HI, I recently purchased a used H16 and really enjoy sailing it as its the closest thing to windsurfing without
actually being out on the board. I'm finding that in strong winds that its extremely hard to hold the rudders
in place or even to alter direction slightly. My arm gets tired holding it in place and I cant imagine trying
to trapeze and hold on. MY solution has been to pop up one rudder (the one closest to me) and this usually
helps out quite a bit, but not always. Now I can't imagine that this is what I should be doing and would
appreciate any advice regarding this. Thanks.
Hi Trevry,
First and foremost, one rigging mistake that I see on new Hobie 16's is that the rudders are reversed. Make sure that tiller arms are angled inward. Also make sure that your rudder cams are locking the rudder all the way down. Either of these above mentioned states will create a massive amount of weather helm or extreme difficulty in keeping the boat going in a straight line. The cavitation of water across the rudders will prevent course correction as the foils are not tracking smoothly through the water.
These are the first things to check. You can take a look, online, at a H16 Assembly Manual at <a href=
>>
and a Hobie 16 Part manual for tips in tuning in addition to the above tips,
Good luck and report your progress. There is a great amount of help on this forum.
Cheers!