Hobie Cat 18 Adventure

[juanpablo]

Hey guys,

Thanks again for your help and advices. We haven't had much wind where I live and was not able to trip to use the sail of the Hobie 14 on the Hobie 18.

Looking up online, I have seen a righting bucket that can help to right the boat. I haven't seen this device befire nor even see it in action. How good is this. I do not have a problem righting the boat with another person but could this device be helpfull when I cpasize by myself? Does it work well?

Sincerely,


Juan Pablo

[juanpablo]

Hey Guys,

I have been away for a little while. Last week I went sailing with the Hobie 18 however I rigged the sail of the hobie 14 that I have. The wind was moderatly strong and even with a smaller sail the boat was movinf fast. Attaching the sail was a little tricky but it worked great. I even spend some time in on hull but not on the trapeze.

The problem that I encounter is that I hit something pretty big (not a clue what it was I did not see anything) but it broke the top of the rudder holder. A new piece either to replace or the homemade repair.

I should cross from the Miami to Bimini Island sometime in the beginning of the summer.

Thanks again for your reply to all.

Peace

Juan Pablo

[wayunderated]

Originally Posted by cal40john

John, avid Hobie sailor, used to dream of cruising the San Juans in a Hobie, but was never interested in Hobie ocean crossing.

Hey John...funny you should mention that I was just camping two weekends ago with my kayak out on Sucia and thought..."I should bring my Hobie out here and do this!!!" And...I just posted something with my local fleet (fleet 72) about doing the same!

Any thoughts on this would be MUCH appreciated!

[Dwane Rigg]

I sailed a Hobie 18 Magnum (with wings) from Galveston to Mexico Solo, and for any long open water trip I highly recommend the wings. They save my back and also give you a place to lash down things you may need and can't get to on the other side or middle of the boat. I also mounted a compass on a board (wood) and drilled holes at each corner to tie it clear of any metal. I wish I had had one on each wing. It was a real help when I could not get to my Loran...like GPS today. Another thing I highly recommend is to install a second set
of stays on your mast. I have de-masted from bad stays twice and didn't want to repeat this out in the Gulf of Mexico. A new mast tang mounted above the one that is there, then run a stay to each bow, making a spare on each side if the jib fails and the others just aft of the existing ones on the hull. I left these a little loose so the original equipment was supporting the load...but if on broke, the mast would stay erect. I also got a radar reflector and had it at run up a separate line, just incase I was out after dark (which I was for over 6 hours one night). Another neat thing I came up with was a Dry bag to carry all of my survival equipment. This was an old waterbed. It, when cut up fit across the front of the trampoline and with a dozen or so grommets and parachute shroud lines, well it worked great, keep everything dry for just over one week, and my lines didn't get tangled up in it. One other thing, that really saved me a lot of headache was a hole drilled in my dagger boards. With a piece of wood Dow you can insure your boards will not drop down if you are crossing a reef, or running up on the beach somewhere. I used 2 solar showers for drinking water and had them tied on to the boat, as was everything that could get dumped in a pitch pole event, and kept them inside the waterbed. You might also consider a capsize event and how to right the boat alone if one person gets injured. I sailed alone, so I figured a way to drop the mast while capsized and could recover it and the sails. Luck was with me and I did/t have to do it...but I could in a survival mode if necessary. If you have any questions I can sure try to answer them from my trip. Just think every move through, and plan on an average speed of 4*5 knots...anything more is gravy but pushing the envelope could ruin a great trip.
Good luck and I wish I were sailing with you.
ps. Check your cross bars...I found a major crack under the rear cross bar which had it not been found could have ruined my trip. You will have to pull both cross bars off the boat to inspect them. The crack was between the hull and on the bottom of the crossbar.
Dwane
dwane@towersafe.com

[Alex Ury]

Hi JuanPablo , rent a Iridium FONE , take the GPS , take the handy VHF , one strobe for each crew , and one Flashlight for each crew ( everything water prof ) put in a Pelicane case , a lot water and food , tie everything to the trampoline .
Dress DRYSUIT , GLOBES , BOOTS , SUNGLASSES , LIFEVEST , HAT and harness .
Tell to one friend who know your trip at what time you depart , from where and a what time you think do you arrive to what place and don´t forget to call by the iridium fone when you are there .
And with a exelent meteo and with the boats in perfet conditions , including the float in the mast and the kit to right the cat when you cpasize , and always take paddles and a water pump .
Go sailing and good luck .
Have a good trip...

[Ex-Calif]

Just to point out that JuanPablo's post is from January which indicates -

He went and made it
He went and didn't
or he didn't and didn't

(I would be curious to know...)

[TaoJones]

Well, even though he hasn't posted to the Forum since early March, he did log in here as recently as three weeks ago. In March, he said he'd probably attempt the trip "early summer," but he'd just been sailing the Hobie at that time and had hit something big which broke one of his rudder holders at the top.

I agree that it would be interesting to get an update on Juan Pablo's intended voyage. Hopefully, he was able to repair the rudder issue and is still planning to make the attempt.

TaoJones