lake sailing can be fun, but pack that shit up and head east to the Crystal Coast and let's see what you can do in some salt H2O
Sail Carteret is some good folks to sail with
Thanks MN3. Do you really think I'm going to publish the flubs??? Actually I am going to publish a "blooper" reel likely in January to break up the cabin fever. I won't promise a capsize as I don't have a spare mast and they don't sell them at WalMart.
Couldn't get in contact with peter-pan so I edited in the Pinup to freshen things up a bit.
Thanks topcat16. Sail Carteret looks like a great group with a great venue. Not sure how I've missed it.
Used to be a member of Hobie Div. 9 Fleet 191 (before its demise) and sailed many regattas at the NC/SC coast including Carolina Beach, Myrtle Beach and others. Have also daysailed many times at Morehead (seems like the launch was near or under a bridge on the ICW) and Oriental NC out in the Pamlico Sound. I like the larger venues as well as lake sailing, but the coast is four hours away and my local lake is ten minutes away so...
-- Hobie 16 (3 formerly)
MacGregor 25 (formerly)
Chrysler Dagger 14 (formerly)
NACRA 5.0 (currently)
High Point, NC --
even though I can get to my local lake in thirty minutes, I'll drive the almost three hours to the coast as I find lake sailing boring. I prefer to be sail to a destination such as Cape Lookout than to taking countless tacks from one side of the lake to the other.
check out Sail Carteret's Facebook page as their web-site is pretty stagnate and outdated
they're having a Fun Sail Day on the 30th of this month out of 11th st MHC
You are sailing a Nacra 5.0, no? This is not a pussy, girly boat. they are quite robust, maybe not as as tough as a H16, but we do not even think about boat damage if it flips. Both the 5.7 & 5.0 are hard to pitchpole, but even that makes me worry far more about my body than the boat. We drive the crap out of them, & almost nothing ever breaks, bungee maybe, but the mast is the of no worries.
you need a single trap on that 5.0, it will up your adrenaline level. Broad reaching at 20 mph is a ruysh on that boat. Go for it, the mast will not break, just be sure to have some tension on the diamonds.
You need to experience my lake. 30 x 40 miles,(part of the Great Lakes passage), the Federal Navigation charts show a "DANGER" note, & it kills several people each year. I'm protected in a bay, but once I pass the point, 5'-6' short coupled seas are de rigeur with a south wind. We can spend 2 hours on the wire to make a crossing.
-- Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap --
There are very few Pussy cat sailors. That they own a cat in the first place sort of defies that description. Sailing under control, showing off your boat and your ability to sustain flight for long, long periods of time is sort of an aphrodisiac to some of the important to impress other boaters.
My local boating location is a big river, with some big wind, but a constant current from 4 to 6 knots depending on the time of year and always in the same direction We never get to really open the boats up because all too soon the river bank shows back up. To make it a little more interesting there are these really big steel things coming up or going down river in a big hurry that cannot or will not stop when you f up. So prudence is kind of the modus operandi. It is no big deal to flip your cat in the middle of nowhere, quite another thing when you are in the middle of the narrow shipping lane. So I am very good with sailing the cat under control in a manner that may impress those that we may be interested in impressing with our very special skills of pulling and releasing the great forces under our control very carefully under difficult circumstances.
-- dg
NACRA 5.2 #400
This End Up
Original owner since 1975 --
Agreed. My favorite lake here is Roosevelt. It is about 20 miles long, and we usually sail the seven miles from the campground to the dam, or the local village.
It is not thrilling like the ocean, but good sailing in consistent (if puffy) desert mountain wind.
-- Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA --
True words.
I have rolled off the hull into the water many a time in the summer.
Might have even figured out how to do it without spilling anything!
-- Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA --
I have a buddy who used to jump in and helm his cat (very light air) from in the water, behind the beam - hanging on .... until one day it slipped out of his hand... he was picked up by someone who just happened upon him in the water ... hanging out - and got him to his cat a mile or 2 ahead of them
it has to be sweltering and zero wind for me to jump in but i ain't skerd - (well maybe a little bit of shark)
when it gets crazy hot here (apr through nov) i take ice cubes from my cooler and place 3 in my hat - they cool off my head and i get a few drops that run down and keep my neck cool from time to time - i end up forgetting they are there. but 3 in the magic number for me - anymore and it gets too cold
i also bring a little 2x2' of old t-shirt and keep it in my cooler - when i am sweating (that means not moving) i put it on my neck and it helps cool me off
it has to be sweltering and zero wind for me to jump in but i ain't skerd - (well maybe a little bit of shark)
Ha Ha. Statistics show that 99% of shark bites occur within 200 yards of shore, (maybe the fact that 99.9% of people in the water are within 200 yards of shore accounts for that), so theoretically you are safer further out.
However, I'm also of the ilk that it's scarier when a few miles out.
On hot light wind days i have lowered the trap ring & hung over the leeward side, getting slowly dragged. It's a bit harder on the H18 because of the wings. I always go over the leeward because if I fall off the hook, as long as I hold the tiller the boat will head up. And we have no sharks.
-- Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap --
You are sailing a Nacra 5.0, no? This is not a pussy, girly boat. they are quite robust, maybe not as as tough as a H16, but we do not even think about boat damage if it flips.
Yes, 5.0 as the subject line suggests. It is a more delicate boat than a Hobie 16, but I'm not at all concerned about overstressing it or catastrophic mechanical failures from trashing it in the harshest conditions. Capsizes though in my local lake are ALWAYS risky relative to bending your mast as the average lake depth is 17 feet. Turtle in the wrong place, jab your mast head in the the mud and then well you may need a new mast which has happened to many local cat sailors. If you're a Hobie 16/18 sailor then straight, used reasonably priced masts are not so hard to come by while the same for a 5.0 not so much and $$$$. That is why I wouldn't intentionally pull off a capsize just for a video.
-- Hobie 16 (3 formerly)
MacGregor 25 (formerly)
Chrysler Dagger 14 (formerly)
NACRA 5.0 (currently)
High Point, NC --
That is why I wouldn't intentionally pull off a capsize just for a video.
I agree, I would not INTENTIONALLY flip, just for video. An onboard video barely shows anything, you need the camera off the boat to fully realize an epic crash.
You needn't worry about a 5.0 mast in 17' of water. Both the 5.7 & 5.0 rest with the mast submerged to the hound. We have crashed both boats fairly close to my dock, shallow water, & either been slow to jump, or a strong wind pushing on the tramp drives the mast down...into the bottom.
I have righted the boat with buckets of mud/weeds/crappy bottom dwelling creatures falling onto the tramp. Unless you swim out & wash the crap off the masthead/halyard you can count on stuff falling down for the next week.
Flipping in surf is a bad deal, 17' of water, the boat will pivot around the stuck mast, but a 5.0 won't break. The H16 may have tougher hulls, but your stik is a very robust bit of kit, every bit as strong as the 16. you really have to work hard to break that extrusion, they were overbuilt in that era.
-- Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap --
However, I'm also of the ilk that it's scarier when a few miles out.
Agreed. One of our local group was sailing 10 miles offshore, having rounded a small island, and saw a gull fly overhead. It landed in his cat's wake, about 25 feet back, and was immediately eaten from below by a shark. They were sailing across a shipping channel about 230 meters deep.
He didn't mention it to his crew until they were ashore, packing up.
-- Sheet In!
Bob
_/)_____/)_/)____/)____/)_____/)/)__________/)__
Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA --
Sailing under control, showing off your boat and your ability to sustain flight for long, long periods of time is sort of an aphrodisiac to some of the important to impress other boaters.
Flying a hull high and proud is perhaps the most fun thing I've ever done with my clothes on. Is it the fastest way to sail a cat, no. Is it racing trim, no, it's just in a word "cool." I never get tired of it and will continue to do so until I'm so old and crippled that I can't.
At the time I shot this video my local sailing club was teaching a sailing class with 10 or so students on the water sailing the SunFish and other training dinghies. From experience I have learned that the sight of a cat flying under full power is an aphrodisiac in that it provokes interest in our sport/hobby. If the wind permits I always try to get out and hotdog my boat a little when students are on the water. Using this "marketing tool" I have sold our sport to many. Does it work, absolutely. You always see Mr. Alter doing the same thing as a part of selling the sport and the "Hobie Way of Life" which is yours for the taking no matter what brand of cat you sail.