Hi everyone , I have had an Rs cat 16 as my 1st sailing vessel, for 6 months now, and sailed it around 3 times a week.
when I got better at sailing it, and wanted to go really fast, or lift a haul, I noticed that the main sheet mechanism on it pretty much doesn't make sense, or there is something I need to do that I am not.
this is my main sheet block
problem with it , is that whenever I pull in the sail in, the line will cleat automatically, and then when I wanna loosen the sail i have to yank the line downwards to un-cleat and let the line go . and if I am sitting towards the front , yanking it down is not easy at all.
I have sailed a hobie wave , which is more basic, but has a better mechanism at the main sheet . and looks like this
with this main sheet , you can pull and let go of the sail easily without cleating, and when you wanna cleat, you just pull the line down.

I checked the main sheet system on hobie cat 16 and it looks like its the same as mine.


so my question is , do I need to take off the cleats in order to have better control on my sails ? and hold the line all the time ?
is that what performance sailors do with their cats ? or is there another way to have the line free , and cleat it whenever you want to cleat it ?

thanks a lot.

--
Roger El Hajj
Dubai, UAE
RS CAT 16
--

See that little allen screw right in the middle of the chrome plate above the cleat??

Loosen it and rotate the whole cleat up to a better angle. With some trials getting just the right angle, your mainsheet will snap in and out easily. Every boat is a bit different so keep that allen wrench handy to make minor adjustments.

On the SIDE of the block there's a little black round switch to change the blocks from ratcheting to free spinning ( useful in high wind when you need to sheet out super quickly )



Edited by fxloop on Nov 15, 2017 - 04:55 PM.

--
Tim Grover
1996 Hobie Miracle 20
Two Hobie 14's
1983 G-Cat Restored
Memphis TN / North Mississippi
--

Don't take the cleat off - you will kill your hand/arm hand-holding the sheet all day and you will never be pulling the sheet in tight enough upwind.

Adjust the angle of the cleat up slightly so that you have to intentionally get the sheet to engage in the cleat and it pops out of the cleat easily. When you get a little more experience, you may find that you want to drop the angle of the cleat back down. I personally find that I like my boats set up so the sheet tends to automatically be pulled into the cleat. A quick flick of the wrist and I can pop my sheet out almost instantly, but there is a bit of a technique that needs to be learned to do this.

sm

Thanks a lot, I will start experimenting. just sucks, 6 months of sailing without knowing this information. tf.
thanks again for replying.

--
Roger El Hajj
Dubai, UAE
RS CAT 16
--

Dogboy

Don't take the cleat off - you will kill your hand/arm hand-holding the sheet all day and you will never be pulling the sheet in tight enough upwind.

While I totally agree with this advice, I'd add a slightly different caution from a fellow beginner who doesn't get to sail as much as you have. [insert jealous emoji] I do NOT cleat my main sheet anymore. One of my first sails on the Dart I had the main cleated in and had a hull in the air. You know what happened next - we hit a gust and capsized. Not a big deal, except my 15 year old daughter went through the 30+ year old main.

I'm sure someday I'll be at a point where I feel comfortable cleating in the main, but for me, that day is a long way off.

--
Dana, Holly, Emma & Hannah

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

"Not a big deal, except my 15 year old daughter went through the 30+ year old main. "

Been there & done that, all I remember was frantically trying to snap the sheet out of the cleat when I heard that giant whooshing sound of the leeward hull submarining, My daughter hit her head on the mast, with the cat up on her side I had to swim to her and get her back to the boat and hold her till my brother in law came over with the pontoon boat, got her aboard the pontoon boat then we righted my cat . Would not have been good had we not had a rescue boat,
she is ok now (concussion) but will sail again