daft,
Thank you for the reply. Second one to reference Hobie's site so I'll certainly check it out when I have time. Gotta play out my life duty as father to our 3 boys before moving out. I don't link being a landlubber as well. As a 6 year navy submarine sailor I fell found of the ocean. My dream would be to settle on the Gold Coast.
-Roy
daft wrote:
On the main hobie site, clik on the support section and bring up the how-to brochure that goes along with the sail kit. It is very concise, so read carefully. I think they recommend to always pedal while sailing, which I highly disagree with. If you are so inclined, just be sure your pedals stay straight up so the fins point straight down and form a daggerboard to resist side drift. The laws in physics causes them to slowly drift apart when your attention wanes (as you can see on videos) so check often or rig a device.
As for books, it pays to check out several to see if they speak your language. Some are pictorial and others are wordy for better or worse. I think I learned most about casual sailing my monohull from a library book about catamaran racing... simply because it was so articulate about theories in common with all sailboats. Right now I happened to pick up a "Sailing" library book in the colorful Eyewitness series, but it seems worthless clutter.
There are excellent pictorial guides online that I have run across with wide clear arrows showing force vectors, etc. Also there are great youtube videos like from the "RYA" royal yacht association - mostly about racing but also very professional introductions looking to bring in newbies into sailing. I watch their dinghy ones because I think a sailboat has to be within 8 to 18 feet to be lively and fun.
I lived in your area a few years as a landlubber for regrettable reasons. I wish I had sailed on TX reservoir lakes and the seacoast, but was distracted by how cheap aviation was there. For instance the Fault Line Flyers club was offering paid up members sailplane instruction for one single dollar per hour (for the instructor - the plane rental and air tow a few more dollars)! Anyway be alert to the possibility of flipping over in a gust, and attach a lanyard to mirage drive, paddle, and anything else you don't want to lose. Practice reboarding your boat offshore even tho you may only need to do it once per lifetime.