From the August Issue, 1995
(This is the fourth of a series of exclusive tuning article on the Hobie
20 by Florida's own Bob Curry, 17 times United States National Champion
� mostly on Hobies; 1983-85 World Champions on the Hobie 14, 1993 and
still the current World Champion on the Mystere 6.0; the original crew
for Randy Smyth in the 1992 Olympic campaign; and the 1994 Alter Cup Champion
� held on Mystere 6.0s. Curry as been a weather forecaster for the USAF
for the past 15 years. He currently lives in the Pensacola Area.)
Doing the Wild Thing on the Hobie 20
by
Bob Curry
Finally, here's the scoop on the fastest downwind technique in the world!!
(except for spinnakers!)
First Things First: the Wild Thing will not work in winds
less than 10mph or over 18mph
Here is the setup:
1. Crew Position
The crew should be on the leeward side of the boat and just behind the
shroud. The skipper should be in the center of the trampoline centered
between the shroud and the rear beam. Both positions should move back
as the wind comes up and/or the waves are steep enough to allow the leeward
boat to submerge.
2. Boards
The leeward board should be all the way down! This helps the boat to heel
in the puffs, allowing the skipper to bear off for speed. The trick is
to fly a hull and use that energy to bear away. If half-board was used,
the boat would slide sideways, taking with it that precious hull-flying
energy you need for maintaining the Wild Thing. The one thing the
crew needs to do before jibing is to put that board back to the normal
downwind position. Once jibed, the new leeward board goes full down.
3. Barberhauler and Main Traveler
Set the barberhauler at your halfway point. The main traveler will be
set no lower than the hiking strap and no higher than the "12"
setting on the traveler-setting tape supplied with the boat. The idea
is to promote twist in both sails, which equates to added power. A flat
sail will not do the Wild Thing effectively.
4. Downhaul and Outhaul
Maximum ease on both controls
5. Steering
It is real easy to sail too low doing the Wild Thing. The ideal
way to stay "hooked up" (stay in the Wild Thing mode)
is to work very hard on maintaining the weather hull just kissing the
water. Every time the hull comes out of the water, you are effectively
decreasing wetted surface by approximately 40 percent, and the normal
speed increase is around 2-4 mph, depending on the wind strength. The
angle will be higher some 3-5 degrees, but the increase in speed more
than offsets the distance lost.
6. Final Thoughts
This a great technique to use when you are behind and want to get back
in the race! Here is an example of how I have use it: Back at the Midwinters
East on the last day of racing, during the last race, while rounding "A"
mark in first place, we hit the anchor line, which dragged the mark into
us. Pulling out of the pack to do our penalty turn, we lost 10 boats!
The winds were up around 12 with occasional gust to 15. We initiated the
Wild Thing, and by the time all the boats converged at the "C"
mark, we were in first! So you can now see that learning this technique
is a very powerful tool to have in your bag of tricks!! Good luck!