Ok, how big of a problem is this with other H16 sailors? Every time I tack, unless it's blowing way over 10 knots of wind, the jib battens get so completely hooped into the halyards it's an amazing pain to try and untangle.
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<br>When I was taking out my nephew and niece a couple of days ago (7 and 9 years old) it's a good thing it wasn't too windy because what I ended up having to do was let go of the tiller, walk up to the mast, and all 3 of us trying to get it unworked. This can't be happening in a real wind!! And I can't be asking the crew to stop what they're doing and try to unwork this every time we tack.
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<br>There are only 3 H16's in my area, so I don't have a huge pool of other H16 sailors to ask about this (the only one I've ever seen come out at the same time I'm out is also a new H16 owner, and also has the same problem, so unfortunately that's no help).
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<br>I've tried cranking on the battens as tight as I can, and I've raked the mast as far back as I think I can manage. No difference.
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<br>I also tried snapping the jib sheet real hard after it backwinds, all I accomplished was I broke my jib cleet and donated a roller fairlead to the bottom of the lake.
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<br>So, it seems my options are:
<br>- take out the battens altogether
<br>- sail without a jib
<br>- hack off 1" - 1.5" of the battens (but then I won't get full curve out of them)
<br>- batten hinges from Hobie
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<br>I'm very seriously considering the hinge idea. Is there any reason not to try this? After reading another post in this forum it makes me wonder if this idea is somehow a little looked-down upon or shunned by other H16 sailors, but maybe I'm reading too much into things. I definitely can't go on like this, already my wife is thinking about shunning the Hobie and only going out on the Fireball (she's not yet a speed demon ... if that boat is even just barely humming along "there's no way she's going to stand up and try to fix that" ... sigh ... I'm working on breaking her in but things like this don't help!) I need some kind of option to get past this.
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<br>Any ideas??? Thanks, all!<br><br>