First Time You Sailed A Hobie

First time stories? Heres mine:
I was at the BC Championships over at Merrit. I was sailing the Byte class but nobody had sailed since the start because the lake that we were on had no wind whatsoever. Its dusk out and there is a little breeze out, and than from nowhere a hobie 16 came around the dock and beached. Off hopped the dad and his son and they went inside. Well me and my friends have never really seen a hobie 16 so we went up to it to have a look. It had blue hulls, duo trap, and taunt tramp.

So the Guy comes back and sees us sitting by it staring at and comes up to us. We start the chat and than he asked if any of us wanted a ride. Of course, all of us being avid sailors we all said yes so he said the first one to grab a pfd gets to have a ride. We all jumped up and started to sprint all the way to the other side of the grass field where our boats and PFDs are, jumping over lasers and optis. I reach my boat first but one of my friends tryed getting in my way, so without thinking i slide tackled him and grabbed the PFD, than i sprinted all the way back. Me and the guy pushed off while my friends were calling me a lucky person

As soon as we started to get going i realized how much fun it was and he even let me skip a bit.
And thats my first time on a hobie

Anybody have any stories of their first time?

Yup, It was 1982, Tampa Florida, I was 12. My father surprised me with a '79 14. We lived on a lake in N. Tampa and the guys from Tampa Sailcraft came over and set her up and gave me the basic rundown. I only weighed about 100lbs. and I was flying a hull in no time at all! I capsized and they had to come out and help me right her.

From that day on I have had a passion for Hobies that lives on strong today. It's a great way of life.

Have a Hobie day!

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Sean Wheeler
[email protected]
http://hobie-14.ning.com/profile/SeanWheeler
'83 Hobie 14 Turbo "Rio"
Blue Hawaii Sail #40954

Sometime in March, 1973:

(that's me in the photo at the age of 13, untaping the wires)

My father and our neighbor at our Chesapeake Bay summer cottage bought two 16s at the Richmond (VA) Boat Show from Trail 'n' Sail (Tom Dew). They picked them up at the railroad siding and we spent the better part of a day assembling the two boats.

37 years later, I'm on my sixth 16, my second 14 (only had one since 2004), and my second 17 (owned one since 1991). I had a Tiger for four years in there, too.

Great photo Matt!

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I wish winter was not so long in Sask. Canada. It's hard to sail on ice! 1984 16' hobie cat Sail# 84848

About 12 years ago gave a friend a ride to the lake towing his 16. Got a ride up the lake and pitched coming down the lake. Hull flying all the way up and down. I was hooked even on a 16. Next wek I crewed on a 18. Haven't looked back 2 H-18's and now a Tiger.

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

I was 17 in the summer of 1985 picnicing at a local lake with a bunch of school friends when one of the guys beached his Hobie 14 Turbo next to us. I loved the water more than anything but thought sailing to be the most boring way to experience it, although I'd never sailed nor knew of catamarans. I went for a ride and two weeks later I bought a 16. I've owned two 16s and an 18.

Figured I was doing a co-worker (Gordon) a favor by offering him a chance to go water skiing with us..."poor guy" were my thoughts, all that work sailing his Hobie 16. He never got off his boat that day, but I went for a ride, which culminated in a fantastic double-trap pitch pole. My response was "Let's do that again!"

The following Tuesday I bought a brand new, 1981 Hobie 16. Our first regatta was the Cat Chase, at Cheney Lake near Wichita, one month later.

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Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

Tore the deck out of my Laser with my mast about 4 years ago,beached it in front of the house and said screw it,I'm finished with Laser's.Four other guys who lived around me had H16's so I said "if ya can't beat em....join em!!Drove 14 hours to Cinnci to pick up my new/used Hobie.....got home after a 5 hour run from Toronto,immediately launched and rigged with the help of a friend(H16 owner)We put the sails on her and went out,with me at the helm.Lasted about oh....5 minutes and promptly pitch poled,smaking my head on the boom as we augered in.BIG goose egg.
Once we got her upright(I was in the water) I made the mistake of hanging on to the rear crossmember while I got my bearings....you guessed it.The traveller came acoss and cut the crap out of one of my fingers.Now I'm bleeding like a stuck pig. We got back in and sailed for 2 or 3 hours.It was great!!
Got back to shore and drifted in and I jumped off the tramp into shallow water and landed on a clam shell, cutting the bottom of my foot open.
So that's one big goose egg,cut finger and a cut foot,all on my first sail....I just knew it only had to get better after that cluster F*%k.
Been out on the wire ever since and loved every minute of it !!!

1976... I got a demo ride with the Sacramento dealer (Kirk Jeffries) at a Hobie regatta. Sailed from Chrissy Field below the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. Wow! Reaching out across the bay with big swells running under the bridge. I was hooked.

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

Summer of '82 with a friend of the family on a Hobie 16 on Mission Bay in San Diego, launching from Fiesta Island. Went out numerous times that summer and we were hooked, next summer my family purchased our own Hobe 16 from non other than Matt Miller, then working at the Hobie Sportscenter in Pacific Beach.

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Greg Thomas
Hobie Factory Team

I'm a second generation hobie lover. My parents raced Hobie 16's in the late 70's early 80's, and recreationally sailed with me till I was 12, then I started racing with my dad as a crew. Moved up to a Hobie 18 in 1999, three nationals and one worlds event later, and I still have a growing obsession with sailing especially Hobies.

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1992 Hobie Cat 18 #16943
Hobie Fleet 198, Rapid City, SD

saw a hobie 14t in the back of someone i knows yard (didnt know wat it was at the time)
4 months later its still sitting there..
i ask about it..
2 weeks later i hand over $250
it had no rigging..
i bought a H16 boom and cut it down..
then grabbed a sail that was meant for a tornado or something like that..
and a jib from a corsair!
and took it for a sail!!
it was going the fastest i had ever been on a sailing boat..
so i cant imagine wat its going to be like with all the correct rigging and sails...
im slowly getting them all

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My H14t

currently being sanded back and repainted..

Had been wanting a cataman ever since “Jaws II.” I mean, before the shark came, they appeared to be having a blast. After being divorced and with all the kids out on their own, I began a “not too serious” search. The first boat I ran across (that was worth buying) was a “Sole Cat.” Bear in mind that I knew absolutely nothing about a boat but I fell in love with this one. Unfortunately, I was working out of town when I decided to make the purchase and decided to call the owner to make him aware of my intensions. As fate would have it, he sold the boat before I could get back to make the purchase. It had everything including beach wheels for $900. I went into a state of depression for about a month as I could just invision myself sailing it on the open water.

Shortly thereafter, I reinitiated my search and ran across a H16 in Lake Elsinor, CA. It seemed to be a really nice boat but I really had no idea. I could’ve been buying a piece of junk and wouldn’t have known it but the owner only wanted $700 for it so I made the deal.

Meanwhile, one of the guys at my church asked me if I wanted to go sailing with him on his 26 foot sloop. I obliged and began to sail with him, not ever informing him of my recent purchase. After about three months of sailing with him and not attempting to sail my own boat, I finally told him I had a catamaran. He asked why I hadn’t sailed it and I informed him that I didn’t know how. The next week, he took me through the rigging process (he had owned a H16 before) and off we went on my first sail.

As we all know, it’s sometimes very difficult to find an experienced crew. So, I began sailing my H16 solo. I mostly day sailed but one day, a boat just like mine flew by me with these two guys hanging off the side (Trapped out) yelling like they were riding a bucking bronco. I looked at them and said to myself, “ Now THAT’s what I want to do!” This was about six years ago and the rest is history. I’ve considered going to “Betty Ford” of “Schick” to kick my habit but that’s money I could spend on something for my boat. Looking back, the H16 was the best boat for me.

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Happy Sailing,

David

It was the summer of 78, our family took a week long vacation in San Diego. We rented a condo on Mission Bay (near the South end). A couple of guys from AZ were in the condo next to us and had hauled their H16 out with them and had it beached in front of our condo. They took me out for a ride in trade for some fairly good smoke . We were just past the Jetty(sp) and kind of drifting while discussing Jaws II just as a a seal breached between the hulls and scared the crap out of us. I ended going out with them several other times.

I really just got hooked on Cats again, 4 years ago, I now have a 14 a 16 and a awesome 18 Can't wait for some warm weather.


Sam

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Sail Like you Have a Pair
Bluish gray 73 - 83 H16
Super Nice Yellow 84 H18