Were you experienced?

Hi all,

Just bought my first Hobie, and looking forward to getting it out on the water.

This is my first boat, never sailed a cat before (in fact basically never sailed at all!) and I was wondering how other Hobie sailer's got into the sport? I saw a hobiecat being sailed as I laxed on a beach locally (in the Marlborough Sounds of New Zealand), and it kick started my obsession, which has finally led to me buying a 14T.

So, my questions are:

Were you experienced (at sailing - mono hulls? windsurfing? etc) before buying your first Hobie cat?

Did your first solo sail on a Hobie scare the sh*t out of ya?

How long before you learnt to fly a hull?

Look forward to your responses. BTW this is a fantastic forum. Great info and community

I had some experience when I started sailing my Hobie 14T. It was all on a little sunfish and it was not much.
I have a couple of tips to get you started.

-Be careful your first time out, wait for a light day and take it easy
-Don't use the jib the first day, it makes things more confusing
-Learn to right the boat
-Be prepared to feel stupid, but don't worry we have all been there
-Don't gybe, stick to tacks for the first day, gybe's are scary at first and can cause a pitchpoll.
-Have fun

The 14 is a great little boat, but there are some things to watch. Stay towards the back or you will pitchpoll and even then you will pitchpoll sometime. Don't worry about it, we have all done it, meet a 14 sailor that hasn't and you will have met someone that hasn't pushed his boat.
It took me about 2 months to learn to really keep a hull up. After about 2 weeks I could pop it up and then lose it and crash back down. Now I can keep it flying for a minute or two at a time.

Hope some of this helped, where are you sailing, anywhere near OKlahoma?
As a final peice of advice you might have someone who knows what they are doing help you set the boat up.

The most important thing is HAVE FUN!!!!

_________________
Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!

Muzzer,

My first ride on a sailboat was with my brother-in-law when I was 8 or 9 years old. Years later I learned it was a Sunfish he'd modified with a fixed mast and larger sail. All I recall was him wanting me to hike out and that was way more work than sitting on my fathers lap and steering his motorboat, so I never asked to go with him again.

I bought a brand new 16 after taking a ride on my co-worker Gordons boat. In the next few weeks we had our share of rookie mistakes. Dropped the mast in the parking lot while stepping. Found out on the next sail that loosens things up causing leaks. We went turtle and it wouldn't come back up. (hint: float your mast in the water and check for bubbles) Never really was scared because we had Gordon for a coach (hint: contact your local fleet). The scary incident was our first trip to a lake near my grandma's away from the city and Hobies, just my girlfriend and me. Ran downwind way down the lake in a real nice breeze and when we turned around to head back noticed the winds building and clouds darkening. Found out quickly Gordon had kept us on a pretty short leash with mostly broad reaches and flying hulls, so beating up wind was not our strong point. The storm never made the lake in the hour or so we spent beating upwind, but all the time tacks were getting harder due to building winds. Blew over once but luckily a boat was there to assist us rookies in righting.

Stay close to the beach until you learn. Practice righting your boat, but make sure the wind is blowing in to the beach in case you have trouble. Keep an eye out for storms and know the forecast.

Flying a hull isn't too difficult, keeping it up for a while takes a little practice. Ask questions of the other sailors, they won't mind and it speeds up the learning curve.

Enjoy your new toy and welcome to the Hobie community.

_________________
hobiejohn at earthlink dot net
Fleet 297

I also own a H14T and is amazing .

I started sailing when I was 10 years old in a club ,with a tutor of course .
The boats that we learned with were OPTIMIST and LASER type .
So I knew the basics and participated in some races also .
I bought my cat 2 years before and I had some problems in the beggining cause cats are different than monohulls .That means things are not so easy for a begginer with no experience in sailing at all .

Dont be hurry and try always to sail safe ,that means first of all LEARN TO RIGHT THE BOAT!!!

I did the mistake first time to go out with strong wind ,capsize and stay in the water for an hour untill a boat passed and helped me .
Righting the boat is easy ,BUT you have to practice it and learn the way to make it easy .
So I advise you to start sailing with someone that at least has sailed a dinghie before ,of any kind and explain you 10 basic things .
And dont forget your lifejaket!!!!Mine has already done its work!

You have a great boat that you will surely love ,but remember always to be safe cause oceans are not a playground !!!

And you will also see that flying a hull isnt so hard as it seems ,but keep your weight always back otherwise you will capsise for sure!!!!!!

Welcome to the club ,and feel free to ask anything anytime !!

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hobiecat 14Turbo - TORNADO

Me again, I just thought I would agree with the previous post, WEAR YOUR LIFEJACKET!! I know it might feel stupid but when you flip and have to swim around for a while, you will love it.

Also, you are going to be shocked by how fast you go, just remember if you need to stop turn into the wind and get stuck in irons if you want to have time to get things straight.

I am actually in your situation again, I just bought a new boat....shhh, it is not a Hobie. It is a Nacra5.2, I can't wait to sail it, but i know I am going to have to work to learn the bigger boat.

Once again, if you need any advice, ask anyone on here, everyone is great and many have alot of sailing info.

_________________
Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!

Hey, thanks for the feedback! It is awesome to be able to "chat" like this with experienced sailors as where I live I don't think there are any hobiecats. I've done hundreds of hours of reading about sailing and specifically about sailing Hobie's, but this kind of feedback is even better. I realize I can't learn to sail by reading and chatting, but I think its a good place to start, so I have some idea of what I'm in for, and this forum and your responses are great. Must say I'm a little nervous, but SOOO excited about getting my new toy in the water! Can't wait! Just got to test the mast for watertightness now and wait for a nice calm day
Thanks again