end AND an AMA went way under or would it capsize? And finally, how FAR under can I safely allow an AMA before it drags me to a halt?
On another topic. Where is the cleat to loosen and relax the sail found for say, running or simply adjusting the angle? I understand that both people can do this, so I am wondering how this is done?

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New TI owner - having a ball!

It sounds like the exact situation I was experiencing on last Saturday. I was on my new Hobie Adventure Island but the single person version on my first day to sail this boat.
I've been sailing for 30 years but always monohulls.
However I sailed for 10 years alongside fleet 23 at Lake Lewisville Texas.
Heeling is not a precarious position at all on a Hobie Cat. With the 9 to 10 ft of hull width the very stable platform can heel 45 degrees as a matter of routine operation.
You did, or she did the precise thing to do and that is to reduce sail area. Anytime you are not comfortable with the degree of heel or an increases in speed of the boat think of three things that you can do. Heading up closer to the wind , letting out the mainsheet a little and/or furling in some sail...all three of these used individually or together produce less heeling.
If you consider that vertically upright (no heel at all) is 90 degrees and 45 degrees is half way over there is a long way still to heel after 45 degrees before a knock down is emminent.
You can maintain a nice degree of heel and still have complete contol of the boat.
As you sail more and more you will become familiar with routine heeling and your wife will accept and enjoy more heeling once she sees that its not associated with tipping over.
In order to get best performance to windward a nice angle of heel is preferred but the joys of trimaran/catamaran sailing are such that you may opt for a series of reaches that are sailed without much heeling and this will bring you to windward and its exciting to go so fast on those reaches.

Crescendo34 :
I have over 800 hard miles on my TI now and have never capsized, I only know of one person who has gone over, and that was because his AMA folded in (there is a sheer pin on the AMA that is designed to break if you hit a dock, his aparently broke and the AMA folded in). If I'm going in rough water I typically tie a stretchy safety line to my AMA's to prevent them from folding in case the sheer pin breaks, also the trampolines help keep the AMA's from folding until you get control of the boat and make repairs (very easy to replace sheer pin on the water). I have sailed many times with one AMA completely underwater (you get very wet), and it slows the boat down quite a bit, I usually hike out on the tramps to level the boat in those conditions (like you would a cat or a laser). With one AMA and the bow completely underwater in a strong downwind reach ( I call it Nautilus mode) the boat slows down but doesn't stop, at least with mine (I have quite a bit of extra sail on mine (265 sq ft), see post The Ultimate Tandem Island (viewtopic.php?f=69&t=33720) ) the boats bow actually goes down completely under water and stays there until you either release the sail or the wind settles. My 4 yr old grandson who was on the tramp said that was fun grampi bob, lets to it again, we didn't of course. Now days when that happens I just turn on the hydrofoils by locking the mirage pedal forward and the bow pops right back up. With the standard sail I don't think that can happen, because the mast is designed to bend when over stressed and spill the excess wind. The boat is really well designed.
The Harken cleats for locking and releasing the sail lines are mounted on top of the AKA cross braces on the hull just in front of each seat (really clever design). The sail control line is a W shaped line (2/1 advantage) that can be operated from either seat, with the cleats tied to the top outside tips of the W and the center top of the W attached to the sail. Hope this helps.
You will love the AI or TI it is by far the best boat on the market today, we use ours for everything every weekend all year round.
Bob

It felt like I was going to go over but I did not. It was
fun though!

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I'd rather be sailing,
Mark.

Thank you all for these suggestions and words of encouragement.
We are expecting strong winds this weekend, so we will give them a try.

Absolutely! The tramps are the best seats in the house! My wife now only stays in the forward seat in the hull until I unroll the sail.