My new boat

I am in the process of buying a new Hobie 14, I have seen it and it is in good shape. Just a few minor scratchs and other small stuff like that.

What I want to ask is just for some general advice for sail my new boat. When I was younger I sailed a mono a few times and have been on a cat but it was years ago. I consider myself a noob at this and just want some advice. I plan to wait until a day when the wind is fairly calm so I don't kill myself but other than that I am in need of advice.

Anything will be appreciated!

oK
You have a Hobie 14... No offence how much do you weigh. Do you have a Righting line.

Mark
H14

I weigh about 165, and yes I do have a righting line, why do you ask

Because I weight about 130 and can just barely get it over it should be really easy for you.

Mark

And thats how you sail... you sail till you loose control and flip it then you know what the limits are and then you just flip it back over and do it again. I sailed solo in 10 to 15 knot winds and learned that tipping it is a way of life. If you never tip it then you are sailing right.

Mark
H14

Like I said I sailed on a hobie 14 years ago, it was my uncles and he rolled it over more than once while I was with him. I am ready to get wet when I go out.

On a calm day it won't hurt anything to rig the boat out while sitting in my yard will it. I am not sure I will get it all right the first time and I would prefer to make a fool of myself at home rather than at the lake. What is the max wind speed you can sail your cat in?

depends how wet you wanna get. i am going out in the morning sometime.

mark

You are going to get wet anyway just sitting on the rail. Tip for a begginer witch you are.. Never Ever cleat the main sheet.

Mark

If you cleat the main sheet its to get out on the trapeze and then you uncleat it thats the only reasons to cleat it if you are flying a hull dont cleat it but if you are like just floating along not fast and like sitting in the center of the trampoline then you can cleat it. But if its blowing and u fall off and the boat is still going its going to keep going untill the tillers take it head to wind or the wind flips it then its a long swim because they can go a good ways before they flip.

mark

Im somewhat of a beginner only getting the 14 (no jib) in April but Ive spent a fair amount of time this summer on it.

I think its not a bad idea to rig the boat off the water on a windless day to make sure everything is there, working, ect.

In light winds you will figure things out quickly. The guy I bought the boat from said to just jibe (turn down wind) in light winds and I think its fairly good advice. When you cross over to the other side during a jibe, you have to move the tiller "around the back" of the sheet and its gets easy after a while.

As the wind gets higher, you have to move back on the boat and in fairly high winds (ie, say 20 to 30 mph), I am ALL the way back as far as I can go and I weight 195 pounds.

You should use the traveler and there are guide lines on optimizing it for speed at different sailing angles but I think at first, its reasonable to have the traveler mostly all the way in in light winds and then let it out in higher winds so that you can flatten the sail with the traveler but still be sheeted out somewhat. Using the traveler gives the boat a lot more range.

At some fairly high wind level (probably over 30 mph for me), I have to "sort of" point the boat into the wind and then move forward on the tramp. Your not really sailing, its more survival. Ive been in winds high enough that if I didnt move forward, the wind would have thrown the boat over backwards because the tramp had enough lift. Once you get going again as the wind backs off, you can move back.

In high winds, dont try and jibe the boat. The one time I tried this, the leward hull dove under and I just barely avoided a catapult. You will have a very hard time tacking (turning up wind) in high winds but you can do a pretty hairy jib by haveing the boat going very slow, let the sail way out, get way back on the tramp and steer it around.

Tacking in high winds is a real trick and I still have a lot of trouble doing it. There is a thread earlier in this forum (ie, Hobie 14) labeled something like high wind tacking and it has everything I know (or dont know) about tacking in high winds.

Overall, I think your really going to have a huge amount of fun with this boat - I sure have. There are faster things around (like bigger beach cats and windsurfers) but its really a great combination of fairly easy to set up by yourself and sail fast by yourself. One other thing about it is that you can tune it to have what I consider a large wind range so you dont need to wait for just the rigth conditions to sail.

Rigging your boat in the yard is a great idea! Mine has been setup out in a pasture all week. It's a good way to get to know the little boat. Then, if you have questions on a setup, you can take a pic and we can tell you if you have it right. Take your time and enjoy it!!

Bob

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Bob Curry
Master Unirig Sailor