Wow, I am impressed with the speed and quality of responses to my question.
Regarding the Hobie 17, it does look like a great boat for this purpose. I will have to investigate further. There is one at my club I could probably borrow to try out.
Regarding the racks or wings, I have toyed with the idea of getting them for my Nacra F18. Maybe that is my solution for solo high wind sailing. I have seen them sold to fit Nacra and Inter catamarans through Murrays. (See link below, lower left corner of page 35). I have not heard from any Nacra sailor that has done it.
http://www.murrays.com/archive/34-35.pdfI have some concerns about Nacra wings (based on no wing first-hand experience):
1. The time it takes to put them on and take them off…I am short on time.
2. The difficulty of docking solo with them sticking out 2 feet. I sail off of a dock into the ocean, rather than from a beach. Isn’t it hard to grab a cleat solo when its windy and you are going fast?
3. The added height from which to fall when the boat does flip.
Carlbohannon, I loved your redefinition of my question…”solo on a "death reach" just for fun”. It really cracked me up, and accurately stated the real question. Your point about being able to quickly right the boat is excellent. In these conditions, there is a good chance you will flip, and you will be drifting fast downwind, towards whatever dangers there are.
HobieGary, Thanks for the idea about using a Tornado sail. I might look around for a good used one. Will it fit the track on my Nacra? And yes, I did want to sail on Friday, April 8th, but thought the conditions were too much for me to solo. I guess the wind was more than 20 knots, according to your diagram. There were 2 flags up at the local Harbor Patrol, indicating a Gale Warning (predicted winds of 34 – 47 knots). Send me an email at
spfechner@aol.com so we can exchange phone numbers and discuss possibly sailing together.
Steve
