Hobie Cat Forums

Very nice again!

I saw you slide down the tramp a few times, I usually put my aft foot on the traveler cleat assembly to keep me from sliding down the tramp, the mainsheet, tiller & gravity are all trying to make you slide and you have to have a way to stop that.

Also get some sunglasses for the killer spray when you are going that fast.

It looks like you were getting some air time for the hull in this video.

I only sail in heavy air, small craft advisories make me happy.

You are dumping the main every time the hull lifts. Let the hull climb up so you can feel the boat slow. Stand it up and turn into the wind to feel it slow down and drop. You can't be scared of capsizing.

I have learned that you can fly the hull up to where the lower dagger breaks the waters surface and still control it.

Traveler should be centered. Jib blocks should be all the way back( yours look forward in the video).

Flying a hull is one of the easiest skills to learn. You must go to the edge before you can know where it is. The boat will slow to a crawl when the hull is really up, not like a pitchpole where the crash is fast. Stand it up while seated the first few times, crew on the wire when learning can scare the crew because they will feel like they are going to fall into the sails. Proper trapeze settings are required for high flying, crew needs to be perpendicular to the hull so they can arch their back to stay balanced.

I try to use my whole body, by bending in my knees taking up the slack on the mainsheet and then lean back out. Good example of this starting at about the six minute mark. On this day it was only in the 13knot range.

Nice! Shows proper trapeze angle and sheet technique.

Is that masonboro island you are landing and launching from in the vid? I really need to come sail with you this summer!

Much easier day to play with flying today; looks like I'm still rounding up into the wind too much. I've noticed that if I'm seated far rear as I like to, my sheet binds against the fairlead because the lower pulley won't rotate that far.

Nicer job this time flying. Couple things:

- I assume that is a Go Pro camera - How do you have it secured to the deck? I am gunning for one of those cameras for Fathers Day

- You may want to consider not having your daggers installed when moving the boat to and from the ramp. I had done this until a small bump dislodged mine and I ground off about an inch from the bottom of my board.

_________________
1984 Hobie 18

A few months ago I ground off the bottom of one of my daggerboards on the gravel road to the the ramp, same thing. I heard this awfull noise but did not know what is was till I saw the board on the ground in the rearview mirror.

This location uses one of the smallest double-sided tape mounts. It's affixed to the smooth area that runs down the center of the deck; there's not much to see, it's almost as far forward as it can go because that area comes to a point in the middle of the traction surface.

The camera we used was the cheapest Gopro, the HD 960. I think it was about $180 when I bought it. It comes with a handful of 3m adhesive mounts as well as a head strap mount, the little suckers are damn sticky so you had better make sure you have it where you want it. Initially we tied a tether to the base in case the tape failed, but after several outings it is still holding tight. I'm not sure that I fully trust it still, but it seems to be safe enough.

The camera itself has not been 100% trouble free however, initially I had to modify the case door because it was squeezing the camera so hard that it would shut off as soon as you clamped it shut (by modify I mean I tore out the oem padding and now an old movie ticket is a permanent resident in the case). Also the camera has had odd issues with shutting off randomly, but then it will randomly come back on. This may have been partly due to the nasty heat, as it was 95+ out, but it's hard to say. You can reliably get 40 minutes or so of footage before it might turn itself off. Mine might even be defective.

So far I've used it snowboarding and on the lake, and it's well worth the money, this is producing video quality that likely can't be beat for the price and package.

Just thought of something looking at your second video.

Lots of wrinkles in the main luff area. As a standard procedure you should use enough downhaul to get the wrinkles out. I'll bet you are not using the downhaul to de-power the main. More downhaul allows the leach to spill some wind at the top while keeping the bottom portion in the groove.

If you haven't done so already, get the Rick White books.

_________________
Jeff R
'88 H18 "Jolly Mon"
Sail Michigan's Great Lakes in 2013
cramsailing.com

It was pretty light air in the 2nd video (the one with the timelapse); too light really. I may need to be more aggressive with downhaul. Outhaul may as well not be set; the line needs to be replaced.