Fellow catsailors: I recently bought an H14 Turbo and I'm fairly new to sailing cats. I'm attempting to sail on Lake MI in the Mich City area. I had 2 q's in regard to beach wheels transport and coming about.

With regard to beach wheels, I do not have cradles, and have scoured the internet for instructions or tips on easy transport. I am having a hell of a time moving the h14 from beach > water with 2 people. What is the secret, and is it feasible to transport it just on my own? I am moving it roughly 50 feet.

Also, in regard to coming about, as the sail catches the wind from the other direction, what is the secret to NOT getting the tiller extension in the way of the main sheet sliding along the traveler track? What am I doing wrong here?

I've found this forum useful and have been lurking for a while, but any help for this newbie would really be appreciated as I learn to sail by trial & error! Thanks!

When I come about in my H-16 I am pointing up as high as I can and have the traveler car centered. I allow just enough slack in the main sheet so the mast will rotate. There shouldn't be much movement in the main sheet or traveler car to interfere with the tiller extension. You have to flip it around the back as you move to the other side.

Howard

First of all, welcome to cat sailing Soup7373, I hope you will enjoy your H14 very much.

Concerning the beach wheels, not having the cradles is not a problem. As long as you have a length of line coming out of both ends of the cradle you could probably move it yourself. The technique is to first lift from the bridle wires in the front of the boat to get the bows in the air, then slide the beach wheels under the hulls until they are parellel with the shroud adjusters. As the wheels become parellel with the adjusters, you must take the length of line coming out of each end of the beach wheels and tie them around the shrouds. A simple slip knot will do the trick perfectly. Once the wheels are tied off to the shrouds, press down on the bows (which will be sticking into the air). This will lift the sterns and you will be able to push the boat along the beach to the water. Depending on the type of terrain you are moving across, you may have problems with your wheels. If you have the solid, hard plastic wheels, I find that they are a real bugger to move across the sand and easier on grass. But if you have the inflatable wheels, those are good for most terrain.

Now, concerning tacking, I sail a H16 and I am assuming that a H14 Turbo would be pretty much similar in technique. The easiest way for me, when I solo the 16 is to have the traveler in as far as you can get it, and have the mainsheet blocks as close together as you can get also. This will allow you to point higher into the wind and will make the distance between tacking angles shorter. When you tack, slowly drive the boat through the wind, releasing the mainsheet as you come through. You want to leave the jib sheeted in on the current side though, because this will allow the boat to backwind, which will help significantly. As you keep driving the boat through, push the boom out and then yank it back in quickly, to get the battens to flip over to the other side. Once the battens are flipped, you can release the jib and get it over to the other side and sheet in hard on the mainsheet. This process can be a little slow, but it is what I have found to be the easiest while solo-ing.

Hope this helps.