Rolling up onto remote island beach

I'm taking my son camping this weekend on Cumberland Island off Georgia.
We're camping at Brickhill Bluff. This is one of the few spots where we can sleep on the Hobie on the beach.

Due to tides, etc. I would like to pull the Hobie 16' up on the beach a ways. Does anybody have any easy ways to roll a Hobie up a beach by themselves??

I had considered using some cut sections of PVC. Has this worked for anybody and what size diameter wise?

What ever it is needs to be something I can easily carry as well as my camping equipment....

Thanks, Edward

PS Does anybody have any good Hobie camping photos to give us ideas?

I've not tried this, but how about using your main sheet and blocks (jib sheet, too, if you need more length) to haul the boat past the high tide line?

I haven't done it but I've seen it done. Take a couple of boat fenders, one under each hull. They will roll under the boat as you pull it forward. When they get to the stern you'll have to take them back to the bow every time you want to pull the boat another length. Hope this helps.

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Happy Sailing,

David

The fendors are a good idea... I lave some always clipped out of the way above the hulls for when I have to leave the boat at a dock.

I'm not sure using ropes and tackle would work unless I had a lot of line or a anchor to put in front.

If anyone's interested in the GA/FL area I have reservations for this weekend on Cumberland Island at Brickhill Bluff. Originally our Scout Troop was going to go but we didn't have two deep leadership.

I used PVC for the last 2 summers. 2-4" diameter. cut in half approx 1 foot to 18' long. Lay them a couple of feet apart and the boat will slide like on ice. It might be a large bundle to carry though

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Brooks

Dragonslayer,
That sounds like an interesting trip to Cumberland. That is a great historical island to explore and very pretty especially with the wild horses ranging around. Are you leaving from St. Marys or Fernandina? Either way is a pretty long run I suppose.

I'm probably about a 30 mile rum line to Cumberland from Jax Beach. I haven't sailed north of the Mayport buoy but my wife suggested we sail to the Ritz Carlton some weekend and have the guys in the white dinner jackets valet the hobie and spend the night there. That's her idea of camping at our age. But it sounds like a blast. Have fun. Just watch out for those boomers comming into Kings Bay. They can surprise you.

Just drag that 16 up the beach. It's a 16, they're heavy duty. Hunker down and grab that 16 by the dolphin striker and have your son stand behind the rear cross bar and give a little lift there. If your lifting up and back your only lightly dragging your boat on sand. I can't imagine sailing over with pvc, besides your son will think your a nerd. It's part of what makes the 16 a fun boat.

I'm in the Navy so I should be good on not getting surprised. I'm probably leaving from Crooked river state park as it cuts 8-10 miles off the journey. The next day I'm meeting up with the scouts down at the SeaCamp dock. Should be fun!!

I updated the hobie launching google maps, under the places to go section on this site, with the local launch points.

Oh and my son's 4.. Not sure how much lifting effort he can give. We have some good photos of our travels at http://picasaweb.google.com/ecgossett that also include storm photos of Fay and all the damage and sunken boats in the local marina.

I have dragged my hobie, by myself, at least 50 feet from the water. I'm not one of those macho monsters either. I'm an out of shape 50 year old with a cantlever problem with my back. Last summer we were at a lake and the shore was too steep to sleep on the tramp, so when I came in the last time in the evening I pulled it up the beach. It went something like this. Yank, slide, stop. Yank, slide, stop. I was huffing and puffing when I was done, but probably could have done it a lot farther if necessary. Great nights sleep on a tramp, as long as I have somekind of pillow. Have a great time.

One more tid bit, before you drag. Pull the drain plugs just to see if you may have acquired a little extra weight. The only reason to have your son behind the baot is to so you don't drag him under. Have fun!

This probably goes without saying, but if you can time your departure and arrival around the time of high tide, you'll have a lot less dragging to do.

Sounds like a great trip.

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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

The trip went great!! missed my tide window a little bit but did ok. Only issues I found where sliding on the tramp with the sleeping bags because the boat was at a small angle. Oh and it would be nice if someone had a better way to make the sail into a tent. I had problems attaching it down and then at best it was short (height wise) tent. I wound up using the JIB as a big wall to give us a little bit of privacy from the other campers (see photos). The tramp was comfortable but my little blowup pillow wasn't. Also in the future I might want to get the boat further up as the small surf noise right underneath when the time came in sucked.
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I also mapped the trip out at this link.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ecgossett/CumberlandOct2008

Josh and I took the Hobie Cat out to Brickhill Bluff on Cumberland the most remote campsite they have (10.5 miles from the ferry landing so most tourists never make it that far). We left Friday about 11am but didn't arrive until nearly 3:50pm due to no wind for a little while and then tacking upwind for the last third of the journey. I managed to find most of the shoals and sandbars while doing my tacking, and had some fun watching some dolphins run near us.

The campsite was secluded and dark with an old fashioned hand pump for the well. We had wild horses wanderer through a few times, including massive amounts of sand nats. We slept on the tramp and used a sail as the tent.

Coming back the trip took us an hour and a half (steady north wind) and I only had to tack and jibe once. The trip each way was almost 14 miles not including the outbound tacking. Coming back we used the Brickhill river instead of going the ICW and passed some beautiful homes and the Plum Orchard Mansion.

V/R Edward

Cumberland is a must for any that can do. I sailed from Jekyl to north end of island around lighthouse area and spent most of the day before returning. It is deep with history. Harry "Lighthorse" Lee (Robert E. Lees daddy) is buried there near south end Dungeness area.