... this past weekend. I think it was Sunday the 21st, in Mississquoi Bay. Your sail is KC XXX, I forget the number. I was vacationing there, sailing a Wave furnished by the resort. I waved to you, wanted to say hello... you waved back and sailed on... I guess you're too busy for a "mere" Hobie Wave... or else you missed the "My other cat is a Nacra" sticker!



Anyways, looked like your crew was having a fine time on the wire as you beat your way south into the bay. Just wanted to say "hi".... sorry we couldn't chat in person ;-)



BTW, had a lot more fun on the Wave than I expected to. It'll never be a Tornado, but for what it is; a simple, light, easy to dominate boat; it's a fun time on the water. I sailed 5 of the last 7 days on Waves, while my brand new Smyth sails waited for me at home (my trailer imploded at the last minute or I'd've taken my boat up; and so I finally get to try 'em out tomorrow!)(Yay!) but the Wave's made waiting bearable. Had some steep chop with whitecaps curling over one day, and the Wave actually did very well, charging up one swell and stuffing into the next, only to bounce outbckwards, shrug off the brown water and gamely accellerate up the next, then into the one after... etc. Roll tacks nice, didn't "back 'n fill" in heavy air, I admit I missed traveler and hiking stick. Traps woulda been superb, but I taught 2 people how to sail, gave the resort staff a hellride ( in the aformentioned chop), showed him how to roll tack and hot-jibe, then we ran down and ate the other staff-crewed Wave, blanketed him, took a 'safe leeward" on him, luffed him up, roughed him up, then bought hiim a beer and showed hiim where the bad air came off my boat, why he couldn't pass me to windward, couldn't win a tacking duel; my crew promised to teach him how to roll tack. Yippee! I had lotsa fun, all in all. Feel like I might even hope to have launched one or two 19 yr olds in the direction of catsailing.



I'm very glad Rick's getting behind this little boat. I See Paula Smyth's racing one, too.



Whether it's the Mystere 4.5(?) which MIke says is sweet (and I'm eager to try), or the Wave, or some other simple, cheap boat, it offers to get some newcomers hooked. I bet the manufacturers would sell more of these if there weren't so many used 14's, 16's, 5.0's etc going for less out there. Of course the fact that there are lots of old boats still quite serviceable says nice things about the manufacturers, too. And some people just *like* that "new little toy feel" they can't get with an old one - - others really dig getting more boat for less money, and don't mind the occasional new parts here and there. Happily, both can be served in today's marketplace.



Of course, they can have my Nacra when they pry the stick out of my cold, dead hands!

Hello Ed--



Got a question for you. Now that you've sailed both the Wave and the Nacra 5.0, what's your thoughts on mast rake for SYMMETRIC but BOARDLESS cats. Is it just a matter of finding a balanced true helm, or are there some other tricks.



On vacation with my 5.0 this week and hope to do some tuning--my trailer survived thanks to a last minute revamp.

Mark Michaelson suggests slight weather helm, as does Rick White. Both seem to agree that the rudders produce lift to windward in that configuration, which seems to outweigh the drag, performance-wise. Rick's diagram shows that the extra rake you use to do this, moves the CE aft. So when you turn the rudders to force the sterns to windward, the rudders produce what amounts to Lateral resistance, sharing the burden with your skeg, hulls and bows. Rick's diagram convincingly points out that this moves the CLR aft, balancing the CE. Net effect is you get one more player in the CLR game - - your rudders. Rick points out that thist does rob you of some power - - aft rake, that is, but Mark says explicitly that when he plays with some of the highest-tech boats there are, they use slight weather helm. After Mark set me straight, I looked up again in Rick's "Cat racing; for the Nineties" - I had forgotten most of this from the first go-around.



For pointing, you want those bows in, use the forward hole in the clew plate (I added an "in-haul" for offwind sailing, it's just a loop of line from front hole in clew plate to the Tack. Tighten the loop, instant draft) and tighten your downhaul and jib luff. (My jib halyard comes down the mast to a jamcleat - - is that 'factory' or an add-on?)



Sail Fast!

Thanks. Got Ricks book, and it helped me get the theory straight. By chance do you have a photo of downhaul and your main clew "traveler." I've also got a jib halyard jam cleat--must be stock. But mine is of the cut-the-rope-as-you-sail variety, so I'm replacing it.

Sorry, I don't have a pix right handy, but I'll try to do a better job explaining it. My new main has an actual traveler track, with a little harken traveler, right on the Clew, so I don't use an "inhaul" anymore. But if you've got that plate with 7 holes in it, here's what I used to do...



To point high, you want to flatten your sail. This reduces the power, but reduces the drag more, and shifts the lift vector slightly forward, if your battens are tapered right. To flatten the main, you downhaul alla way, sheed hard, and you want your mainsheet to pull the clew aft. This is accomplished by hanging the mainblock from the forward-most hole in your clew plate.



Now you want to go off wind, reach, or downwind, you want a fuller sail. Okay, you want to pull that clew forward now, but your mainsheet's pulling diagonally down-and-aft. Short of re-hooking, what's to do? Wouldn't it be cool if you had put a loop of line through your clew plate and your super-gromet at the Tack? When you tighten the slip knot in the loop, it pulls the clew forward, towards the Tack, putting fullness or "camber" back into your sail. So it's a 7 foot long loop, along the foot of your sail, passing through the control points at each bottom corner. Tighten it up, it turns into a long skinny "D" shape, and you can tack without loosening it up, too... just pop the bottom batten over to the other side!



What's a "cut-the-rope-as-you-sail variety"?

Mine just holds the jib halyard, and I loosen the jib sheets and honk on it to harden the luff.



keep one hull dry.



Ed Norris

Got it Ed. My cleat has a V cut the halyard jams into. When I harden the jib luff, the tension on the crotch of the V progressively works its way through the halyard fibers until it breaks. Most newer jam cleat look like a mini canyon with friction ridges to grip the line without cutting it.



Sail downhill.