Ocean sailing?

I was just wondering if 16's are "saltwater ready" or do you have to make them ocean safe?

I am looking for a 16 to take out to the ocean. Is there any sites I can look at to get some sea sailing knowledge?

Is it only best to go out with another cat, just incase?

I've never been out on a sailboat in the ocean so I don't even know what to expect.

How far out do you guys go?

Thanks everyone.

16's are fine in the big water. As a matter of fact, I've never had mine in fresh water. For the most part, I've kept it in the shelter of Narragansett Bay. I have taken it out into the sound a few times, when the weather was right.

The only things I would recommend are: ALWAYS wear a life jacket, Always take a marine radio with you, and always carry a set of pocket flares. I turtled my 14 by the bay entrance once, mast filled with water, and I drifted about a mile out on the tide before a boat came along and helped me to right it.

My big plan for this summer is to take mine out to Block Island, about 12 miles off shore.

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Marcus
H16
Narragansett Bay, RI

I would suggest you sail calm waters until you get the feel of your boat. I sail in the Atlantic all the time. I go to the reefs off the coast@12mi to fish off my boat all the time. When I just go out for sailing, the rougher the better, love to ride a good ground swell. Things happen very quickly in the ocean, I've seen quite a few boats get torn up getting out and trying to come back in through a rough surf. So my advice, if your comfortable with ever changing conditions ride the ocean but be very familiar with your boat and always make sure you rigging is up to par.

Good advice from Marcus and Coral Reefer (welcome Coral Reefer!)

My wife and I learned in the ocean at Assateague Island under the watchful eye and tutelage of a couple of experienced A-Fleet- ers. I love the ocean. I love busting the surf headed out and surfing headed in. You will too. Always be a little afraid- the ocean is not forgiving. If you have not fear you will have no respect and you will do something foolish. I have a few pics posted in the Places to Sail forum.

How far out do you go? The horizon is far enough and too far if you get in trouble. There is no real need to go so far as to endanger yourself while having fun. Block Island for an experienced sailor like marcus is far enough. You can see Block Island from Point Judith if conditions are right so that should be fun for him. We do it in a Rhodes Mariner 19 and I have been about half way there on a 16 myself.

Check out the Block Island Webcam http://www.blockisland.com/webcam/

TIP: A good fresh water wash down will help slow down the damage done by salt. We always drove the hobies into a car wash when we returned home.

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.

I was just going to mention the fresh water rinse. It really helps extend the life of everything on the boat.

The beach I keep my 16 on is inside the bay, so there never really is any surf there, and it's only about a 10 minute sail to the open ocean.

Respect the ocean, probably the best advise. Oh yeah, and the traffic on the ocean can be a little bigger, i.e. freighters and tankers that take 2 miles to stop. Don't cut it too close with them, they get angry.

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Marcus
H16
Narragansett Bay, RI

Ocean sailing... how long have you been sailing V32? We should hook up.. sail perris or Mission Bay or somethin..

Washing down doesnt only help your cat, it keeps your trailer alive, I had a nice trailer that came with my boat 'cept one thing... RUST.
Your berings and welds get attacked by the salt but nothing bad if you rinse down before you hit the road so the salt takes off. I never thought of stopping by a car wash.. thats a good idea Highpressure water! What a concept!

Wow, thank you all for the kind replys.
Believe me, I know how rough the ocean is and I always respect it. I surf and boogie board all the time so I have gotten to know it fairly well. That's only the surf zones though since I have never been much further past it. I'm sure once your out there, weather/water conditions change pretty quickly.
I don't think I could ever go with out fear. Heck I have never been out yet and I am affraid of turtleing the boat. I don't know what I would do if I were out there and there were no boats around. I guess that's where the flares come in handy though huh?

Flock- I am new man, sorry. I have only been sailing when I was younger and that was on a regular sailboat that my aunt had. That first launch really sparked an interest for sailing.
The closest I come to sailing now is my RC sailboats and building wood modles.

But if you ever need an extra guy, I would love to learn how to sail a 16.
The only thing that sucks about a sport like this is I don't know anyone else with a boat. That is unless I meet some local guys:)

Thanks again everyone. I can tell this forum is full of friendly people.

That's one great thing about sailors, man. Most of them will happily take you along if they can. I'm moving in a couple weeks, and about a month ago I went to visit my new town just to check a few things out. Well the one of the first things I did was drive up to the nearby lake to check things out. This guy was just pulling up to the dock with his Catalina 22. I started talking to him and 20 minutes later we were beating upwind in his boat, having a great time. This guy who didn't know me from Adam spent like, 2 extra hours at the lake (okay, not that it would take me a lot of convincing either...) just to take a new guy around.

Just start driving around this weekend and look for a Hobie out on the water. I've got $5 that says if you wait for him to come in and strike up a conversation you can be out on the water that same day.

Later broly.

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Warm regards,

Jim

Yea, wait for him on the beach. You either get a ride or arrested for stalking

Staaaaaalking... Good idea....

LOL, yeah it would look a little odd if they saw me running after them while they were coming in. But I get what you mean man.
Maybe there will be some ladie sailors out there:)
I would probably get mace in the eyes instead of a ride on their boat.

I usually see a few hobies out on the water when I'm surfing but they are way out there. It's usually older couples too, not that there is anything wrong with it but it would be cool to hook up with someone close to my age (24).
But then again it would be nice just to go sailing and have a great time.

I’ve been sailing hobie 16”s since 75 and last winter on a business trip to Cancun I happened upon a guy on the beach with a 16, I asked him if I could rent it for a couple of hours he said sure as long as he could come, off we went it was INCREDIBLE!! 4ft swells in about 15 knots of wind flying the cat off the tops of the waves was indescribable!! The only thing I didn’t like was getting all that salt spray in my eyes. Anyway I am planning a return trip to do it again, this time I’ll rent a boat for the whole week I’m there.

I looked all over for 16, a 14, a sunfish, anything. I was surprised that there weren't any for rent. Did you find just a local playing around? Whereabouts? We were at the Hilton and walked up and down the beach about as far as we could go but did not find a boat. (PS anyone makes it to Cancun make sure to visit the Mayan ruins at Chichen-Itza. It is a 5 star adventure)

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

Cancun sailboat rentals?

Waves are everywhere down there. There are HUNDREDS of them. Hotel Riu, Club Med... all down the south shore from there. Cozumel... A lot are in all inclusive resorts. When I was down there last winter I stopped in at several of these places down towards the Barcelo Maya Beach (where the 16s were, 1 hour south) and all had Waves. Not many 16s though. The Waves are so easy to sail and durable. Hard to hurt them. By the way... they are also ALL on the water, all the time. It was the only recreational item that there was a time limit on. There was a little sign "30 minutes maximum on the catamarans". That would KILL me!

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

I also looked for 16's to rent, we stayed at the Gran Caribe and the only thing they had was a few sunfish in kind of bad shape. I asked the guy looking after the boats if he knew anyone who rented hobie cats but he didn't know for sure. There was this 16 out sailing around and when he came in for a break thats when I asked him. After we went sailing he did tell me about some places north of where our hotel was that rented 16'S some where by the Playa Linda hotel.