Whew. It was awesome. I finally got the floating turd on the water, and single handed it.

Even though I was beat by sunfish, I had a blast. I've been crewing for one of the guys that sails where I do, and have picked up a few pointers, but sailing my own boat without a "coach" is a thrill.

I did a little bit of Hull flying in the light-mid winds today. I'm fairly light and my boat is fairly heavy, so I thought about trapping out, but the lake is so small that I never had time to get out. I ended up traveling out and sheeting in when it started to fly higher than I cared for.

Bringing me to my second point. I've only trapped out once or twice, while I was crewing, and the thought of trapping out while sailing solo kinda scares the crap out of me.

Sailing solo trapping out is a hoot in the right conditions.On a Hobie 16 with my wieght (160lbs)anything from 8 to 12-15 knts is perfect .After that it gets to be to much survival.

I'd say it was about 6-8 today and I had a nice fun afternoon. I need to try a bigger lake. The 10hp limit and lack of speed boats is nice, but I had to tack every couple minutes.


Any tips for getting out there solo? I have this terrible fear that I will slip and end up being drug beind the boat.

Trappin' out solo is where you wanna be! With practice it will become effortless and natural. So even though it feels spooky now, force yourself to get out there. A small lake will give you lots of practice going in and out. Do whatever is necessary to give youself secure footing, carpet or non skid of some sort where your feet spend the most time. I find neoprene booties really helpful for traction. Eventually you'll be looking for a properly placed footstrap for the ultimate security. Being totally comfortable on the wire, while artfully controlling the windward hull's altitude, is one of the greatest feelings I know! Same league as carvin' up deep and steep powder!
Stick with it, it's so worth it!

Dave

Boyer A cat
F18HT
Flight Risk

take a righting bsg to assist you in getting the boat back over once you do capsize it.

Yeah, you WILL flip it numerous times before you master these skills. Work through the fear around tipping, and figure out a system for righting the boat(righting line with bag, or pole). And practice righting it. Read up on it, here and in books or dvds. You're gonna need this skill to master piloting from the wire. But it's worth it!

Dave

Ryan I would look at the small lake as an advantage for now, the worst that can happen if you cant right the boat is you will drift to shore. You will learn to get out and in off the wire quick.
The way I learnt to be comfortable on the wire was tie one hull down to the side of your trailer on grass in the back yard put your mast up, all your gear on and go in and out, you will find all the different footholds and angles and it will click you can spend hours out there in relative privacy until your comfortable, you will also find where your harness sits and how tight you need it. Perhaps adjust your trap dogbones to a length your happy with that might be a bit higher but will give you confidence dropping your backside over the side. Boots will make you feel heaps more confident as well. While your out there get a mate to hold the boom with the sheet on it to see if you can uncleat on the wire or adjust your cleats to suit.
regards

make sure that you have a "routine" for extending and retracting the tiller as well when you are coming in and out of the trap solo. My first time out solo on the wire, I tried to go out with mainsheet, traveler, jibsheet, and tiller in hand while trying to grab the handle. Lets just say that didnt work so well and everything ended up uncleating on me and flying away. So now i Just go out with the traveler line in my tiller hand, and guide myself out with the handle. Once you get the hang of it, grab the jib sheet too on your way out. But like i said, my biggest problem was extending and retracting the hotstick, just because i hated the feeling of having a too short tiller on the wire, or a too long tiller while sitting, so practice that.

Hi Ryan, Sounds like you and I are in the same boat (no pun intended). I sailed solo for the first time on a small lake near home today. I got out on the wire for the first time and must say I had a blast. I flew a hull twice and capsized once. I think I may have abandoned ship a little too soon and may have been able to keep it upright after all. At any rate, before I could get back on the hull, 2 boats and a jetski were on hand to assist. I do not have a righting bag and at 170 I just could not get it up, try as I did. It was my first time over and I think I was doing it correctly. Anyway, a friendly game warden grabbed the mast tip and picked up just a couple of feet and she came on up at which time I grabbed the dolphin striker and climbed back on. When I returned to shore, I was thrilled with the capsize if not only for the experience. I just need to practice it a lot more in shallow water.

I would have to say a small lake would be a better environment to learn getting on the wire. After doing it a few times, you will quickly learn the best way to hook up and unhook. Good luck and have fun!

the problems i'm having with trapping is the extremely gusty nature of the winds on our small lake. must be all the mountains surrounding it and 45degree cliff faces:o)

any more than hanging my butt over the side in the trap harness and i'm afraid the wind will just die on me and teabag me off the boat

Solo trapezing, out on the wire powering forward with an empty boat at your feet, there aren't many things better than that.
However soloing is all about priorities:
The first question is can I do it safely?
Are the conditions such that you feel confident that you can stay in control (aside from the first timers' anxiety)?
Can I right the boat myself when she keels over, do I need a righting bag or a pole to get the mast pointing up again?
Am I the only one on the water or are there other boats around that can assist me when I can't help myself?
Do I have my boat set-up the correct way to singlehand it safely?
Do I need the Jib? If you don't, leave it ashore and set up your rig accordingly.
Combining the mainsheet and maintravelersheet simplifies things nicely, you only need take out one line with you.
Keep it simple, figure out what courses you're going to sail and how you're going to trim the rig on those courses.
Tell yourself what how many tacks you'going to do, do them, get back to shore, evaluate yourself (Look at your happy grin in the mirror). If you feel up to it, go out again but don't overdo it, when you start to feel tired, you are tired and should pack it in for the day.
Make sure you work out routines for all manoeuvers and drill them, so you can execute them in a quick but unhurried fashion.
For example, I like to carry the jib on my P-19. During a tack I don't touch it until I'm over on the other bow, then I ease the main, make sure it's not cleated, set the jib for the new course I'm going to sail, cleat the jibsheet, correct my course and trim the main, when I'm convinced that the platform is stable I hook in, sheet in the main to increase pressure to the point that the presence of my weight is required on the wire, cleat the mainsheet, put the mainsheet and joystick in the same hand, grab the trapezehandle with my free hand, push myself out, stabilise myself, pass the mainsheet over to my free hand, make final adjustments and fly away!
There was this time that the mainsheet wasn't uncleated while I was faffing about with the jib during a tack, the resulting bath made sure I won't forget to check that again!

Just remember to have fun, find your comfortzone and gradually push that comfortzone to a higher level, don't try to do it all at once. And if you have received outside assistance to recover from a spill, buy those guys a beer.

Sounds like a good weekend for multiple sailors.

I spent about 5.5 hours on the lake Saturday, and a total of maybe 10 hours for the weekend. The winds were everywhere from real mild to fairly wild.

Last season, I had been on the wire solo twice on a really small lake for about a minute total in fairly light winds.

This weekend however is a different story all together. On a larger lake with the winds as they were, I had the opportunity to do a few things I had not done before.

First, a couple of self imposed tea-bags. Interesting, not too scary. I now can get in off the wire fairly quickly (the water was still a bit cold).

The second thing I did, is the ever popular and not to scary Slow-Mo Solo Pitch Pole. While I had plenty of time to figure out where I would put myself as the bows slowly went deeper and deeper, It also gave me a few seconds to realize I was going to be really cold very shortly.

I have come to the conclusion that all I really want to worry about (for now) while on the wire is the tiller and main sheet/traveler control. Set the Jib and leave the sheet on the tramp. I am sure that in the not too distant future, I will be able to handle both, but for now there is plenty to keep you busy.

Great times ahead as I get more confidant with the boat.

Lots of advice here... but i think the most critical point hasn’t been addressed.... your profile needs some work (Rowing and Sailing. In that order) Please address this issue immediately (kidding, kinda) <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

As per all the prep, planning, diagramming, etc... My 10 cents:

I would suggest you spend some time flying the hull OFF the wire... get comforatble with your hull 1 - 3 feet up... when you really get the hang of that (how weight and wind shifts effect you with a hull up)... go for it. No amount of reading, or preping will take the place of doing it 20 times.

Make sure you can right the boat (Get a bag if needed, or bring crew)... wear your PFD, put on beach shoes (so your feet dont slip) and just do it...

Oh yea, what kind of cat do you sail?

fun video on the wire of my Mystere

Love the beerholder!

Not part of the "essential gear" but a nice addition.