Like you, I sail mostly on the Ottawa River: you below the rapids at Parliament Hill, ourselves above the rapids on Lac des Chesnes. I have also sailed cats on both coast in Florida, in Antigua, in the Bahamas and elsewhere in the Caribbean.
There is a huge difference between lake/river sailing and ocean sailing, try it next time you head South. You'll see how much easier it is in the Carolina's where NCMBM sails.
In the meantime, we generally head off a bit to pick up speed, then carve our turn, not touching the jib, and remaining on the same side. Mainsheet is not locked but hand held tight, and traveller is in tight. As the boat goes through the eye of the wind, the backwinded jib helps the boat around. All the while we keep our turn going until that split second that we know we are through the axis of the wind. Then we move across the trampoline, unsheet the jib on the 'old side' and re sheet on the 'new' side. Now reset the course, set the main traveller and mainsheet, open a suitable beverage, and you are good to go. On a good day, we can tack in around five to seven seconds.
If you end up in irons, the Hobie will start to travel in reverse. So simply reverse the rudders, reset the main and jib, then swing the rudders round the other way, and you'll be in a good position to move forward and continue your voyage. Don't ask me how I know.
Only five months to go before we can sail again!
Happy Holidays and good winds.
_________________ 2015 H16, with spin, SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..." 'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'
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