Sailing Hobie Compass

Hello All,

Finally Sailed my Hobie Compass... well worth the wait for the excitement and experience. From 7 to 11mph winds gave a smooth and steady sailing. By 12mph+ winds you can really feel the speed of the yak as it powers its way through wind and waves. With more breeze, you really have to lean to counteract the winds deflect on the sail. And with gust's... really lean! Winds of 6mph and less, you wont get the forward momentum because of the drift loss due to the lack of a keel.

Second day of sailing I brought my fishing gear. Without the worry of equipment and gear, sailing in strong winds while having to lean is fun! But I was a bit more anxious because of the occasional gust's having the potential to flip the boat and dumping my expensive gear.

And to that thought, I'm thinking of getting the Sidekick Ama's. Otherwise Sailing without them is still fun, just would like to have the added stability when the winds pick up for far offshore sailing or fishing.

The Furler was great for depowering the sail. I can only imagine how awkward it could of been to wrap up the sail over the Mirage Drive up by the bow while waves sway all which way.

Sailing down wind, or tacking up... its all fun to me!

Sounds like you had fun and you gave me a few things to think about. I will be getting a compass duo any day now (ordered in June). I also got the sail package and the amas and we are hoping to get the kayak so we can wait for spring to come to the great corn desert and then sail our compass.

Sounds like you got the gist of it. Using the flippers seems to help more so than holding them straight down as a makeshift keel. There are ways to drag weights under the compass to help with stability. I've never sailed in anything more than 10 mph winds so I haven't needed AMAs.