Hobie 16 sailing by jib only.

I am a newbie as you will see by my questions.

I have a lake front that is about 4-5 feet drop to the lake. The wind direction and speed means that I cannot rig on my property . Thus, I built a ramp into the water with a winch to also pull the boat out of the water. I also put a buoy out about 25 feet. The thinking was that I could rig the Hobie while moored which would naturally head upwind.

The consensus seems to be that this is a bad idea.

Thus, my solution is to attached the jib clew and tack but not the halyard. Push the Hobie into the water, moor to the buoy, and then hoist the jib.
Since a good spot for land rigging is about 500 yards way, I would sail by the jib to the more suitable rigging spot.

Any thoughts on sailing only by jib or any contra opinions on how to fully rig while mooring.

Thanks

I don't see why this would not work as long as your landing spot is downwind.

I am assuming that, like any other boat I've sailed, a cat does not go upwind well while sailing jib only.

I have not sailed my 16 with only the jib so obviously I am not expert.

Bottom line is : Do whatever you have to do to get out on the water and sail!


Mike

_________________
Sailed my first Hobie 16 in May 2022 at 52 years old.
Realized I wasted 52 years of my life!

1977 H16 Tequila Sunrise
1984 H16 Blue Hawaii (My girlfriend's boat but I'll claim it)

It's hard to say what can work without actually seeing your situation. But something that might work is to raise the sails on land. Jib sheets should be very slack, and are to prevent the jib from wrapping on itself and the forestay. Main sail should not have the down haul on and the main sheet should not be attached. You want a quick attachment for where the main sheet attaches to the boom.

Here's the part where not seeing what you've got is the biggest problem. Push off from the bottom of the ramp, or pull yourself out to the buoy, or paddle out (attach the paddle to a line on shore so you can retrieve it later). Whatever it takes to get you out a bit from shore. Know exactly where you plan to go once you've got power.

As soon as you can, snap the main sheet onto the boom. You may have to hold onto the boom with your hand at first. I'd practice the connecting on shore so it's very automatic. With no power in the sails, you might be able to get far enough offshore to make something work.

Jim Clark-Dawe

One evening after a regatta, a couple of us wanted to have a little evening sail inside the harbor in very light wind. We only rigged the Jib to keep it simple, and set the 4 of us adrift to see what we could achieve. To our surprise, it sailed quite well and I was even able to tack going upwind!

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Steve
2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795
1985 & 1973? Hobie 14 "Sea & Ski"

I have a similar situation with rocky shore line. What I do is I have a valley that I got the trailer down to and I use a small tractor to launch from trailer. I also put a small rope trough the mast pulley hole and ran it to the boom fastening it with a carabiner to the sail tightening rope on bottom of boom It is adjusted so I can put the boom into the mast and it keeps the boom off of the back of Hobie so I can steer with the sail down. When launching I Paddle out to a mooring buoy and have a clip on front of boat that I clip the rope from buoy on. Then I pull up the main sail, from there I either sail out and pull jib up out in the middle of lake (I live in a cove and wind is almost always changing direction), or I also rig the jib which allows me to sail out into the wind in the little room I have to maneuver.
When I come in I loosen up the sail and jib out on the water. (unhook the pull down rope and un clip stop on mail using the tie off to hold sail up, and undo the pulley on jib and tighten up jib line without pulley). Which makes for faster dropping of the sails later. Then I either sail in and turn into wind and let both sail free and catch line at buoy, then take down sails and paddle onto trailer. Or I what I have been most of the time this year (my second year). I Drop main sail out in the lake. The rope I have on boom to keep it off of tramp and rudder holds the sail pretty good also with little practice. Then I move the mast to either side and bungie it to one of the mast cables to keep boom and sail out of the way. Then I sail in on the jib and sail right up onto the trailer.