Hi,
The real professional advice required for this question concenring her first maiden sailing's.
The president of Hobie emailed myself with the statement of "Surfergirl" do not race her, for the hulls are 36 years old and bow failure may occur which would be tragic.
I am up to the sail buying time, I have been advised to go 2 ways.
1:) Do not buy full sized sail, this will minimize flexing of hulls.
2:) Buy full size but do not run it fully up and prepare to drop at first sign of trouble.
The first season she will be handled gently, but do not want to have any unforseen issues with hull strain and stresses.
Mike
My good friend Austin Freye bought Hobie 14- #5 from Hobie Alter at the Detroit Boat Show. He told me he and Hobie unloaded it from the roof of Alter's station wagon- because he was towing a trailer with another pre-production 14. Austin was a WWII vet who kept this cat on the beach in Muskegon for many years before passing away recently.
Dave,
Please have Austin contact myself @ Reidqa@hotmail.com. We may in time revive the spirit of Hobie via a regetta of originals and pre production models.
Mike
I know you have links to the netherworld (ghost Hobie, spooky dead surfer chicks etc), but I don't think his dead friend will be emailing you from the afterlife.
Jim,
It's those surfer chicks you have to watch out for.
Mike
Jim,
I see you are an accomplished sailor, and I of iron ships 4 yrs on liberty feighter John Bown and 2 aboard USS Lexington.
It is not good to joke about such things, the Surfer Girl to all accounts is haunted and if you spent a night working on her, I will bet a paycheck by morning you will state there is something not right, matter a fact like a neighbor said "you shuold get rid of it" and he was serious.
The ex owner and myself still speak, and he is convinced that blonde was his father's girlfriend who was deceased in the late 60's. The boat sat in Surf City NJ for over 25 years in memory until his passing.
Now I am rebuilding her, and firmly believing that the ghost wishes the sea again maybe to reunite with love of simply to be free.
Mike