I guess this can serve as introduction.

Grew up around sailing inermitantly, mostly on large monohulls cahrtered in Carribean. My folks owned a H16 when they first got married, and Dad sailed the FD in college, so I have had some decent instruction for the basics.
Live in Chattanoooga on the TN river. Bought an '88 Hobie 16 last year in pretty good condition. Have taken to the beach twice and had a blast- worth every penny i have in it. Wish we had better winds in the TN valley to sail more- oh yeah, and a good beach to launch from. M

Any way,

Just returned from a week of vacation in Pensacola, FL. Brought the H16 with us and were fortunate to be able to keep it mast up on the beach in front of our rental house.

The week had great winds varying from 10- upper 20's.

Started the week frustrated as we weren't able to generate much power in low to moderate winds. A quick trip to Key Sailing and a conversation with Charlie. Was very helpful in helping us try and determine what our issue was. First step was to remove some of the aft rake, and see what happened. Adding a 10 hole adjuster to the shrouds seemed to help a little. Next issue was looking at the comptip. I had reinstalled last year using the Bondo method, and it was beginning to crumble and allow movement. If you look at this pic, you can see how bad it was falling off, even with minimal downhaul applied.

Pulled the mast down and correctly reinstalled comptip using two part epoxy as reccomended. MUCH Stiffer.

I was able to spen almost 4 hours a day sailing, which provided many opportunities to learn do's and don'ts (Sailing out in the surf- HOLD ON!!!, tacking in heavy winds and seas- timing the waves makes a huge difference, practiced the various stopping methods discussed in an earliere thread- the Heave To method works great when you have dolphins swimming all around)

Thursday evening winds built to mid 20's with at least 4-5 ft seas. Went out with my wife and brother. Had both of them trapped out, and me hiking out hard. We were able to record our PB top speed of 23 mph on GPS.

I still seem to be spilling too much from the top of the Main, which is killing me in lower winds. Not sure if its due to sail age,batten tension, traveler position, or something else. I still have yet to be able to sail with another H16 to be able to gauge how mine is set up or performing.


All in all, was a great week. Highly recommend Pensacola Beach, low crowds, nice beaches, plenty of access points to the gulf to drag your boat (beach wheels are a must). Charlie at Key Sailing was great to talk to. Though my wife and mom are upset that he showed my dad and I a couple of F16's that he had on the beach.

Any advice on some other ways to get more power in light air would be appreciated. My wife and I weigh a combined 270lbs, so we should be able to get moving pretty well in light air (5-10mph).

The two things still thinking of:

Tightening of frame- seems to be a good amount of slop where pylons enter the castings. Cross and side bars seem pretty tight- no movement.

New(er) sails- Mine seem pretty crisp, but still may not be performing well.

jason88h16,

Nice introduction, and welcome to TheBeachcats.com!

Pensacola is indeed a great place for catamaran sailing, super convenient and having the good folks at Key Sailing available to help if something goes wrong means you don't lose as much sailing time when the unforeseen happens.

We have some expert light-air Hobie 16 sailors here so you should get some tips. I'll adjust your topic title to let people know what you need.

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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Thanks Damon,
looking forward to learning and sharing ass much as I can.

If anyone is in the E TN, N GA area, let me know. Would love to get out with some other cat sailors. Mostly monoslugs here who think I'm crazy to have this boat here.

jason88h16

If anyone is in the E TN, N GA area, let me know. Would love to get out with some other cat sailors. Mostly monoslugs here who think I'm crazy to have this boat here.

There are some East Tennessee beachcat sailors around, hopefully they will chime in. Maybe start another titled "Sailing in East Tennessee" to get their attention.

You live withing striking distance of the Gulf Coast for some really cool weekend regattas/events. The Ocean Springs Yacht Club at Ocean Springs, MS holds 4 or 5 a year, the next one is called Island Hop and then there is the super cool Juana Good Time Regatta in Navarre Beach, FL which is a very laid back can't miss kind of thing.

You get yourself to something like these events and you'll learn more about sailing your Hobie 16 in one weekend than in years of going it alone.

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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If you don't have it already, get Rick White's "Catamarn Racing For The 90s." He's the guru and can tell you better than any of us about power vs. speed any switching gears on a cat.

Sounds like you're doing pretty well. Did you have the same issues with light air on your home lake? Did you get this feeling both upwind and down? The reason I ask is that the large waves in the gulf really slow a boat down going upwind, especially the short, rocker-hulled H16. You likely could have sailed upwind much faster in the bay with considerably less wind.

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mississippi
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Definitely gonna order Rick White's book. Have Phil Berman's book, and have read the Fleet 23 Hobie U booklet.

Would love to make it back for one of the events on the Gulf Coast. Wife has no desire to race, she wants to keep it enjoyable and not competitive. Me on the other hand....

Yes, seems more difficult when beating, but still slow overall. Have had the same experience here in our light/ flukey valley winds, which is why i am trying to figure this out.

There is a part of me that knows that there are other boats that would allow us more sailing time around here due to time to rig, ease of running solo, ability to hold friends, and light air performance. I just can't fully admit it while still having the silly "Been Double Trapped in 20+ while flying hull" grin on my face

jason88h16

Wife has no desire to race, she wants to keep it enjoyable and not competitive. Me on the other hand....

But she hasn't sailed around other boats. Something clicks in their head when that happens.

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Ron
Nacra F18
Reservoir Sailing Assn.
Brandon, Mississippi
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Just to make sure the basics are covered....did (do) you revove your rudders for trailering? If so, are you sure they are not reversed? You'd have never hit 23 mph with 'em reversed, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Most marrried catsailors that I know don't race with their wives. You can find other crew, and there's usually plenty to enjoy otherwise for your wife.



Edited by rattlenhum on Jun 19, 2013 - 11:42 AM.

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mississippi
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Welcome and great pictures

Helmsman-ship is HUGE in light air,
Maybe you do these things already but here are some of the things that I've picked up on, I'm not great or barely good in light air but the people that pass me during races do these things also.:
Keep your weight as forward as conditions allow, you want those sterns out of the water if possible, if it is that light you and your crew, (you both seem pretty light) might be on opposite sides.
Move around gracefully like a cat, it doesn't take much to ruin the momentum that you have on the H16 they are very weight sensitive, even at total crew weight of 270.
I would avoid pointing too high in the light stuff, these 16s (especially older ones) just don't want to point that high.
Use the tell tales, in light stuff you really want to keep an eye on them because settle differences in trim make a huge deal in boat speed, make sure those are flowing properly, cat racing for the 90's covers all of those things in detail very well.
I would get and read that book even if you don't plan on racing, there are racing strategies that you can skip through and read once you convince her to race but there is a lot about efficient sailing that is well worth it.

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Cesar (Cez) S.
Hobie 16 (had a few)
Nacra 5.2 "Hull Yeah"
Vectorworks XJ - A class (not named yet)
West Michigan (Grand Rapids/Holland Area)
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Great tips guys. I have a list of things to try next time out. Wife has to work Sat, so if there's any wind, may go try solo with a new righting pole- just in case

I do take the rudders off when trailering longer than just down the road. I have used red electrical tape to mark all Port parts that come off for trailering to ease setup (rudder, shroud, trapeze wires) so am sure those were on correctly.

jason88h16

I have used red electrical tape to mark all Port parts that come off for trailering to ease setup (rudder, shroud, trapeze wires) so am sure those were on correctly.

Just wanted to make sure....tillers should slant inward (relative to upper rudder castings) as you go from back to front. May want to check rudder toe-in as well....should be 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

Generally, in lighter air (or bigger waves or heavier crew), you want a fuller sail for power.....less mast rake, more batten tension, less sheet, downhaul, and outhaul tension (although outhaul doesn't do much on H-16). Opposites lead toward a flatter sail for speed.

It will help a lot if you hang with other H-16s. Your Hobie Division 9 Chair (MVD on the Hobie Forums) is only a couple of hours away in Knoxville. He is a great guy and is breathing new life into the division....I believe they're having some regattas already. I highly recommend that you hook up with them.

Good luck!

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mississippi
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