getaway for weekend lake camping?

Hi all,

I am in the market for a trailerable sailing vessel for family fun. I am a monohull sailor willing to try an extra hull.

I have a family with 3 little kids, and one of the desired uses would be driving an hour or two to one of the numerous lakes in TN, hauling a bunch of camping gear to an island campsite.

basically canoe camping. would the getaway work to tow a loaded canoe behind it? Essentially we could save our arms paddling when windy, set up camp, and then enjoy the unburdened catamaran in the wind and the canoe when becalmed.

Thoughts?

The first issue is getting to the lake. Will the canoe, on the roof of the car clear the end of the mast on the mast cradle? Take the canoe on the roof to a dealer and see if the canoe and mast as mounted on the trailer clear each other or can be adjusted. Towing the canoe in the water shouldn't be a problem if you can control sailing speed by spilling wind when necessary. At 10 or 12, easy to achieve in a Getaway, the canoe could try to plane, become unstable and flip, or alternatively as a displacing hull in could drive itself so low in the water that it takes on water. A small dinghy that could plane would avoid both of these problems. Your idea should be doable but examine all the ways the mast and canoe might interact while towing on the road. Then experiment with towing a loaded canoe in high wind. I suggest you load up the canoe with friends that can swim and find out what it takes to dump them in the water. Anticipate what is the worst that could happen. Could you handle recovery of soaked camping gear, righting a flipped canoe/bailing out a water filled canoe while sailing with your wife and 3 small kids. Once the canoe is full of water it will be quite a drag. You will need to be able to release the tow line and get back to the canoe and camping gear. Could your wife sail the Getaway while you did the heavy lifting.

If you can get by or don't have any road towing problems, learn to sail the Getaway well in high wind including righting after a capsize, work out the on the water canoe towing problems and go camping.

The Getaway is a fantastic boat for a family and would be worth it without the canoe towing and camping option.

_________________
Bob

good point about the canoe nose diving. maybe a kayak would be a better idea. I am not too interested in the raft as I want something more useable from campsite.

Perhaps back weight the canoe and clamp on a pair of small amas?

How easy is it to under power the getaway? Can I reef the main? I understand the jib is pretty necessary for tacking.

All my experience is keelboat ocean and bay sailing.

cheers, and thanks

Wow, a Hobie will SO exceed a canoe or kayak's hull speed. And I'm not too sure about towing it.
I have a Getaway. And a canoe. And kayaks. Maybe I'll try it just to see what happens!

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks

Ditch the canoe for a couple inflatable sup's.

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1980 H16

oh please do! I already have the canoe, but not the getaway.

Not exactly the same but a very long time ago, my friends and I used to tow a kayak full of gear behind a dinghy under sail. The trickiest part was not "preventing a rollover" as you might expect, but it took some experimentation on how to balance the load fore to aft so that it didn't
a.) act like a sea anchor
b.) pound up and down or
c.) swing wildly back and forth from left to right (wasn't an issue once we added the weight.)

It depends on the shape of the hull, but many sea kayaks become very stable when loaded up under the deck and no gawky human poking out raising the center of gravity. We tried each of our models and my 19 footer with the least primary but most secondary stability was the one that worked best when loaded heavy without a passenger. The other bonus is that the inner storage is sealed under hatches even if it does roll.

Of course, canoes are very different beasts. Also, our dinghy was not exactly as fast as your Getaway can potentially go. I think the only point I can make in comparison has already been made above in that a bunch of testing in controlled conditions before you venture out on the expedition is going to be required. The good news is that if you have a water loving family or friends to draw upon, these trials and experiments can be a fun adventure on thier own. If it proves not feasible, you hopefully still had fun trying.

Edit:
Locking the sea kayak's rudder into place was another bonus to keep it going smooth that you will miss out on with a canoe. Wasn't a big deal but it helped keep it centered, for sure.