So 22 hrs later I meet with Jim in Jacksonville, really nice guy, I tell him there is always a risk buying a cat unseen, you never know what you're going to get, the seller seemed to know what he was talking about and said the H16 had some soft areas just forward of the pylons, an easy fix. But on the chance the Hobie is a dud, I offer to leave a deposit, he accepts, I hitch up the trailer and head on down to Daytona Beach to pick up the H16.
And the H16 turns out to be a dud, I have never seen a H16 so badly delaminated, front to back, top to bottom, when I pressed down on the deck, the edges where the top deck meets the hulls folded inward, whew! I reluctantly walk away from that H16 and continue on down to Singer Island with a lonesome trailer following behind. We check in at Marriott's Ocean Pointe and I mention I have a trailer only to be told that the city of Palm Beach Shores does not allow trailers in their parking lot, I have 24hrs to find alternative storage. So I call up HULLFLYER in Delray Beach next day and he takes the trailer off my hands, thanks Elias.
So I’m walking on the beach and I see that Oceanside Beach Service has a Hobie Bravo and a H16 for rental so I talk to the manager Nick and he does me an awesome deal on the H16, I tell him he does not have to worry about setting up or taking down, I will take care of that and he's a little relieved as he knows very little about setting up a H16. I go over the H16 and there are a few things missing but I happen to have my handy-dandy sail box with all my sail gear and we're able to rig the cat in no time.
And so begins my sailing adventure, I sailed every day, wind constantly 9-15 knots, sometimes SE, sometimes NE, sometimes SW, and even E, but always enough wind, I sailed the Atlantic, I sailed the Intra-Coastal waterway, I sailed over sand banks so shallow that occasionally the rudders would kick up, and when the wind died, I would put on my Speedo swim goggles and dive over the side and adventure beneath the surface. Almost sank the H16, was tacking up the Palm Beach Shores Inlet when I noticed the port hull was very low in the water, a super yacht passing by generated a wave so large it put me over, in the middle of a very busy Inlet, fortunately some Para-sailing guys were passing by in their boat and helped me right the cat, 2 of us on the hulls, 1 guy lifting the mast, made it to Peanut Island, lifeguard on duty tried to wave me off but I had to beach, explained my predicament and he and another guy helped me haul the cat up the beach, took ½ hr to drain the hull. Found a split in the outer skin and patched the hole using duct tape, was not going to waste time (and money) with epoxy, tramp had a patch over a tear and was coming apart so I took the tramp off, re-stitched the patch and went sailing.
I spent more time out on the wire those 11 days than all the sailing I’ve done in the last 2 years, I met some great people, Craig took me out sailing on his Super Cat 20, this guy loves his comfort, he has a beer cooler shaped to fit his Corona, it has a tether attached with a carabineer on the end, and he clips it off on his trap wire. So there we are cruising along at about 12-15 knots, Craig’s out on the wire with the tiller extension in one hand and his Corona in the other, (crew gets to handle the mainsheet), and Johnny Cash singing a Bob Marley song is blaring out on his waterproof marine radio, I pinch myself to see if I’m dreaming.
Last day of vacation and I rig the cat, hit the water and cruise inland, wind dies and I’m underwater checking out local marine life, when the cat suddenly starts moving so I torpedo off the bottom grab the dolphin striker rod before cat takes off and haul myself on the tramp, wind has switched around to E and picked up to 10-12 knots, so I head out to the Atlantic tacking up the Inlet to get out and hit the beach, out on the wire maybe 15-20 feet off the beach, grand-standing just a little, buzzing the tourists in the water, hitting speeds of about 15 knots and just having a grand time, wind is perfect, ocean calm, flying the windward hull and thinking life is great, I need to move to Florida.
http://maps.google.com/ma…33.077336,77.958984&z=15
Turbo
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TurboHobo
H14T
H16
P18
G-Cat 5.0
P16
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