flying a hull

I am new to sailing and wonder how much wind does it take to fly the hull? I have a 16' hobie and have only gone out in light winds 5 to 10mph to get a feel for it. Thanks for any response.

Hi, welcome to Hobie sailing!

The answer depends on a lot of things- crew weight being key among them, but also wave/ chop action, angle of sailing, angle to the wind, ewhere are you sitting on the boat, etc. Single handing, or with a light weight crew (total crew weight around 270), you can probably start flying hull in 10-12 mph winds.

To pop a hull up early, sail as close to the wind as you can, recommend uncleating the sheet. Aim for smoothness- and anticipating what the boat is going to do- start sheeting out before you get as high as you want, start sheeting back in as the hull starts to drop. A good balance point is having the windward rudder just clear of the water.

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

Sail # 21888

one other thing- flying hull, like sailing itself, is easily learned, but it truly is an art form to doiung it wwell. Lots of practice, and experimentation, will pay off huge- try bearing off while the hull is coming back down to maintain speed, etc. above all, strive for being smooth.''Also, good idea to have teh righting procedure nailed down

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

Sail # 21888