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PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 12:04 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 10:54 am
Posts: 6
Location: columbus, ohio
Isn't everyone just glad this isn't a delam question? I'm a first year 16 owner and have fallen in love with this sport. I bought a cat because I wanted to fly a hull. I come from a motorcycle racing background and I have found many similarities with flying a hull and popping wheelies on a motorcycle, with exception one hurts less than the other when you loop it.
There are techniques that are necessary to being a good wheelie rider as I'm sure there are with hull flying. I'm not sure why there isn't more discussion on this, but this is why I bought the boat. I understand that just skimming the surface with one hull is the fastest way to sail, but who cares and I would much rather get that thing up as high as I can with a beautiful girl trapped out and keep it there, all day long. I'm sick of racing anything right now and when I get bored of flying a hull, maybe I'll race. I'm not sure it's how it is in sailing but, in motorcycle racing the guys that were the best at popping wheelies were not great racers, I think it's because it's hard to race when looking at the sky most of the time. The one similarity I have found is the sweet spot. Alot of guys pop power wheelies and anyone can do that, I would think that would be same as not letting the main out with a gust and up you go. By sweet spot I mean balance point, where you no longer are accelerating and you are actually riding a wheelie. balancing with your body weight, throttle, and tapping the brake and once you get there, everything, when remaining calm becomes easier. I found that spot on the 16 to be rather high, my speed drops and I am practically stalling at times. I believe this to be a combination of hull design at this angle and wind spilling off the main. I find this to be quite enjoyable though and my face hurts after grinning so hard. I'm asking people to share thoughts of being able to maintain more speed while flying a high hull. I have the touch down for controlling the main once I get it up, which is easy after riding wheelies on motorcycles, the down side is a little different. I'm also asking, I have seen other guys fly a hull high in relatively light wind. I know it doesn't take as much wind to get it up as to keep it there. Are there techniques for excuse the pun, initially getting it up? I weigh 220 so I got that going against me, so I need all the technique I can get. I also have a 20 year old cat, is the flotation better on newer cats where my speed wouldn't fall off so bad with a high hull?


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 Post subject: Flying a Hull
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:55 pm 
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Joined: Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:27 am
Posts: 538
Location: League City, TX
It takes lots of practice. You will just get a feel for it the more you do it. I don't think weight has that much to do with it. I am at 210 myself and optimum weight for my Hobie 17 is 160. Just get out there and have fun, you will find the fine balance between falling off and heading up as wind goes up and down :D 8) :roll:

Good Luck and hope this helped?

Doug


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 2:58 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 10:54 am
Posts: 6
Location: columbus, ohio
Oh I've got the feel for it. It's all I do when I have enough wind. I'm just looking for finer points to carry more speed when I'm doing it. I'm one of those sickos that used to ride wheelies on the freeway, which I'm not proud of by the way, I was just bored. Now, I found a sport I won't go to jail for and.......... I'd rather fall into my main than on my back on the asphalt.


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 Post subject: WEBSITE
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:30 pm 
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Joined: Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:27 am
Posts: 538
Location: League City, TX
Yea flying a hull is fun when you playing around. Try our website sometime. Register and get in the forum. Good group of people. www.tcdyc.com What is your name? Send me a eamil with picture of boat and i will do the same. I started with a 16.

Doug



Doug


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:37 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:15 pm
Posts: 1195
Location: Oakland, CA
You want more speed when the boat is about to go over? Unless you have a motor it is very difficult because of the simple fact that the sail is mostly out of the wind, hence you lose power.

I'm with you 100% on the thrill of flying a hull, and in fact it is the primary motive for my addiction to the dang boats! I'll never sail a monohull again.

Go here if you need more of the hull flying drug:
http://www.thebeachcats.com/modules.php ... _album.php


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 8:56 pm 
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Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:56 pm
Posts: 740
Location: Los Angeles
Hello Buzz,

Don't get your panties in a wad about flying a hull. If your primary objective is to fly a hull then you're gonna get bored pretty quick. Optimum speed on a course is where the real excitement is. The idea is to fly the hull but to keep it just barely out of the water. While doing this, you have to maintain sail trim and boat trim. You'll have to decide wheather to sail high or low to the laylines in order to reach your intended destination in the shortest possible time. You'll have to learn to read the wind and see gust coming before they get there. All that takes time. And then there's downwind hull flying which is a lot different (not to mention more risky) beating. You want excitement??? Try flyin a hull in 20+mph winds (downwind) while trapezing out on the rear corner of your sidebar just to keep your rig from pithcing (it feels like a runaway freight train with no brakes), only to have a gust or a windshift render your efforts useless and have it throw your 220 pound body accross the bow like a loaf of bread as you pray your trap wire disconnects from your harness.

Patience Buzz. The excitement is there.

Happy sailing,

David


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 Post subject: Right ON!!!!
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:55 pm 
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Joined: Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:27 am
Posts: 538
Location: League City, TX
If you think hull flying is a hoot. Learn how to do the Wild Thing. 8)
WET, FUN ride :roll:
and right on the edge of a pitchpole ALL the time!!! :twisted:

Doug


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 10:16 am 
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Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 8:45 am
Posts: 759
Location: Clinton Lake Lawrence, KS
As for pure hull flying fun, I don't think there is a better boat out there (or may never be for that matter) than the Hobie 16. As stated the "go fast" mode is the windward hull just slapping the water. It seems as though all subsequent designs with symetrical hulls and daggerboards aren't as "stable?" in the keep it up attitude. You're just going to go slower beacuse you're digging the leeward hull in deep. I guess the "trick" is to not let the hull touch as your coming back down, while building speed, to go back up again. Whether you do this by sheeting in/out, heading up/down is all up to you and conditions at that instant in time. Practice , practice, practice. :D

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Fleet 297


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 10:02 am 
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Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2004 8:28 am
Posts: 192
I am with David... add more wind (20mph+) and some down wind sailing and it wil remain challenging for the years to come.
If you are mostely going for the feeling of sailing a powerfull sailboat you could do what you did during your motorcycle days - get someyting bigger, newer, more expensive.
Again if you after the feel... try windsurfing - granted there is no hull to fly but pretty much everything else is flying. The skill set from sailing and the current windsurfing equipment should make it easy to transition. And hey ... the rist of injury is kind of higher then sailing too. ;-)

Patrck


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:29 am 
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:37 am
Posts: 20
Location: jax fl
forget windsurfing. go for kite surfing :lol: :lol: :lol: i ride a zx9r, sail a h16, and i kitesurf. also whitewater kayak. too many toys and nnot enough wind!


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:51 am 
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Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 8:45 am
Posts: 759
Location: Clinton Lake Lawrence, KS
Here's a Knock! :twisted:

IMO windsurfers and Kite boarders spend a whole lot of time on shore deciding which equipment/sail/board is just right for the conditions, while we're out there having fun.

Some jealousy of speed :( but ever see a Kite boarder pointing upwind in a blow?

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Fleet 297


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:05 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:43 am
Posts: 779
Location: St. Louis, MO
I would have to agree John. Where I sail I see the kite surfers and sail with them. I have noticed that they seem to have a more narrow band of conditions in which they go out.

I have enough trouble waiting for hull flying wind for the Hobie. At least I can still go out in light air conditions with the boat.

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Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2006 6:19 am 
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:37 am
Posts: 20
Location: jax fl
my wind range with two kites is 11 mph to 40mph. I can point as high as a h16 when i want to. i can step out of my truck and be on the water in 6 minutes. packing up and going home takes a few minutes longer. but when the wind is under 10, Hobie is the choice. most all the windsurfers in my area have given up on the windsurfers in exchange for kites. they're just way more simple, cheap, and less gear intensive. it's all fun!

the safety margin and risk involved with kitesurfing is more iintense than any other form of sailing. the injuries can be, and often are life threatening. there's a small allowable margin of error.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2006 8:19 am 
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Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 8:45 am
Posts: 759
Location: Clinton Lake Lawrence, KS
"When the wind is under 10", unless we're preparing for an upcoming regatta, I'm staying home. The advantage of living in one of the windiest states in the US may have us spoiled.

There are lots of days here between 10 & 40, we can make adjustments for that days conditions and just go...anywhere, up the shoreline all they way up the far end of both channels, past the Eagles' nests, back into the no ski areas where nobody but the fisherman go. We can pull up in the middle of the lake, catch some rays, have a beverage and just drift.

In this respect I don't think its worth mentioning anything involving a board and a beach catamaran in the same sentence :wink:

Sorry for getting this thread waaaaaay off base.

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Fleet 297


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:06 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2004 9:19 am
Posts: 10
Location: Merritt Island, FL
DavidBell47 wrote:
Hello Buzz,

Don't get your panties in a wad about flying a hull. If your primary objective is to fly a hull then you're gonna get bored pretty quick. Optimum speed on a course is where the real excitement is. The idea is to fly the hull but to keep it just barely out of the water. While doing this, you have to maintain sail trim and boat trim. You'll have to decide wheather to sail high or low to the laylines in order to reach your intended destination in the shortest possible time. You'll have to learn to read the wind and see gust coming before they get there. All that takes time. And then there's downwind hull flying which is a lot different (not to mention more risky) beating. You want excitement??? Try flyin a hull in 20+mph winds (downwind) while trapezing out on the rear corner of your sidebar just to keep your rig from pithcing (it feels like a runaway freight train with no brakes), only to have a gust or a windshift render your efforts useless and have it throw your 220 pound body accross the bow like a loaf of bread as you pray your trap wire disconnects from your harness.

Patience Buzz. The excitement is there.

Happy sailing,

David



Been there, Done that...

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