hello,
after sailing the cats i have some ideas about righting one that seem to be out dated and primitive.
first, if by yourself on a 2 man boat swim the bows around after dumping the sheets so the mast doesn't turtle. once the wind is holding the mast up there is time to deploy your righting device. i like the righting bar personally. unless the wind is really howling, you are not going to get a 2 man boat back up without some sort of special device be it water bag righting bar or shroud extenders. shroud extenders will require special short shrouds and a mast foot that cant separate after the shrouds are loosened. Many a ball socket system won't stay together after you take the pin out once it is stepped. I think it is funny to see an old tornado or nacra mast foot that has the pin going thru the ball instead of below the ball like Bill put on the super cats. haveing a pin holding the mast to the socket for raising the mast then removeing it for sailing is quite primitive compared to the SC system.
anyway back to righting the boat. for me righting a 2 man boat solo i could never overcome the pressure of the wind on the tramp by pulling on the dolphin striker. that is why i just swim the bows around enough to get the wind to do the work. if you capsized whilst beating to winward you wouldn't need to swim though because the bows would be pretty close to "head to wind" already. you would have been asleep at the wheel , or showing off too much to capsize on a tight beat though.
hope this helps.

Mary This is an extract from my posting on the first page of this thread.
Wrap one loop of the righting rope around your trapeze harness hook and clamp both ends of the rope at the hook with one hand, this will stop the rope from "running" and you can then let go of the striker strap and lean out supported by your harness. now take both the ropes as they come from your harness hook and "play" the rope out (still around the hook), untill you can reach back and just touch the water with one hand, making sure that your legs are straight (not bent at the knees) and your upper body and your legs are in a straight line, this will mean that your body is at approx' 45 degrees to the water (this is the maximum leaverage that you can exert with your body weight for righting). Now, maintaining that angle to the water and by letting out appropriate amounts of rope, walk as far towards the bow as you can.
What now happens is that as your weight depresses the bow deeper into the water, the transom is lifted accordingly. This creates more resistance to sidesways movement of the cat at the bow and less at the stern. The result being that the cat will quite quickly come up head to wind. When it is head to wind, the wind travelling over the mast and sail(s) will lift the mast and the cat will come to rest, upright and head to wind with you in front of the front trampoline beam and in the middle of the hulls. If it is not coming up you are not head to wind BUt as soon as you are head to wind, the mast will "sail" up.

Mary,
You go swimming and use your body as the drough chute at the bow to turn the boat into the wind. This time it is body drag in the water rather than body weight on the righting line to assist righting.

Steve,
To reach the shroud lever, you first step up on the mast and then reach over to the shroud lever to open it on a narrow boat.
I first developed this system on a 12ft wide boat. There are ropes strung between gromets on the bottom of the tramp forming a ladder between shrond levers when the boat is turned over. At each shroud lever there is a slit in the tramp about 1ft long with a lacing across it. Untie the lacing and reach through the slit and open the shroud lever. Step back down on the tramp and pull on the righting line. The upper shroud extends approximately 18inches. The platform pivots about the captive mast step ball. The bottom hull moves toward the sail 18 inches while the upper hull moves away from the sails 18 inches, 3ft of relative motion change between hulls. The upper hull has moved in the weight balance from a position of retarding righting the boat to a position of helping right the boat. One person can right a 12ft wide SC20 at 450 pounds. When the boat comes up, the shroud that has been extended is to leeward. Keep the nose of the boat toward the wind so that the leeward shroud remains slack so that the leeward shroud can be returned to its original length and tightened by closing the lever. Once the lever is closed and the locking pin back in place, everything is back to normal and the sailing can continue. This is 1978 SuperCat technology.
Bill

Darryl,
The technique you describe is (I think) what most beach-cat sailors do. But I do not believe that will bring the boat head to wind. As I said, 45 degrees is about the best that seems to be achievable.

Bill Roberts said exactly what I was thinking: The only way to do it without using a drogue is to put a crew member in the water -- someone with an appropriate amount of drag to serve as a drogue.

That may not be financially feasible, especially if the designated drogue happens to be your spouse. And especially if you happen to be sailing in ocean areas inhabited by large, aggressive, carnivorous animals.

At any rate, this thread is about righting a boat solo, so without a drogue (or a crew that can be a drag), I still am very skeptical that it is possible to get the boat's bows closer than 45 degrees to the wind.

If you want "large carniverous animals" Mary, come and sail "down under".
I was reaching on a leg last summer in a place called "Esperance" in Western Australia and out on trapeze with one hull about 2' out of the water, I watched as a long dark form of about 12' to 14' passed diagonally under my windward bow and as my head uncontrollably followed it I unconciously put the helm down as I twisted my body to follow that "shape" and proptly put the lee bow deep into the water and was thrown about 15' through the air into the water in front of the cat. The "little fish" that I had seen and I came to an agreement, -if it didn't bite me I wouldn't bite it - Seemed to work OK!
About "getting the bows head to wind" it is imperitive that you take your body weight (on the hull) right up to the bow , or as near as possible, then the cat WILL come head to wind. The only cats that I know of that have some difficulty with this is the Hobie 14 and the Hobie 16, as they tend to be more unstable fore and aft when on their side due to their unique hull shapes.

This reminds me of when I started sailing. Was maybe my third time on a sailboat, and I was with a (bit more experienced) friend sailing a JY15. Well a squall hits us and we flip the boat. He takes his sweet time to help right the JY15, and while I swam around the boat to release the lines, I hit something large and somwhat round with my foot.

I have no idea what I hit....but ive never righted a sailboat so fast!