okay, talk to me about the good/bad/ugly. Preferably from those who sail/have sailed one
Will this keep my beachcat skills up? Is the performance reasonably close to an F16? Are beach landings particularly harmful? Compared to today's beachcats - not the bomb-proof solid fiberglass H16s of yore...
The marketing slicks make it look like it's the answer to everything including global warming, so I am quite suspicious
What I DO like is that it's small enough to go in the garage, about $5,000 USD cheaper than even a used F16/F18/A-cat, can go 1up but still take the barnacles if it's not too windy, and looks easy to rig and move around on the beach.
I don't see much of a fleet around, but I'd be pretty much stuck sailing with leaners down here anyway. I envision it keeping my harness damp so I still remember which way points forward on high performance beachcats.
I gave them a good look at Charlotte Harbor a couple of years ago.
They should get some sort of design award for how the boat packs up for trailing and storage.
I felt they would get around the course much better with a spinnaker instead of the reacher. Imo, they sail a bit too high downwind without the speed to off set the greater distance.
Very stable though, you'd likely spend a lot more time with the pointy end up.
well, since my TOTW right now is limited to a barbie boogie board, which is quite a dog to windward I might add and can't float all three of us together, I think anything with a sail that I can handle myself would be an improvement.
Heck, this thing looks small enough to tow behind an old Civic...
okay, talk to me about the good/bad/ugly. Preferably from those who sail/have sailed one
Will this keep my beachcat skills up? Is the performance reasonably close to an F16? Are beach landings particularly harmful? Compared to today's beachcats - not the bomb-proof solid fiberglass H16s of yore...
The marketing slicks make it look like it's the answer to everything including global warming, so I am quite suspicious
What I DO like is that it's small enough to go in the garage, about $5,000 USD cheaper than even a used F16/F18/A-cat, can go 1up but still take the barnacles if it's not too windy, and looks easy to rig and move around on the beach.
I don't see much of a fleet around, but I'd be pretty much stuck sailing with leaners down here anyway. I envision it keeping my harness damp so I still remember which way points forward on high performance beachcats.
Similar performance to a Hobie 16 and you can find used,good A cats and slightly outdated F-18s for $3-4K less than a Weta ,all day long. If you want a tri get a weta if you want a cat (That goes alot faster and is easy to move) get an A.
From regatta results on the west coast... no where near the Hobie 16 round the course. Guys in the F18 fleet were lapping them even though the Wetas had a shortened course.
I found a used Prindle 18 for $500, and an old Hobie 14, also for $500. You could find a used Hobie 16 for a whole lot less than a new Weta, and take the kiddies out on that, teach them to trap, AND be able to race it, they are still one of the biggest fleets at many regattas.
I've spent a lot of hours on the Weta at our club, mainly helping the disability program but also solo. Weta is a great boat and I'm a fan of it for what it is, you can set it up solo easily, novice sailors can sail it confidently under 15 knots, you can go out in heaps of wind, ours has capsized twice in about 20 knots of wind due to skipper error and would have turtled if the water was deeper but it's easy to right. It wont keep your harness wet the mast is too weak for a trap, the harness on the boat is so if you fall off the boat doesn't sail away from you due to the tri stability. It's great fun in a blow and I've sailed along with the leeward ama completely underwater on a good spin reach no problem, it's more tiring than a cat in plenty of wind and very wet, Weta's not much fun in light wind, on a cat you can wild thing in the light so you've still got your heart rate up. It wont keep up with a hobie 16 around the course and cannot sail to it's rating you'll need to work with your club to agree on a suitable rating. It packs away very easily but is not quicker than a normal cat to setup. If you have heaps of wind where you sail it would be a fun boat to own, the kids at our club don't like it and prefer to sail on cats. You cannot leave it mast up overnight as each time the mast wobbles the amas rise and fall slightly which causes wear in the slide in joint for the amas, if its a windy day it's tricky leaving it on the beach on its beach trolley as the wind gets under the tramps, so it's better leaving it on the sand.
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: weta - 10/09/1212:06 AM
I sail with a local who owns a weta. He loved to fly around in 15-20 mph. (he doesnt sail around here much anymore)
He went through many multis (gcat 5.0, acat, Magnum Tri & weta)
He loves it for its mobility and self stepping. they are a hoot..
they are not like being on a formula catamaran.
I sailed this weta in 15-20.. it was a wet and fun ride, but no-wheres near as fast as a f16 (as far as i have seen and sailed next to)
There were five WETAs at Juana's, and a big WETA-logoed enclosed trailer (dealer?). Don't know where the rating came from, but they were given a DPN of 78.5. (Rating really didn't matter.....they had their own fleet, and there were no "Overall" results.) WETA's had the same start/course as the H16s. Can compare elapsed times (and maybe see a familiar WETA driver to consult?) here:
Guys in the F18 fleet were lapping them even though the Wetas had a shortened course.
I would hope to heck they were... Looking at some rough calculations between the tri and a typical F16, and there's some pretty huge disparity. I didn't even want to think about comparing to F18 or Acat as it would look pretty silly
I wonder how this tri would compare to a Hobie 14?
SA D upwind - Weta 55.68, F16 84.43, H16 74.64 SA D down - Weta 94.43, F16 162.35, H16 74.64
Bruce number up - Weta 1.87, F16 2.28, H16 2.16 Bruce number down - Weta 2.43, F16 3.19, H16 2.16
L/B ratio - Weta 1.25, F16 1.95, H16 2.09
So, compared to just about any cat, the tri would be a lot slower. On the bright side, the Weta offers: - smallest size (14 ft LWL) - smallest storage footprint (15ft x 4ft? folded up) - smallest sail area to handle for one person - lightest overall weight (211 lbs if you can believe the literature)
I would love to see a polar diagram. I think there was another thread about smartphone apps that could plot a polar for your boat...
I think for what it is, it looks like a good boat. I've never been on one, and I have zero interest in owning one too. Just doesn't appeal to me. Different strokes for different folks
hmmm, more like a de-powered skiff with training wheels/amas?
Spot on it's an ideal boat for nervous, new, cruisers, old or disabled sailors. If your just looking for an easy boat for yourself that packs away easily, for the same price you can buy an A class or any number of other cats that will lap the Weta on a proper course in any wind.
No racing on Saturday. Winds and weather above Class criteria, excpt for short periods. Current results stand. Weather forecast fo today questionable. We have gone from the low side of the wind criteria to the high side. Class rules require average winds not to drop below 4 knots or higher than 22knots for any period of 15 minutes. ..... There were plenty of “sucker punches” that offered windows of 10-18 knots but these race-able periods would always be interrupted by a squall band that would bring heavy rain and high winds making it unsafe for racing.
Just because there is a top end race wind limit doesn't equate to the boats falling apart or not being capable of sailing in those conditions. It's a class choice for good racing. Also stating 2 up sailing would be sketchy. Raced the n-20 in over 30 knots and gusts higher, and I guarantee you the extra 6 feet made a huge difference.
Our South Aus clubs thrive on above 15kt winds, infact we would hardly sail if we didn't enjoy the better wind. Look up Cape Jaffa wind observations if you don't believe me, it is 15km from where we sail and I used to sail my A class all the time. I named A class because it fit the bill as quick and easy to rig but I also said heaps of other cats fit the bill. Have you ever tried to rig and get your Weta in and out of the water solo in above 20 knot winds? You've got a camera it would be entertaining footage to see, even footage of a Weta on it's beach trailer in 30 knot wind with it's unfurlable fully battened jib would be informative. Weta owners need to stop building the Weta up as a giant killer and just tell it how it really is. It is a great boat for what it is as that video showed.
there are some pics about of a weta being sailed solo on main only in the channel island, california
big wind stuff
i don't think an A cat would survive that wind without being damaged
A cats were never designed for such, which is fair enough
just saying compare apples to apples
would you put an a-cat into the double damned?
When the north-easterly increased to 15-18 knots for the second race .............. Breakages have been a regular problem for the sailors, especially those like Outteridge, Spithill and Slingsby who took delivery of their boats only a few days before the regatta started. So far forestays, rudders and daggerboards are the most commonly damaged items, along with two masts that fell in yesterday's practice race.
Give it up erice there are a pile of cats I would put 2 up in that race that cost a lot less are quicker around a course and easier to set up. I've been kind to the Weta if you post again about cats breaking I will post a list of the things that have broken and gone wrong on our clubs Weta.
because I'm old and slow, but still need something to push out into the water and sail around so that in the rare instance someone DOES need an extra pair of hands on a cat, I won't totally be out of my element.
That, and it'd be nice to run out to Key Waden and Cape Romano for a little camp/sail
But since we've started the sh-tfight, a cat would allow me to singlehand around the cans here with the leaner fleet a little better? We get that nice Gulf chop (short, steep, up to 1 meter) and some sandbars you don't notice until your daggars find them...
Have a sail on a Weta Jay it may well suit you, when I'm old and slow I may consider the Weta as my last off the beach boat. I've had the disabled skippers accidentally do gybes then complete 360 turns in 10kts without me having to change position in the boat.
G'day Pete during the learn to sail program I have spent up to 20hrs in a week sailing the Weta in all types of conditions sometimes solo blasting in proper wind sometimes heavily ladden with up to 5 people in light wind. They are good downwind for what they are, they are much more fun to reach than to head too low, I would rate them much better downwind than upwind. The upwind start of a race is a bad time for a Weta
If your interested this link is to a video from my Taipan 5.7 and it features the Weta each time I lap it, that may sound bad for the Weta but this is in plenty of wind, the skipper of the Weta is a nervy new sailor less than a year, and the crew has had a stroke so can't do much on a boat but loves it. The Weta has made it possible for them to sail http://youtu.be/4kvPq-wqlsM
This is what it looks like when you have to abandon your wife on your own boat in the middle of a good race to help right a turtled Weta http://youtu.be/l2WOTFfBhLc
I've seen Leonard and Mead on a Weta in thirty knts. or so. The kiteboarders were doing loops and barrel rolls while the Weta was a flying rooster tail and in full control - even on the angle of death (with two souls). Jim Leonard, from Birmingham Sailing Club, defeated Chris Kitchens, the Weta designer from NZ, in the 2011 Weta Southeast Championships, held in conjunction with the Trimaran Nationals. The regatta was hosted by Pensacola Beach Yacht Club, home for the 2012 Alter Cup Championship.
Dick Hitchkock is the dealer rep for Weta Florida.