Tuning FAQ

Does anyone have a good site or information on basic tuning techniques? I have a hobie getaway and know only basic know on sailing it much less tuning it for the conditions present. For example, in high winds, the windward side (is this the side the wind is coming from??) hull likes to threaten to dig its nose in the water as the other hull starts to rise. Or, how do I adjust my 'settings' for light wind conditions.

Try raking the mast back a bit more than it is. This helps depower and move weight aft. helping to keep the bows up.

You might want to look in Rick's store and pick up Cat Sailing for the 90's( I think thats the title. My copy's around here somewhere)A lot of good info for basic tuning and how things work.

Mike

I agree big time on Rick's book - I learned a ton from that book! The videos are great too.

Hi, follow this link http://www.hobieclass.com/ to the Hobie Cat Association site, then select the "Hobie University" link from the index on the left of the page.
Hobie University is a great source of basic information, plus loads of hints and tips....and it's FREE!!! I'll email you off-post with some more info. Nige H17#6424

thank you . I downloaded the Hobie U pdf file and will look over it.

hmmm I've never seen that before...that's a great beginning primer and it covers a lot of different stuff!

However, I take issue with the following statement in bold regarding launchging a cat through beach surf. Standing up is recommended? for real? It's hard enough (i.e. watch me fall off) to stand up on the boat just going through swells much less surf.

7. Keep your body weight forward on the boat when going through the surf. Standing up is also a good idea so that the white water coming over the trampoline hits only your legs and not your body, which
could push you to the back of the boat and thus promote capsize. Throw your weight forward against
the mast or front crossbar or pull on the shrouds to drive (ooch) the boat forward as a wave hits your
bow. This also helps to keep the bow down and the stern from being driven under too far which could
cause the boat to flip over backwards.

Remember 3 things

1) It was written for Hobie 14's and to a degree Hobie 16's
2) The people who wrote it were surfers
3) They are not talking any little 2 foot waves. If you were sitting, the water could easily go to your chest, sometimes over your head

By the way, standing up holding on to a shroud, works pretty well on a 14.

Saw lots of different methods on Jensen Beach during the Worrell a couple years back (BIG surf), however not much standing up. Hmmm. Wonder if surfer style would have helped?

New use for footstraps?

O.K., so my surfing ability sucks (I've verfied that). I think I'll keep my butt planted and continue to use the shroud to hang on to while sitting!

Yes, there were several methods used to combat the high surf/light headwinds that year, some with dismal results. There are rather significant differences in sailing characteristics between a H-14 and an I-20, but I have to say that standing up while the boat is getting thrown on to a broad reach in 6 ft surf is pretty ballzy.

What seemed to work was to throw all the weight forward (of the beam in certain circumstances)as the bows clear the crest of the wave to keep them from going straight up and wind catching the tramp. Then, as the boat is kicked over onto a reach, get those rudders powered again and drive up the next face. Getting hit by the second wave while stalled and pointing parallel to the beach seemed to cause the most damage. Flying a hull prior to going up the face seemed to complicate things with those high aspect daggarboards (absent on the H-14).

As I suck at surfing, too, I think they would be a wealth of information at learning how to time the sets, pick the portions of the wave with the least power (which is what you WANT, since less power means less chance of upset), and how to pick a course through that crap (since they have to paddle through it).

My brother is a decent surfer and it amazes me how he can call the surf for launching a boat through it - it all looks like waves adn foam to me . When the wind is down and he convinces me to go surfing, I about get killed trying to keep up with him.