Hi everyone! I'm Dana and our family owns a Dart 18. My wife Holly and I owned a Hobie 16 many years ago and when we moved to Florida and the kids got into sailing, we decided to get back into it as well. We sail off the Dunedin Causeway and know many of the folks that sail out of there as well. Our oldest daughter Emma sails on her HS sailing team and her younger sister will probably follow suit soon.

We're back to the "just learning" stage. We're working our way up from the causeway area to following some others out to the gulf.

Our boat is remarkable in the sense that we are probably one of the few cat sailors that can actually trace our boat's history from import to the present day.

If you see us on the causeway, please say hi!

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Dana, Holly, Emma & Hannah

LJ/Stu's Dart 18 (Sold! :( )
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Well, I can't quite see you, despite looking through my big telescope from
up here, but I'll give you a shout out anyway.

Hello, and welcome!



Edited by corktown on Oct 28, 2017 - 05:28 PM.

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Erik
'84 Prindle 16
Detroit
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Welcome aboard, can't help with a Dart, but I have a Hobie 16 and would love to hear about your memories with the boat, model and all. Great people here with volumes of info on cat sailing no matter what brand of boat you have. Welcome and enjoy the surf!!!

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Marty
1984 Hobie 16 Redline Yellow Nationals, "Yellow Fever"
Opelika, Al / Lake Martin
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Still have 2 Dart !8s, lost one on Lake Emerald photos this site,to HERicane Irma, but am trailoring down from Big Apple to Ft Lauderdale another Dart 18 in late nov or DEc bout xmas, Have Photos of what were my 2 almost identical green with pink sails Dart 18s on my photo album this site. Still have one on Fire Isle ny. The Dart 18 bringing to Fla red&white but needs new paint job. What does your Dart 18 look like? the closest i get to u guys is Redington Beach near Tampa , your near St Pete where my friend Burt almost 82 is still sailing cats off the beach there & resides with his wife catherine. Hope coming Himicane spares u and your cat. Ive had 10 different beach cats and Dart 18 my favorite to sail

Awesome, another local. Interesting how so many cat sailors end up near the causeway. If you see yellow hulls it's probably me. I plan to do a lot of winter sailing so see you there!

martyr

Welcome aboard, can't help with a Dart, but I have a Hobie 16 and would love to hear about your memories with the boat, model and all. Great people here with volumes of info on cat sailing no matter what brand of boat you have. Welcome and enjoy the surf!!!

I agree about the wealth of information here. It's really phenomenal and I wish I had it when I owned the Hobie 16. I guess the very thing I learned here is to reverse the boat on my trailer. On my Hobie, I had it facing forward and stepping the mast was always high adventure. Trailering backwards means you avoid that "uphill" walk on the Hobie trampoline. That simple thing would have saved me lots of anxiety in the past.

Probably the best story I have is one time my wife and I were sailing a Hobie 16 at a resort in the Caribbean. We had a hull up and I felt a gust. I released the main and yelled, "release the jib!" She said, "Huh?" and the next thing you know we're pitchpoling, in front of the everyone on the beach at the resort. She slid down the trampoline, but I was launched and nearly cleared the op of the mast. To this day, we joke about "releasing the jib."

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Dana, Holly, Emma & Hannah

LJ/Stu's Dart 18 (Sold! :( )
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tamumpower1

Awesome, another local. Interesting how so many cat sailors end up near the causeway. If you see yellow hulls it's probably me. I plan to do a lot of winter sailing so see you there!

Matt, I'll look for you. Feel free to say hi if you see me. I'm pretty sure we're the only Dart left in the area.

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Dana, Holly, Emma & Hannah

LJ/Stu's Dart 18 (Sold! :( )
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