'nuther dumb question re: boomless

I havent sailed a Hobie without a boom. How do you keep the main spread out in a wing and wing downwind? do you lose effective sail surface area?

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Island life in the Devil's Triangle:
http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

Main sails on Hobie's boomless boats have full battens, so that even without a boom, the sail keeps its shape, whether sheeted in or sheeted out.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks.

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Island life in the Devil's Triangle:
http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

Yeah and it sure saves your cranium during unintended jibes

Its way too late for my cranium...but nice to know my crew has a shot at a normal life.

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Island life in the Devil's Triangle:
http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

Hobies shouldn't be sailed wing and wing downwind, thats a monoslug move. Much too slow. Should always run at angle downwind never dead down.

Not necessarily. Took a flyer and ran from A to C mark. Went from major DFL to 3rd place in a ten-boat fleet. Boat speed must be balanced with tactical advantage or, get your head out of the boat.

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Back in the mid-80's the wing on wing DDW idea was proven wrong. Running at angles and jibing back into the puffs was proven the fastest way from the windward to the leeward mark.

That said, depending on whether or not your competition has THEIR "head out of the boat" or not is the question. In sailing this higher course, it's not hard to sail right out of the puffs and wait too long to gybe back, losing lots of boatlengths in the process. A good sailor, on any point of sail, may pass lots of less experienced opponents.

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hobiejohn at earthlink dot net
Fleet 297

In a deep downwind heading, a boomless sail will still spill more wind out of the head of the sail than a boomed sail.

And while wing and wing may be a dumb racing move on a cat, it's still a technique every skipper should practice occasionally.

Brian C

It depends on wind and tide action. As said you must look around and see your progress and which works better, There have been times in very light air when I HAVE gone straight downwind on 17, even with just the main.

Doug Snell

X-man - don't the "boomless" sails also have a batten running along the foot -in effect a "lightweight boom"? I can't remember although I have sailed a boomless 17.

Sailing 17's with and without a boom, side by side, I prefer the boom for getting the optimum sail shape for better performance upwind and abeam. However, the boomless seemed a hair quicker off the wind. The Dog says it spills more wind but I think the sail gets better "fill", like a spinnaker.

Winging it is fun, and a great move if you are relaxing and simply need to get your apparent wind down to '0' so that you can warm up or pour a drink, or light a small cigarette, or all three . But in a race or a hurry, the broad reach is still your fastest point of sail, especially if you can get a hull up, and will get you downhill a lot faster than a run.

Happy sails

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The fact that this windy world is largely covered in water obviously means that man was meant to sail.

are Hobie 14's meant to have a kicker or do they not need one?

i was told the mainsheet acts like the kicker but was unsure of this

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hobie 14T 41 329