Alright, so I got out on the SC19 yesterday here in Calgary. Crazy gusty bumpy afternoon, and I still have mainsheet and traveler issues to sort out, but it was good to get a break from the recent grind i.e. fall outdoor work panic. We sail on the Glemore reservoir, which has a lot of city parks around it, including where the boat parking and ramps are.

Yesterday saw something new: A crowd on the grass near the ramp, readily identified by the yarmulkes and Hebrew prayers. A little odd, but I wanted to get back out and not interrupt them. Shortly thereafter I dumped the boat - for the first time, which I'd been dreading, as I'm a pussy and don't do capsize practices with new boats as I should. The good news is that the SuperCat righting system really works! I climbed up the tramp lacing until I could step around onto the base of the mast (itself freaky because it runs counter to one's instinct not to depress the mast at all, but I'd diligently resealed it to Tom's specs when I got the boat and it seemed to be okay. Reached up, pulled the Hyfield lever pin, flipped the lever, and pulled the second (extension) pin for the first time ever. Climbed back down, and as soon as I grabbed the righting line felt the upper hull tilt overhead. Barely had to pull the line and the whole damn thing came up again! All I can say is "Wow, Brother Roberts really sorted this business out." Raising the Mystere - with a mast 2'-3' shorter and a much lighter extrusion - was never that easy.

Afterward, I approached the previously-mentioned crowd, which had pretty much broken up, and asked the guy I guessed to be the rabbi what was up. He pointed out that it was the second night of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year - I think I'd heard it was on but hadn't paid much attention), and that one of the rituals is that "prayers are recited near natural flowing water, and one's sins are symbolically cast into the water. Many also have the custom to throw bread or pebbles into the water, to symbolize the 'casting off' of sins" (source - Wikipedia). When I was a kid my family used to do rather token observance of these things, but the sins and flowing water business was a new one to me - I grew up across the street from the creek, and I don't recall ever going down there to toss in rocks or bread. Anyway, as they would have been doing the sin-casting in the direction of where I turned the boat over, I asked that maybe they could dial that down a little next time, perhaps save the heavier sins and more vigorous casting for when there's not a boat directly in line. The rebbe was cool with that.

Just a cautionary tale in case you happen to find yourself in similar circumstances.



Edited by jonathan162 on Sep 18, 2023 - 06:05 PM.

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Southern Alberta and all over the damn place.
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1981 SuperCat 20 "Roberts' Rockets"
1983 SuperCat 19
TriFoiler #23 "Unfair Advantage"
Mystere 17
Unicorn A-Class (probably made by Trowbridge) that I couldn't resist rescuing at auction.
H18 & Zygal (classic) Tornado - stolen and destroyed - very unpleasant story.
Invitation and Mistral and Sunflower and windsurfers w/ Harken hydrofoils and god knows what else...
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Cute story - I appreciate it. So, can you get a picture of your shroud extender system? I flipped mine on a race about 1 year ago and when that big 'ol 21 came over, it promptly snapped the shroud extension. Ugly at that point as there's no flipping a folded 21 back over until you get into shallow water... I since had a rigging shop make me some extensions out of Dynema, but still leery. Going to have to practice, I know but would rather see some good pics of operating system before I test it again. I set mine up nearly identical to what I THOUGHT the Supercat's was. And, yeah - once you pop that lever, extend the shroud, she comes over rather easy. My problem may (probably) was exacerbated by high winds flat-on sideways along with an accidental re-cleating of the main (got hung up).

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Chuck C
NACRA 500 Mk2
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Boat's home and mast is down again, but I'll try to string the shroud up and get a photo. Also, I recently scanned a couple of pages from the SC20 manual explaining the scheme - and showing his work, as that geometry is for one guy (165 lb., iIrc) solo righting the 20, with its 12' beam - for the Tornado group.

So does H21 have a captive mast step?

I can never remember how to get an inline image on here...

https://www.thebeachcats.com/pictures?g2_itemId=137835

And the aspect ratio is screwed up... Grr... Can anyone help me out with this? In real life I'm a high-tech dude, but I hate iphones...



Edited by jonathan162 on Sep 19, 2023 - 01:20 PM.

Thanks for the photo - that gets it.

Huh. My setup is similar - was wondering how long the extra shroud extender cable is. My boat is 9.5 feet (ish) wide, and yes the mast is captive, which I would think would be the only way this scheme would work and why it's not more widely adapted perhaps. Wish I had a pic of the busted shroud extender as it didn't pull out of the ferrule/crimp; it broke/shredded the cable.

As far as pictures - good luck, seems to be trial and error for me as well. Quirks of on-line forums I suppose.

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Chuck C
NACRA 500 Mk2
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The 19 uses 23" LOA extensions. And I'm glad you asked, because I just discovered the 20 has two different lengths - 25.5" and 29" - and I'll have to find out which is correct. But it's not an apples-to-apples comparison, as the 20's shrouds terminate in diamond wire-style turnbuckles rather than just a thimble. What (obviously) counts is the effective lengthening you get from activating the system, so I'll have to take a couple more measurements to come up with those numbers.

Also, as you can see from the SC20 manual, it's not just the geometry, but the mast buoyancy that factors into this.

Here are the pages that describe the righting system (PDF):

https://www.thebeachcats.…ictures?g2_itemId=137831



Edited by jonathan162 on Sep 18, 2023 - 04:34 PM.

interesting that Bill recommended pointing the mast into the wind, whereas hobie and others call for about 45 degrees of the wind. Seems Like at 90 it's way more likely for an opposite capsize. He's Also calling for leaving the main coated but traveler out. Interesting And a little counter intuitive.

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Chuck C
NACRA 500 Mk2
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sounds llke the supercat had some sins and needed to be baptized too.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning at Lake Street Beach in Gary, In. Me and Bro were cruising along on our Hobie 16s and saw a crowd of people in the water. A woman walked up to a man standing in the water. He placed his left hand on her chest and raised his right hand. We heard him say, "In the name of the Father...".

It was Baptists doing what Baptists do.