Seeking Opinions on Gary's Solo Right

I am looking for comments about Hobie Gary's Solo Right system by users of the system.

http://www.geocities.com/hobiegary/soloright.html

I have seen mostly positive comments by several users on this forum who say they like it. The only negative comment I have seen was someone who had problems balancing on the oar. However, doing a search of the site, I could find no dedicated discussion.

Any general comments?

I have not seen the system close up. It appears the oar used as the pole somehow possibly wedges into the dagger board slot. That area seems reinforced, but I am concerned this would put some heavy stress on that area. Has anyone had any problems with this?

I have a Nacra 5.5SL (18ft). I weigh 150 lbs. I often sail solo. I was unsuccessful in righting the boat solo using a large Murrays water bag during a test in light winds. The mast is well sealed, I believe.

Thanks

Patrick,

Thanks for asking. I will let the market speak for itself and I hope you get all the informaion you seek.

I find it to be an interesting circumstance that Patrick and I both have the same sail number. I don't know him. Honestly!

GARY
Mystere 6.0 #310 "Whisk"

All right..my two cents:

I sail a Prindle 18. It's boardless so I can't give you feedback on some things. As to my experience; I had the large Murray's bag and had no success in getting it to work, even under the best conditions (a hot day, warm lake, lifeguard boat right next to me, no hurry. etc.) Perhaps I just never got the hang of it because I know some sailors are able to use it.

I considered the shroud lengthening kits as well as Rick's Power Pole, which really was designed for two people, rather than one. Neither seeemed the right product.

I heard about the Solo`Right and since I live close enough to Gary, was able to arrange a demo with him one day. I weigh roughly 160 and was able to right my boat solo. That was enough to convince me that this was the good tool to own and I purchased it that day.

I do practice capsizes from time to time and have never needed any additional help in bringing the boat back up on all paws. It's a great feeling to see that sail coming up out of the water! (hmm, I'm overdue for a practice session...better do that when I get my jib back from the sail repair shop)

Gary put the pictures of me on that demo day on his website so you can see it at work.

At this point, I wouldn't sail without it. It's the only solution that I have ever found to righting my boat alone that actually works.

Sheldon
P-18

A P-18 you say...boardless, right? I've seen the soloright for a board boat with its little spatula tip for inserting into the board gap. How do you configure it for a boardless boat? Did you have to add some little pocket or just jam it into the tramp...or what? A big suction cup? A sharp nail?

"A big suction cup? A sharp nail? "

Hey, a suction cup would be cool! Like jamming a giant toilet plunger on the hull. Whap!! Gary, could you do that?

The underside of the hulls have a lip so the end of the Solo~Right is adapted to fit against it. Most of the weight is handled by a couple of lines leading upward from the stick so the pressure against the hulls is fairly minimal.

Sheldon

My Mystere 5.0 XL does not have a hull lip like a Prindle has. Gary, how do you handle boardless, lipless boats?

I bought the Solo right to use on my Nacra 6.0. I didn't buy it becuase I sail by myself, but because my wife has a really difficult time climbing up onto the hulls to right the boat after a capsize. If we happen to go over more than once in a day, she can really start getting worn out and stops having fun. I'm sure all of you other married guys out there can agree that if your wife isn't having a good time, your not going to either. So I thought this would be a great product that would allow me to right the boat without her assistance. However, I have never used it for two reasons, one it's so big I haven't figured out a good place to put it that is quickly accessable and secure. So if anyone else has mounted one on a Nacra 6.0 I would like to hear where you have it stowed. The other reason I haven't used it, was becuase I was unsure how far up the daggerboard slot I was supposed to place the soloright. There's no pictures or instructions that shows what the correct placement is in the daggerboard slot. I sure didn't want to do it wrong and break my boat. There's actually one more reason why I haven't used my Soloright yet which is really more important the what I've said so far. Almost a week after I purchased my Soloright, my wife got pregnant and the sailing season was coming to a close last year. Now that the water is starting to warm up, my wife is about 7 months pregnant and no longer fits into her wetsuit.

Parker must like those boardless lipless boats......he sold me one. A fine Supercat 17. It has the shroud extenders. I weigh right at 200# and couldn't get it over in a hurry. Maybe could have given enough time but.....frankly, they are a real pain in tail, climbing up on the mast and unhooking the extender, etc. etc. Would rather have something quick and surefire so I wouldn't have to DNF or DSQ.

Gary....does your system work for those of us who are boardless & lipless????

"if your wife isn't having a good time, your not going to either"

Oh yeah!


"one it's so big I haven't figured out a good"

The stowage issue can be a bit tricky. My tramp has webbing at the aft end. What I've been doing is putting each end into the webbing and using a bungie to hold it fast. I am thinking about putting it that way on the underside of the tramp so that it's more easily accessible when capsized but it's a tighter fit because the hulls are very close there.

I notice that Gary mounts his directly onto the boom.

Sheldon

The boardless boats version that I now build is designed for use on boats that have the lip that the Prindle 16, 18, and Hobies have. The old model that I used to build would have been useful on boardless boats without lips. But when I advanced to a stronger and simpler design, I did away with the ability to apply to the lipless boats because there was no demand for them at the time. I probably have a few half built ones in stock and could possibly accommodate those who might want the old model.

Here is what it looked like:




The thought of using a pin on the end may sound like an April Fools joke, but may not really be all that bad of an idea. If the tramp had a strong enough reinforced grommet (you may have one for your trap bungie) the idea might possibly work.

Alec, I did not know that my instructions were not clear. The extension on the end should slip in between the board and the hull, all the way until the end of the oar butts against the bottom of the hull. Sorry I don't have a picture for you. Perhaps I'll take a picture when I right my Nacra 6.0.

One great way to carry it is on top of the hulls, just behind the rear cross bar. Just use a couple of those bungie loops that have the ball on them. The ball goes under the cross bar to the rear tramp lacing.

GARY

P.S. Have you seen what people are doing with their waterbags now that they right their boats with the SoloRight? Take a look! Hold your water!

Gary, Thanks for the clarification and the stowage idea.

I have a Hobie 18 and solo quite a bit of the time. I bought a solo~right before last season and have been very happy with it. I have had no problem with righting the boat, usually done in just a few minutes. I did try a couple of times on high wind days to right without the solo~right, but after wasting several minutes and energy on trying to do this, I whipped out the solo~right and was underway in no time. I have not had a problem losing my balance on the pole.

I also solo sailed with another Hobie 18 and he outweighed me by about 20 lbs. He had one of those useless buckets that you hang over your shoulder. I say useless because it really was. He is nicknamed Captain Capsize, so he had plenty of trials with the bucket. There were several times when I would be sailing back and forth literally dozens of times while he fumbled with this thing. One time was clocked at more than 20 minutes attempting to right the boat. Hanging on a righting line for that long is extremely tiring and had he been alone, very dangerous. More often than not, I would end up sailing close by and lifting his mast out of the water. This season, he is using a solo~right.....hmmm, wonder why!?

As far as stowage, I keep mine under the tramp held with a clip and a fine line at the transom. Works great, is right in front of me when I tip and is pretty easy to put back.

All in all, I am very happy with the solo~right and only have a minor design modification to make it even faster to right, but haven't implemented it yet. Once I do, it should cut the time in half.

Happy sailin'!!

Kip
TheMightyHobie18
Boise, ID

I bought a soloright system off Gary last year. I tried it on my Hobie 18 on the beach and it worked well...but the water trial was less sucessful (no fault of the soloright):

A friend and I took the solo right out on a nice windy day. On the way back to the beach I suggested testing the system by flipping the boat on purpose. He was not too keen on this idea - claiming it was 'bad luck'. As I'm not superstitious I flipped her over anyway for the hell of it.

I told my friend to stay in the water and I would use the solo right. Well after fiddling for a couple of minutes the boat turned turtle (guess who had not sealed his mast). Our best combined efforts and those of a passing motor boat could not pursuade her to right. We began to drift further and further from the beach....out into the Houston ship channel. The realization the we were in for a 'bad day' hit when we were passed on three sides by barge traffic in both the ship channel and intercoastal waterway. At this point the coastguard paid a visit and very kindly offered to tow us back to Galveston. Unfortunately as the towed us out of the channel (turtled) the comp tip hit dredge spoil and snapped off.

End result - boat and crew shaken but not stirred. Solo right recovered but unused to date....

Chris
Texas City Dike Sailors>

I bought a soloright system off Gary last year. I tried it on my Hobie 18 on the beach and it worked well...but the water trial was less sucessful (no fault of the soloright):

A friend and I took the solo right out on a nice windy day. On the way back to the beach I suggested testing the system by flipping the boat on purpose. He was not too keen on this idea - claiming it was 'bad luck'. As I'm not superstitious I flipped her over anyway for the hell of it.

I told my friend to stay in the water and I would use the solo right. Well after fiddling for a couple of minutes the boat turned turtle (guess who had not sealed his mast). Our best combined efforts and those of a passing motor boat could not pursuade her to right. We began to drift further and further from the beach....out into the Houston ship channel. The realization the we were in for a 'bad day' hit when we were passed on three sides by barge traffic in both the ship channel and intercoastal waterway. At this point the coastguard paid a visit and very kindly offered to tow us back to Galveston. Unfortunately as they towed us out of the channel (turtled) the comp tip hit dredge spoil and snapped off.

End result - boat and crew shaken but not stirred. Solo right recovered but unused to date....

Chris
Texas City Dike Sailors

Hi, Patrick, I have a NACRA 5.5 uni and sail solo. I have a righting system I use, a more or less traditional righting pole that works really well. I have nothing against Gary's system, but have the following comments after reviewing his excellent website.

Comparing positive claims of Solo-Right system to regular pole, as listed on Gary's website :
http://www.geocities.com/hobiegary/whysoloright.html

1. individuality. Both are designed for solo (duh)

2. dependability. Both work.

3. versatility. He's right, my pole has no other function, it is dead weight most of the time. But, I think this is countered by the fact the pole is *always* in place, and does not need to be re-rigged from port to starboard depending on which side you capsize. (or maybe I misunderstand the diagrams. Or are two sets of lines mounted, and pole is used on whichever side is needed?)

4. Transferability. - yes, it is easier to transfer Solo-Right to a different boat. It can be done with regular pole, but some HW would be on both boats. I guess the value of this feature will vary from user to user. I only have one cat, if I had two, I'd have two poles.

5. Ease of use. Using arms vs legs. Here, I think there is a good case for saying the center-mounted pole is better, or at least that Gary's claim is a bit stretched.
a) I think Solo-Right mounted at water level goes underwater as boat is righted, reducing buoyancy of body weight.
b) as body weight goes underwater, tension must be maintained on righting line, using *arms*.
So, if you look at sequence of pictures on his site
http://www.geocities.com/hobiegary/SRMystere.html
you can see that constant pulling on rope to topside of boat is required. As Gary's body goes underwater, you can see he is maintaining tension on the line. I don't agree that "all work is done by your legs." I think it's actually the case that at the end, you are pulling on rope, not even standing on the oar or paddle.

My experience with center pole is that I put my weight up onto end of the pole, lift my legs, and boat just rights itself under me. By the time my feet hit the water, the boat is past the point of righting. My arms don't get tired. I'm not dangling under the pole by my arms, I'm kind of "up on" the pole, it is sort of under my armpits.

I'm also curious about stowing afterward. After righting, as I sail away, my pole just drags under the boat, I grab a short line and hook it up. I'm not familiar enough with SoloRight to describe whether it is easy/quick or hard/slow to stow after use, but this factor might be important to a solo racer (such as myself).

I hope this info is helpful, and Gary doesn't mind a thoughful critique of a non-user.

Does the righting pole attach to the front crossbar? How is it mounted? Doesn't the dolphin striker get in the way? How far "out" does it swing? How long is it?

David Ho
TheMightyHobie18 1067

Just wanted to remind folks that on this web site's store we carry the Rick White's Power Righter. While it makes no claims to righting a boat solo, it does make righting the boat quick and easy with fast stowage of the unit after the boat is righted.
For boats that are normally sailed single-handed, it works fine by oneself (I use one on my Taipan 4.9 Uni) and the pix on the website show my son and his friend righting a Taipan 5.7 -- they weighed around 280 lbs.)
Click on the hotlink below to go directly to the store's item: Power Righter on catsailor.com's Store

Ad Police: forget it -- this is my site.
Rick

Jim,



I can assure you that my claims are not stretched. If you talk to people who have actually used a SoloRight, you will find your false conclusions to be in error.

I will address your concerns in what you labeled "5a" and "5b."

a) The only portion of the sailor's body that submerges, up until the boat is tilted toward his favor, are the lower portions of his legs. That portion of the body's weight is not hardly affected by buoyancy.

b) As the boat rolls over toward the sailor, he needs to hand walk up the righing line to maintain his body's vertical posture. At first, the handwalk being done up the righting line requires just enough tension to keep himself from laying down backards in the water which would indeed reduce the effectiveness of his weight on the SoloRight. Then you transition (like shifting gears) from being far away, to moving closer in to pull from a more direct angle once the hard part has been accomplished by standing on the lever. Basically, you start out with your body far from where you would be if you were using only a common righting line. As the boat comes up, you must bring yourself closer in.

To say that all the work is done with the legs and none is done with the arms would be a stretch indeed. But as you can see in pictures or by listening to users' descriptions, the SoloRighters are not having to work as hard with their arms as they have had to do when using other righting methods.

I can appreciate the advantages of your method in racing if in fact it would allow a solo sailor to right. The SoloRight is designed specifically for solo righting and is not inteded for racing use, except as an emergency tool. To my knowlege, use of righting aids in a race will draw a protest. But I'm not a racer and really don't care if someone protests the fact that I can right my boat all by myself.

Are you able to use your righting pole in a race? I think that it is probably a bit faster to stow after use.

One of my early test models was never made available. It allowed me to right the Hobie 18 in barely more than just 2 minutes time. That was depolyment, righting, re-stowage or SoloRight, and righting line, all inclusive. I have movies of it. I suppose if I cared about racing and it was allowed in racing, I might have offered it. Not being a racer, I consider a 5-10 minute capsize recovery to be more than satisfactory.

GARY

I got Gary's Solo Right a couple of years back, and while it is still stowed under my tramp, I'm ashamed to say I never set it up, adjusted the lines, or tried it. I had one really foolish capsize last season, but a powerboat came to my rescue, and had me righted in no time! The problem was the main came unhooked because the downhaul was loose, and I couldn't feed the luff rope into the track, and hoist at the same time. Thankfully a friend sailed over and had his brother get aboard to help me. Always safer to sail with other boats!I only weigh 134 or 35, and while I have the jumbo righting bag, I think Gary's system will work for me, and perhaps be easier than the bag.

Good clarifications, Gary, thanks.
I noticed in some of the photos had the pole inclined up a litle, towards centerline of boat, so it keeps sailor "up" out of water a little longer.
I think any kind of pole is less work than just a rope or a bucket of water.
Good luck with your enterprise.

There was a thread last summer called "Power righting pole on NA 6.0" that went into some detail. One reply (#9837) had a close up of the attachment point.

Gary & Rick have done a lot of work to make their systems really function well. If you haven't seen or used a righting pole, your first homemade attempt will likely be ineffective, defective, or both. My first attempt was actually laughable, and I'm lucky I didn't get hurt. Even if you copy one you've seen or used, in my experience, you need to take the time to try it out on dry land, then on the water with assistance. Or, just save yourself the time, and go buy their designs.

I have tried both the power righting system by Rick White and the Gary's solo-right system and for my boat the Solo-right worked better. I also did not have to drill holes in my boat to attach it like Rick's system. Rick's system also stuck out a little behind the rear cross beam, which I did not like. I know you can cut the excess off but I needed the full length to make it work. Interesting that Gary's pole is shorter and seems to work better. I also like the fact that I can use the pole as a paddle. I was a bit skeptical before purchasing Gary's system that it would actually work but once I tried it I was sold, as it worked absolutely perfect. I do think Rick's system is great but it just turns out for me that Gary's system worked better for me.

I HAVE A NACRA 5.0. Will Gary's solo right fit my boat?

Thanks

I have not seen either Gary's soloright or Rick's Power Pole used. However looking at the pictures, it seens that by being out so far, that upper hull is going to come down right on top of you. Apparently it doesn't, so how come?

Good question. I've never seen either one in use on the water, and I had never really thought about that before.

Look in this picture and you can see that their feet are still on the lower hull. They are able to get their upper body weight out much further with the pole.

nearher

I just got a soloright for my SC17. Like your 5.0, it is boardless and lipless. Gary swears it will work, but I haven't been able to try it yet....I have a distance race this weekend, hopefully I will have some time before hand to practice and set it up just right....I'll post the results here as soon as I get it setup and try it...

Here's a post by someone on the Yahoo Beachcats group site. He sails a Hobie 16 solo.
"I recently bought a solo-right from Gary and was able to try it out last week at the local lake. Thanks Gary, it works great. Could not right the boat without it the first time I tried it, just not enough weight (140lbs). Once I rigged the solo-right, I stood there for a moment and up she came!"

Jack Hoying
Fort Loramie, Ohio
Prindle 18
1990 H16 (for sale)

Out of curiosity, any chance of either of these systems providing enough assistance for a 175lb person to right a tornado solo? (crew can't make it this weekend)
As far as the solo-right goes, will it work on the Tornado?
Al

Tordado testing has been repeatedly postponed. I expect to do it this summer. I expect positive results and would bet my life on being able to do it with two men and one SoloRight.

Details will be made public as soon as the trial occurs.

GARY

Jeff,

As I remember it:

Jeff continually encouraged me to develop a model for his application. Once he offered to be a guinea pig (tester) for a new design, I sent him a SoloRight that might work on boardless, lipless hulls.

I await Jeff's news of his test results, along with a few other SC17 and N5.0 sailors.

GARY

I look forward to the results. So far, in real life testing, the two of us weren't quite able to right the boat when we needed to. If we hadn't been freezing to death at the time, we might have had more success (a friendly motor boat assisted us on that occassion).