cat sailing guide for newbies on the web

as shipping will cost 3 times usa rates and delivery times will likely be ten times longer i'm putting off buying cat sailing guides until i know exactly what i want for a bulk order, and i'm snowbound with no possible sailing on the lake

until then i've found the "hobie university" pdf (available on the web) pretty good and now the "cat: sailing basics" from below page has also taught me a couple of things

http://www.pdo.co.om/hseforcontractors/rahbc/Sailing/cats-home.htm

eric e

lots of good stuff here for the newbie too

eg why you want to rake you mast and how to do so etc.

http://users.tpg.com.au/kkmiller/hobie/index.html

So far, in my honest opinion, the website www.catsailor.com has been my best catamaran sailing guide. Everyone here is more than happy to help you out and answer any possible question you have, (unless its political). Also, I would recommend www.hobiecat.com/community and check out the forums there as well. Also good: www.thebeachcats.com is more of a buy/sell place, but you can still learn alot from the "how to" photo section. Hopefully we'll be hearing from you soon about your first catsailing experience. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Erice:

This is the Bible of Catamarans. Old or newies alike. Newbie it is a MUST!!!!!!!

http://store.catsailor.com/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=jqcmhpjpe

Doug

that book is top of the "too buy" list when the snow bites and my paypal account gets a trashing

and am happily sailing my nacra 5.2 as much as possible until then too

just a bit worried about flying a hull too high until i sort out some kind of righting pole and/or finesse my traveler and sheet let out technique. figure i need that before i buy a trap harness. the fact that i can buy rick's power righting system without a pole makes it very tempting for those of us outside the usa

eric e

Hey
Erice, what do you weight?

As you know I sail a 5.2 and have managed to turn it over a number of times. I break the scale at a full 175lbs and can right the boat in any winds I will likely flip in.

Just sit on the bows or swim them into the wind so the mast is at about 45 degrees to the wind and the hulls are at the other 45 degrees to the wind. My righting system in a simple line tied to the bar in the middle of the tramp. Toss the line over the high hull then a few wraps on the trap hook and lean back. As the boat starts to come up you have to climb the rope but like I said she has always came back over.

In your early hull flying session I would suggest keeping the mainsheet uncleated and if you get to the point of no return just dump the sail and throw your weight back. That will usually save you!

thanks for that info gree, good to know

using a conversion of 2.2 i think my 74kg is about 160lbs and as i'm 6'3" i can get that weight out a little more than most. do you walk out on the dagger board at all?

apparently it is strong enough for it and it would certainly get the weight out where it needs to be

like you i've got a knotted righting rope tied around the forward of the center tramp bar and have been watching this video for how it's done

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh22TflF7oY&mode=related&search=

oh yeah!, i'm not flying hulls with the main cleated, just got to learn to let it out a bit slower until i get a better feel for the balance traveler etc

here's another good 1 at 15sec

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9LFsyoUDDQ

eric e

You should be able to right the 5.2 alone as long as you can get the wind to help a little.

I don't use the daggerboard but you could, it supports immense loads while under use so it should hold you.

I keep thinking about upgrading my righting system but until the one I have fails I will stick with it.

As you get better and better at flying a hull you will realize that alot of the time all it takes in 1-2 inchs of line to keep it right where you need it.

This summer I have managed to keep the hull up for 1 minute solid, this doesn't sound like long but it felt like alot longer. That was actually timed by a friend following me.

I used this kind of hardware, with the appropriate ss rivets.


And I don´t loose a chance to promote my mast float idea. It goes up and down with the main.

Erice:

The minute the hull starts looking scary, just head up and the hull will come down UNLESS a real BIG puff hits you fast. You will get the hang of it fast and heading up is better and sheeting out,unless you are flying it a lot, then you need to sheet out to control the boat.

You will love the book. Get the DVD's also when you can. Pic is worth 1000 words. When you can see it you learn it faster. They will cut 3 years of learning curve.

Good luck,

Doug

thanks Doug,
was out at the lake this morning and the wind was perfect for flight training, kind of medium strength and not gusty at all
on a good reach i'd make sure everything was pulled in tight and then lean in to the center of the tramp, search around a little with the rudder to find the best angle and up she would slowly come
very steady rise and this time instead of dumping the sheet a foot, as i had been doing in gustier winds, i just lent back out over the hull to try and slow the rise rate. if it got to 45degrees, (maybe less but it FELT like 45) i'd start steering gently into wind a little to try and find a line where everything was balanced

think maximum flight was about 30 seconds or so

very satisfying, gaining in confidence all the time;o)

eric e

the prindle manual for the 18 and 19 foot boats has some good setup and sailing guides with lots of pics

www.nacra.us/Prindles/Prindle1918-2Manual.pdf

important bit i've learned so far from it is that when setup guides say, "rotate mast so it's pointing at the stay" they mean the rear of the mast rotation arm pointing to the leeward stay. equal to about 80degrees

i had been confused as i was thinking the front of the mast pointing to the windward stay, about 110degrees rotation and obviously too much

andinista, i assume the left bit of stainless goes onto the main beam next to the dolphin striker and the right bit hooked through it and then riveted onto an alloy or fiberglass rod/stick

am taking out my bike touring watertight "sealine" drybag today as a righting aid if needed. holds 30ltr, 30kg, 60lbs so should be enough if tied to my righting line and slung over my shoulder to lever the mast up

here are 3 pages of newbie cat sailing tips from a tornado sailor

http://www.sailingtalk.com/catamaran-sailing.html

have ordered my copy "catamaran sailing for the 90's" should be a good read over our long winter

I got the Rick White DVD's last summer and went up the sailing scale dramatically, I also got the book but the sailing seminar DVD's got the confidence going get the DVD's today and in two weeks you'll try a roll tack from the wire guaranteed
regards

with the cooler weather here closing in rapidly i finally got around to spending some time at amazon looking for books to read over the winter, (pretty well limited to amazon as they seem the only ones that will accept my foreign credit card9

ended up ordering 2 books

everyone's top choice

rick white's "catamaran racing for the 90's"

8 daysno email saying it has been dispatched:o(

and his earlier, "catamaran racing, solutions, secrets, speeds"

has arrived in japan just 8 days after ordering:-)

got the earlier book as it was a hardback, clear covered, new condition, ex-library book for only $3.48, (the $11 postage kind of kills that tho...)

as it was printed in 1983 it has a good 3 page history of nacra up to that time. was hoping that it would have the nacra 5.2 race setup guide i had heard about, but it does not, perhaps that's a different rick white book?.

however it has 12 pages on the hobie 16
10 pages on the hobie 18
7 pages on the prindle 16
and 10 pages on the prindle 18 and tornado

so if you are new to 1 of those old boats this old book may be of interest, certainly they are cheap enough!

Eric:

Get these while they are 1/3 off and on DVD. I have 27 years of cats and still learned some things. Goes along great with "Catamaran Racing for the 90's".
http://store.catsailor.com/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=jnrorrrrg4

Doug

they are on my wish list and probably in the spring when i've sucked out as much as i can from the books, i find i need to read and practice to "fix" it in my head. just reading, reading, reading doesn't seem to help build the muscle memory that is so important when things happen fast

as videos they will be great for watching single techniques, (in the van, on the laptop at the beach?) a few times before going out and trialling them on the water, something i won't be able to do by the time they get here

Eric once you are on the wire you'll find that things happen much slower with more time to react. You can see your sails easily, see puffs coming, your leveridge is in the right place. I was like you hiking out then a rush to recover when things started to happen. I put my mast up on the beach tied one side to the wheel of my trailer as a counter balance then got in my harness and worked on it for ages,jumping in and out, walking for and aft standing on the rear then it clicked I was comfortable, I havn't looked back. Things you find out are where the harness really ends up when your on it so you start it in the right position when you put it on, all of a sudden its easy to hook up and off. Then your mind will let you comfortably get on the wire. As for the righting pole it really has to be on the main beam, I made my own so that I can right my 18ft stingray singlehanded they do work and a larger diameter pole is good because I just interconnect my fingers on top of the pole lean right back and up she comes you can hang that way a long time until she swings into the wind ,I don't swim my bows around, I get onto the boat walk to the back, swing the pole out position the knot lean out until boat comes up, let go of pole which auto retracts the correct way, get back on lean over front, release knot so that pole fully retracts, back into race. The centremount swingout on shockcord with a stopper knot such as the Rick White one, is simple really quick and uncomplicated.
regards

would love to see a pic or a drawing of this stopper knot, i just can't seem to work out what, where it is and how it connects? with the end of the pole

It's just a loop of sheet attatched permanently on the main beam against each hull with a triangle of sheet going from your handle of the lever through each loop back to the handle. You tie a knot in the sheet strategically on each side that when you lift the lever above your head the knot goes through the top loop then the weight as you pull on the lever keeps the knot in the loop. A piece of doubled shockcord pulls the end of the lever back up under the tramp when your finished. If you make your own don't underestimate the force on the end of your lever if the fitting is too small and it breaks while trying to right your cat it will go straight through your tramp. The hardest part is getting or making an appropriate fitting for the end of your lever. I stood my broken windsurfer mast in a beer can ( of course ) and filled it with wessystem then put a stainless steel fitting in the end works well. If you can get Ricks system sent over cheap enough I would just buy that it may cost more but its lighter,better looking and saves a lot of effort. I needed mine the next morning so I just made it quick, planned to replace it with a better one but its kept going just looks rough
regards

Also explained here:
http://www.catsailor.com/pole-install.html

Muscle memory... you sound like a skier?

Funny you should say that I'm currently sailing with a cast on my nearly healed dislocated wrist thanks to the snow, my kids like to terrorise Victorian skiers in winter and South Australian sailers in summer <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />. If I had seen that link it would have saved a lot of typing and that is exactly what I would buy except the freight kills it here. Perhaps Rick could come up with a package minus the pole and send the rest.
regards

As available at the Catsailor store.
Once the pole is removed aren't we left with a bit of line and a couple of saddles? This must include the universal joint at the base of the pole.

After doing it myself I would think to get the correct fitting for the end of the pole all the other bits except the pole itself its great value. I probably have $15 of wessystem and its weight in my over engineered pole because I dont know where it will break at but I do know the consequences if it does.
regards