we had plenty of wind this weekend (~15knots), our combined crew weight is about 315, all sails were sheeted nicely to the tell-tails, absolutely no excess weight on tramp, low chop and still couldn't fly a hull. does anyone have any advice for a first timer on this one...i've been trying for months. i even tried sheeting close hauled and then falling off until i was screaming and then finally lost power and at no time during that arc did i heel very much. what can i do?
Instead of laying off from a close haul, (which doesn't buy you much) try sailing a reach while still keeping the traveler pretty much in the center and letting the sheet out. When you've built up some good speed then haul-in to fly a hull. If you're still having trouble, then think of ways to power up. Less mast rake, tighter battens, etc.
Sail shape at the top is very important when you're thinking of ways to make the boat more or less Tippy.
what exactly is it that i need to do to the top of the sail. i have my top 2 tapered creating about a 35% forward pocket. is a forward pocket better for hull flying? the rest of my battens lay at 45-50% as they go down. i have extra battens so if a further aft pocket is better i can experiment. let me know...thx
That's a pretty standard batten setup for Hobie sails. It sounds like a very stable boat. I wouldn't make any permanant changes to fly a hull. How does the boat perform against other boats? If it's fast, then things are fine. If you want more power aloft, then increased batten tension and less sail twist (sheet tighter) are easy ways to experiment.
Sail Fast... Don't worry too much about flying a hull.
Are you sure there is no water in the hulls. 15 mph will get just about anything up. It works for me!
It is hard for me to get my 81 H16 up on one hull with 295 lb. onboard. I heard somewhere that the older hobies weigh more than the new ones. I don't recall what year that change happened. I guess the effect of this extra weight would be to bury the leeward hull when you bring the windward hull out of the water. I am sure you can bring the windward hull out of the water if you shift your weight leeward, but if the leeward hull is submerged it probably won't sail very well.
Greg
H14,H16
Ok ill give you im Quick and simple (no message in that, I swear). The older the boay the more the boat will weigh. If it is an old boat its probaly 2 things.
1-older sails dont and wont help to lift the hulls they will just luff. Try new batterns and tighten your down hall on as hard as posible and when out on the water pull the main on as hard as you can and move the boat around till its out. Even if the wind is hiting the sail side on and hard.
2- Most of the older boats will also have alot of drag so try and have one rudder up and move your body weight around but allways have the main in your hand and have the skipper in the middle of the boat. Unless you like going for swims.
I didn't have this trouble on the clubs boat intill now due to my and my crews weight incease (140kg). Try these and if the dont work put your boat next to another 16 and compare the tow. Have fun and i hope you win your conpuest.
From Jules