'csuse my ignorance

I have been looking at sailboats for a few years now. I've looked primarily at smaller sailboats in the 15'-29' range. I've looked at doing a homebuilt, Hunters, Catalinas, Compacs, and Potters. Potters are primarily the boat I've been looking at. All of the boats, save for the homebuilts are in the 25-$30,000 dollar range equipped. I would like a trailer sailer. I remember seeing the Hobies at Myrtle Beach when I was a kid. Then I thought, why not use a Hobie as a trailer sailer (and a fast one at that). I read about a couple a few months ago who sailed many miles on a Hobie. Does anyone on this forum do this? I know how to pack light as I have read alot of books on backpacking and one of my goals in the next six years is to hike the Appalachian Trail. How seaworthy is a Getaway. Obviously the Hobies have the monohulls beat on price. Using the boat as a beachable trailer sailer, I would intend on finding a campsite most every night anyway. So why not a Hobie. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with this rationalization?

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A man without his dreams is likened unto a dead man.

First you need to pack light. Are you going to have a crew? Are you looking for a spinnaker boat? What kind of weight will you your crew and your gear be total?
Foe cruizing long distance a spin is nice but you will need a larger boat for that. 18,20 21se or sc. The 20 can be fragile for unusual beaches. The 21sc and 18 are tanks that can take the abuse of beach landings with little worry.
The 20 ans the 21se are faster and will get you there quicker, but you have to be more carefull with the hulls on beaching.

The 21 and 18 can be equiped with wings for storage and comfort.
If you want the performance and aren't worried about beaching then the tiger and fx-1 with wings will work.
The key is to look at these boats and decide where and how you want to sail. Always be safe and have proper safety gear. gps, vhf, epirb, flares are needed for all distance sailing even if your staying in sight of land accidents happen.

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Rich Vilvens
F-18 5150
[email protected]
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/f-185150sailing/

It seems lately that someone comes to this forum with that question every couple of months, and the answer is - HELL, YEAH, YOU CAN DO IT!!! You need balls of grapefruits and plenty of skill and gear to go with a well planned trip. Last weekend a group of cat sailors shoved off from Long Beach, CA to spend the weekend on Santa Catalina Island (this is an annual trip and they aren't the only ones to do it), there's the Worrell 1000 up the SE Atlantic Coast, the Texas 200, and the Philippines Hobie Challenge was just last February 16-23. Search the internet for Hobie Cat safaris / raids where you have your own Hobie in a small fleet (3-7 boats) and go island hopping in some tropical location (I did it in Thailand for my honeymoon, and my bride cried only once on the trip, so I considered it a success).

Read about these guys' adventure around Baja California - http://hobiehawk.com/BajaAdv.html. Other mental cases have taken Hobies from Senegal across the Atlantic to Guadalupe Island in the Caribbean, from Chile around Cape Horn to Brazil, and a Hobie 18 is the first sailboat to sail the Northwest Passage.

In 1987 when I still had my first Hobie 16, I was fueling up in King City, CA and noticed an older man at the gas station towing an empty catamaran trailer so I asked him about it. He said his son set out solo from Santa Cruz on his Hobie 18 intending to sail to Malibu but didn't make it and broke up landing north of San Simeon, CA, so ole dad was coming to salvage the wreckage.

If you do go for it, keep in mind that a cat can travel a greater distance in less time than a monohull (in Thailand we did 40 miles in about 3 hours), so a 25+ mile trip can be done in no time provided the winds are favorable. My father-in-law has sailed inside the Golden Gate for 40 years on his ancient monohull and his first experience on a Hobie 16 we estimated an average speed of 18mph over 2 miles and he compared this to his top speed reached on his boat at 8 mph, so he has a new appreciation for the boats.

GO FOR IT!!!

Baja story link doesn't work...

OK. . . try this link: http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=38

Great story! Thanks for posting the link.

Thanks for the input. This might be a really nice way to "go for it". Thanks to all who responded.

Rodney

_________________
A man without his dreams is likened unto a dead man.

Rodney
A Hobie can be a great way to go for it. But I am suprised at the 25 to 30 K price for a keel boat lots of boats used should be in the 5K to 10 K range

MRL,
I'm really not interested in buying used.

Rodney

_________________
A man without his dreams is likened unto a dead man.