Max Speed

I have had my Wave out about 30 times so far this year, but the wind here in Alabama is seldom very strong, so I do not get much practice at higher speeds. This week I was able to sail in winds of 12-16 mph, and was able to see 14+ mph on my GPS pretty often with a max of 14.6 mph when reaching. The lee bow was submerged a good bit, and I wonder what speed others are able to reach before things get out of hand. My boat has backrests, so hiking out is not an option for me. I normally use my jib, but was under main alone when the above took place.

I realize the Wave is not the fastest boat Hobie makes, but it is way faster than any monohull I have ever sailed, and I have nothing but praise for Hobie in marketing this cat. Great stuff !!!

Loren

We have been out in gusts to 45. We certainly did not go that fast, however.
The Wave performs great with winds in the 20s and loves it. You have to hike aft with you legs under the tiller in order to keep the leeward bow from digging in.
Personally, I would take the backrests off and throw them away -- you need to be able to hike the boat.
And the jib is pretty worthless as well, since you cannot get any luff tension.
Rick

I just want to know if anyone has gotten 20+ mph on a GPS while sailing a Wave.

If so, what were the conditions?

You're kidding; right? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

No, I am not kidding. I have no experience with cats other than my own, and that is just for the last few months. You have a good idea what the top speed of a Wave is, but I do not. All of my sailing experience has been with monohulls.

So........?

I'm sorry. Actually, I don't have any idea how fast a Wave could go on a beam reach in heavy air and flat water, especially if you can get enough weight WAY AFT and basically ski on the skegs. It would be interesting to find out.

It's just that I would not expect any cats under 18 or 19 feet to be able to go 20 mph and over. Usually, the shorter the boat, the slower its maximum speed capability.

In general, the Wave is close to the speed of a Laser, except that the Laser can go faster than a Wave off the wind when the Laser can plane.

I have seen some anecdotal testimony from Laser sailors who think they have gone as fast as 20 mph on a plane in high winds (25-35), but they don't know for sure, and in those cases, they said they were only going that fast for a matter of maybe 5 seconds until they crashed.

So.....? It's still a question in regard to the Wave, but since you are using a GPS, please let us know what you find out. Maybe you will have higher winds in the fall.

Fair enough, thanks Mary.

I was able to see 14+ mph on my GPS without much effort. It may have been possible to go faster but since this was unknown territory for me, I was easing the main pretty often because the lee hull was being pushed so far down into the water. The windward hull never lifted completely off the surface.

I find it very likely that others with more experience would have gotten much more speed than I obtained, and I am hoping that someone will chime in with some numbers. I just want to know at what point I can begin to worry about being launched into space.

First of all I would like to say that i am not a Wave sailor,

I just find it odd that it seems that the limiting factor for the wave and some other boats is the lee hull diving. On my 5.2 that biggest problem seems to be holding the windward hull down.

I have always thought that the lee hull, on a reach in a breeze, is the limiting factor for ALL catamarans; that the key to survival, and speed, is to keep that lee bow up, no matter how you have to do it. Am I wrong?

Mary,
I have to give in to your greater knowledge. I am sure that it is the limiting factor.
That means that I must be doing something wrong, I know that on my 5.2 I don't even have to watch the lee bow, granted I do sail solo and can trap off the very back of the boat.
I know that I have to start dumping air before I need to worry about the lee bow. That is just my case, maybe because i am sailing a 2-up boat solo.

No, it means you are doing something right. You are trapping as far aft as possible on the boat, and that is keeping your leeward bow up.

Presumably, if you move your weight farther forward, the leeward bow will start to dig in deeper, and the increased resistance would make you fly a hull even sooner. At least that has been my experience on the cats I have sailed.

Well, that is good to know. I got to test the boat some today with two people on it and sure enough I had to start watching the lee bow but the hull stayed down alot longer. So I guess in the solo configuration I just don't weigh enough to drive the bow under.

That is part of it, but it is not as much because you have MORE weight with two people on the boat, as it is because the crew is usually standing forward of the skipper, and that is the main factor in driving the bow down more. When Rick I are on a windy reach, he(as skipper)sits on the hull so I can trapeze directly behind his back, with one foot on each side of him. That consolidates the weight aft, where you need it to keep the bow from diving.

On a reach in those conditions, weight aft is usually more important than weight out.

Mary is spot on. If you could draw a line from the leeward bow diagonally across the boat to the aft edge of the windward runner, and you could put your weight on the extension of that imaginary line, you could really make a boat fly.
If you could do this with a Wave, I think you might see 20+ speeds. There have been times on the Wave, like some Laser sailors, that I felt I was close to 20, but there is no way I could produce evidence of that.
Funny, but when we used to beercan race the Sunfish, you could swear you were hitting speeds in the mid teens, but you also knew that was IMPOSSIBLE. It just seemed that way.
Back to the lee bow and the Wave, with the new rudder system which is much higher off the deck, your put your leg under the hiking strap and hike almost straight back off the stern of the boat. In that hiking position, you can really keep driving the boat hard and attain much higher speeds.
Rick

It is easily possible to produce evidence of your top speed, Rick. For $100 you can have a GPS unit that shows your speed in real time and records a wonderful database that you can later examine at your leisure, so you do not have to take your eyes off the business at hand when things get to the white knuckle stage on the water.

14+ mph has been easy for me, and I am a novice at this. There is no doubt in my mind that many others have gone much faster. I would like to know how much faster.

I always seem to top out at 14 plus even in the best conditions. It's a Blast.

sorry to cut in here when i'm not a wave rider? but i'd thought i'd toss these bits onto the fire

i just about always sail with my etrex legend gps on the boat and then download the data to my laptop to compare with previous tracks, speeds etc great tuning help

i'm hoping to see some improvements to my nacra 5.2's pointing ability once i start raking the mast back

as to speeds, solo sailing on a 17 foot nacra like gree's i find that the windward hull wants to start to fly around 14kph, 8.7mph, 7.5knots with my 150lbs sitting on the windward hull. leeward bow still well clear of digging in

max speed so far has been 30kph, 18.9mph, 16.4 knots. and that was without a trapeze but well back on the windward hull meets rear beam join. hoping to take that higher when i get a full trapeze harness, foot straps on the rear hulls and a way of righting a 2 man cat solo

have attached a gps screen grab. the tracklog data shows the leg speeds either side of the top speed to been 15knots so i think it's pretty reliable

to put things into perspective this quote from the catapult website might help

"Catapult Sensationally fast for a 5m (16ft–4in) boat - 17.03 knots at Weymouth Speed week with peaks of over 20 knots."

Yeah, Eric get a trapeze and see that number climb! I thought the wave had a trap?

Wave has hiking straps and with the sail plan they have, that is normally plenty. Add the Hooter and a trap would be a big help -- almost doubles the sail area.
Rick

Has anyone added a trapeeze to their wave?