How old is old enough to sail an H16?

I know most of the discussions on this forum are technical, however I have a question about teaching kids to sail an H16.

I know that a lot depends on the kid, but I'm curious to know how old a typical kid should be before they are allowed to sail an H16 themselves. What do you think?

Thanks for your insight!

Michael

My than 15 year old daughter was very close to going out on our h16 towards the end of her first season.

I would bet there are 10 and unders out there that started sailing with mom or dad for a few years that are sailing solo.

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Sail Like you Have a Pair
Bluish gray 73 - 83 H16
Super Nice Yellow 84 H18

I was 14 years old when I first taught myself to sail on my H16. With a buddy on board, our only problem would be righting the boat. So I'd recommend if you have a lightweight youth sailing, have a righting bar or bag, or at least sail where there are some motorboats that can help you out.


Somewhere on thebeachcats.com, there's a video of a 3 1/2 year old girl on the wire. Mom's driving and proud Dad is filming.

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~vinny

I would say that as soon as they are comfortable in the water with a life jacket they could be on the boat. Take it slow the first few times but not to slow or they will lose interest.

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Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!

I'm doing mostly inland lake sailing - no Great Lakes for the kids, yet.

My rule is basically "one adult per kid", and of course PFD's. That means that I take out my 7yr. old daughter OR my 4 yr. old daughter IN LIGHT WIND.

My 7 yr. old daughter is just starting to help me with the jib this year, last year she just wanted me to point the boat so that she wasn't in the shade of the main - you know to "work on her tan".

I'm wondering when I will take my oldest out onto Lake Michigan. The first time will probably be a bit of a nail-biter for me...

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"Without my morning coffee I'm just like a dried up piece of roast goat."

I mentioned my 15 year old daughter in the previous post, because I thought you were interested in them sailing the boat solo or with frinds of like ages.

As for taking a child out on the boat, I had been taking my 6 year old out in very light winds by myself last year several times, she loves to hang on the wire and drag a toy boat along the side. She is a great swimmer and I never worried about her until earlier this year. I had gone out solo in what started as light winds within a half hour the winds kicked up to a point that I was able to fly a hull (which I had done several times with her on the boat). I hit a wave and off the boat I went, now solo this was not to bad of a problem because the boat headed up and stopped (good boat, sit, stay) about 100 yards away. A fellow fleet member came by and picked me up.

I now wonder how she would have reacted and if she would have ever gotten on board again, if she had been on the boat with me.

Just a thought about the one child one adult rule, may need at least one additional adult that knows how to handle the boat.

Sam

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Sail Like you Have a Pair
Bluish gray 73 - 83 H16
Super Nice Yellow 84 H18

i was 13 when me and my 14 year old brother got are Prindle 18, this year im 17 and finally got me a hobie 16.

I sailed solo at 13 on a wooden Penquin. When I flipped it I had to be towed to shore to right it! So as long as your in protected waters I'd say turn them loose as soon as they can make reasonable judgements.

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1981 H16.
1993 Macgregor 26S

My son sailed mine when he was 6. The wind was light and he had plenty of other Hobies out there to help if needed. He sailed it right back to the shore

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Brooks

Definetly do what you can to hold thier interest in sailing, even if you get them a small mono for starters. They will graduate to a Hobie Cat quickly.

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1981 H16.
1993 Macgregor 26S

Matt Bounds and I were racing each other at age 13. I was soloing my Hobie 14 at age 10, and racing it at age 11. I started skippering my 16 ( with my 15 year old sister as ccrew) at age 12... but I grew up around the water- was water skiiing at age 5, could swim like a fish, was comfortable body surfing in teh ocean at 7, and sailing small dinghys solo at age 9.. not very unique if you grow up in a yacht club setting.. all teh kids my age were on about the same schedule, but daunting if you try to go it alone...it is amazing to me what 6 and 7 year od kids can do in Optimist dingys..

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Raced extensively as a kid (against Matt Bounds!!), just bought a 20 year old 16 and am refurbishing it.

Sail # 21888

My son Alexander has been racing his 16 since he was 13. His buddy Jake Larson on a 16 snce he was about 10 I would guess. Alexander is 17 now and a top A fleeter in our division and Jake is racing a 20 and doing well at 15years old.

I had the priveldge of racing against Alexander a few times.What a great kid .What I like about him is you can tell he has a passion for racing.He has his boat in race mode from the time he leaves the beach untill it is back on the beach.Even when the rest of us old guys are resting between races,he is buzzing all over the place.

i've been teaching kids (9-12) to sail in about a week for a few years now. obviously they are not the best of the best but there are definatly some who would love the thrill of it and ive seen three 10 year olds take control over a 16 while practicing man overboard (me) in light wind.

1 at the jib
1 on the hiking stick
1 on the main sheet

if they had more time on a boat i would trust them in medium wind on their own.

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when your batons start to snap and the wind is at your back, you see a white cap, and your on a hobie cat, pull in your lines and you see it start to rise
does
your jib hang low