New Hobie 14 owner/sailor, question on rigging and cable ten

Hi,

New to the forum and excited about learning to sail my Hobie 14. I bought this last spring and sailed a few times over the summer with some good success and one capsize. Over the winter and early spring I am refurbishing this boat. I've order new cables for the entire boat.

My question is a this? Is there guidance on how much tension the mail sail system should have? I noticed last summer when rocking in waves while "stuck in irons" the mast seemed to rock somewhat violently. How much play is acceptable? Any guidance on how to set it up correctly?

As is typical with forums I'm sure this has been asked and answered many times over. I did do a search but couldn't find anything specifically on this topic, but as forums go, I'm probably searching the wrong topics or words.

Thanks for any help!

Rick

Set it up so the rig is just "snug". Not so tight that the mast can't rotate freely, but not so loose that the mast can bang around.

You will find that racers tend to run the rig tension extremely loose (to the point that the mast base has to be tied to the front crossbar so it doesn't jump out of the step). This is done to allow the mast rake to be changed over the course of a race. But for learning or just pleasure sailing, keep it simple and just make the rig snug.

sm

Fyi...

For racing, a loose rig would allow the mast to lean / rake more forward for better downwind performance and lean / rake aft for upwind performance.

The rule of thumb I used was to get the rig aft where the main blocks would nearly tough when fully sheeted. The shrouds were loose enough to grab one shroud and rotate your hand 90 degrees.

Agree though... keep it more snug for fun sailing.

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

As a new owner of a 1989 14, and never sailed, this is a great question. The answer seems to be snug - ish. I'm going over every piece of the hobie 14 and also have a million questions on just how something, (everything) is supposed to be before setting sail. And this language thing is making me cross eyed...

_________________

'89 H14 'Jaws'
'85 H16