How old is old?

New to the forum. I've had my 16 for quite a while. I bought it after it had been squashed between the dock and an unaware sailor's yacht coming home from the sea It was caulked with some hardware store putty and one hull was half full of water, after an hour out on the Columbia, on my first trial run. Dissapointed, I was.

Anyhow, it is sail/hull #80 and in pretty fair shape after some intensive boat building skill improvements on my part. A little fading of the yellow 2 part polyurethane on the trailer, after maybe 15 years. How am I doing boatwise? At the age of 60, I've found it a bit daunting to sit on the tramp and duck the boom, for a while now. It may be something that one of my daughters will have to carry on for me, eh?

That's why I bought the getaway, not as fast as the 16 but way more comfortable. The boat is a little wider and heavier, with the seats it makes sailing easy for us old guys.

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06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

Chronological age can differ greatly from a persons functional age.

If it's of any consolation we race with a 73 year young man.

I received an email from a 90 year old guy who wanted to buy my magnum wings so he could continue sailing his Hobie 18

There are plenty of people still sailing their Hobies well in to their 60's and beyond. I don't think many will view your catamaran sailing as strange for your age, and if they do, they're probably just jealous.

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Steve - My wife & I are older than you & have no trouble ducking the boom. We don't rake the mast back. We keep it straight up. If your mast is raked back, it lowers your boom. Get a longer set of shrouds & a shorter forestay. It'll bring your mast forward & raise your boom. I really don't think it affects the performance of your boat, but it makes it more comfortable when tacking & switching sides.
Good luck & have fun sailing.
Rich

Thanks all for the encouragement. I've had a couple of surgerys in the past 6 months. Both to cure a lower back/leg problem. The first was to remove part of the backbone to relieve pressure on the spinal cord. The second, about 2 months ago was a arterial bypass tp get blood down to my legs from my armpit area. This last one really did the trick and I'm really having a second childhood, as the saying goes.

It's likely that I will be able to put up with the contorted positions after these many years. But then, why not be comfy on one of the new designs, eh?

The weather is going to have to get a bit warmer before I brave the Columbia this year. So I'm hoping for a bit of a trip to Arizona to do some desert riding and some sailplaning. Warming up a bit, so to speak

The Getaway also does not have a boom. Nothing to smack your head on.

Hi Steve. Check into the activities on the Hobie Cat Div 4 website http://www.div4.hobieclass.com/ We have sailors of all ages and levels of experience that are more than willing to help you. Also, check our schedule, lots of events in addition to races.

Caleb Tarleton
(also retired Mech Engr)

Ssteve, I couldn;t resisit responding. I started sailimg 16s in 1972, (at age 12) and the lowest sail # I saw was 527. If you have hull # 80, that is REALLY old. My first h 16 was sail # 5222. Currrent one is 58521.

I assume by age, you mean boat, and not you. You are only as old as you feel. At age 48, I usually feel old on Monday mornings after a weekend of sailing, with all the bruises and muscle aches, but feel pretty young on Friday nights watching the wind fill in for the weekend. Perhaps there is something to the "eternal oprimism of youth" theory!

Rock

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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

[quote="SteveS"]... At the age of 60, I've found it a bit daunting to sit on the tramp and duck the boom, for a while now. It may be something that one of my daughters will have to carry on for me, eh?[/quote]

I'm also 60 and I certainly find nothing "daunting" about ducking under a boom. The only reason I've turned to Hobie's is that surf sailing my windsurfer was getting too rough on my arthritic hip. Fortunately it hasn't effected my favorite sport of rock climbing. Search the net and you'll find plenty of guys well over 70 doing all sorts of sports. There's too many people with an "old" attitude ... just do it !

Thanks everyone. By golly, I will drag it down to the river this summer! The weather is way too nasty right now I had vascular bypass surgery to restore blood flow to my legs before Christmas and I'm doing a whole lot better. It will be fun.

In relation to the age of boats rather than their sailors, does anybody know when Hobie started making black anodised masts and frames ? Was it around 10 years ago ?

When did they stop making yellow hulls ? ... or are they still being made ?

84' / 85' Some where in there.

Before Matt or Matt chimes in to give us the exact date, it was somewhere about the mid seventies. Real question is when they stopped offering it as an option and black became standard equipment? My guess is '83.

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It was earlier than that. I had a Hobie 14 with black mast and frames and I think that was in 1977 or 78. That boat had the yellow hulls as well.

Come to think of it, I bought a tomato soup red '74 or '75 16 that had a black frame.

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