Hobie sailing

[leftie]

Has anyone sailed one of the Hobie 16 catamarans?

I used to sail but moved and sold the boats. I fancy going back to it but wanted something very fast fun that could be easily stored and moved.

How diffrent is catamaran to single hul does anybody know, and can they be sailed single handed?

[Raffles]

I've never sailed a cat, but pretty sure you can sail them single-handed. They are fast boats; and need experience.

[williamash]

Yes it nearly killed me, can be sailed single handed. Faster than a speed boat.

[chim666]

leftie said:

How diffrent is catamaran to single hul does anybody know,

yeah - they don't turn as easily!
In my *very* limited experience (preparing self to be holed beneath the waterline here) you have to practically fling the thing around when tacking otherwise it'll stall - easier to gybe though.
But man, do they go well in the right hands!
Had a ride with an instructor once - a whole minute on one hull.

[LRdriver II]

they dont tack at all.. you need a violent gype to the thing around.

I learnt the hard way to remember to tie a small buoy to the top of the mast as I turned one upside down.

Also sent my trapeze tied copilot flying forwards as the one hull dug in whilst the other was out of the water. He returned with an almeighty KLANG as he hit the mast on the rebound. Only for the boat to take off again with him hanging on for dear life half under the trampoline. I didnt help matters as shock turned to laughter before collecting everything up again into the wind.

Serious boats and serious fun,

[YarisSi]

They are cool.
Don't turn and really scare your mum but also scare you a bit when you haven't sailed for a while and your not going to let anyone know your scared.

[seafarer]

They are very fast. Things happen on them much more quickly---like when you are about to get overpowered and maybe capsize---the time between when you start feeling that you're overpowered and the actual capsize is much faster on a multihul than a monohull. This is an observation made to me by other sailors. Take someone with you the first few times, but they are often sailed solo.

[leftie]

Right. Mirror Dinghy for me then.

[GasBlaster]

Sailed a Hobie and Dart (albeit in light winds) - tremendous fun. Slow to tack but good to gybe. These are some excellent movies of extreme cat sailing:

www.spitfiresailing.org.uk/data/trouble_256.wmv

www.spitfiresailing.org.uk/data/spitfiredemo_256.wmv

If you would consider a monohull that is easy to store what about a Laser? Not as quick in a straight line as a cat but still very physical and competitive.

[Krusty]

They're great fun. I used to have a Dart 18 which is about as big as you can trailer without removing the hulls. There are lots of places you can go to try them out, I learnt at the Cat Clinic in South Devon. Bit of a trek for you but it's a great weekend away.

[bga]

LRdriver II said:

I learnt the hard way to remember to tie a small buoy to the top of the mast as I turned one upside down.

been there done that. I managed to turtle one & get the mast stuck in the mud. Not fun waiting for the tide to drop so it could be retrieved without damaging the rigging.

leftie - they are huge fun, once you learn to sail them they go like the proverbial off a shuttle. You have to spend a lot more money on a powerboat to get a similar feeling of speed imo. Great fun & can scare you witless even if you know what you are doing. Go for it!