Hobie Cat Forums

I realize that like fishing, the best time to sail is whenever you have the chance. However, what do AI and TI owners feel is the least amount of wind they want to bother sailing in?

We're in the middle of a pretty bad heat wave with temperatures of 95F to 100+F just about every day. I've already figured out that I don't much like sailing in single digit winds. Even the lower double digit figures aren't exciting me much lately because of the heat you experience when running downwind.

The wind prediction charts are helpful, but often contradict each other (I'm trying to maintain some records to determine which is the most accurate for my area).

How much wind does it take for most of you AI and TI owners to call in sick and go to the water?

Tom, my ideal is 10-15mph winds but my minimum is 7mph if I'm fishing. If sailing only, I prefer 12-16mph and my minimum is 10mph.

I can still enjoy a sail in the 5-10 knot range, it's more of a nice relaxing sail. I wouldn't bother with less than 5 tho, not worth the effort unless you like pedaling!

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It all depends on your point of view. Kayakers go out on the water all the time just for the joy of it. I just got back from a day on the water in 5-7 knot winds. Perfect winter day - sun shining, water sparkling, not a cloud in the sky, no risk of sunburn. Whenever the wind died, I just laid back and soaked it all in.
Sailing is like making love - even when it's bad, it's still pretty good .

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I agree Chris, compared to sailing bigger boats like J24s or quarter tonners, the availability of the miragedrive changes everything. At some stages yesterday, I was down to under one knot, but pedalling a bit generated apparent wind and then the sail tell tales came alive and off I went again. So there is no reason to be "dead in the water" unless you want to be. Much better than sitting there hearing the sails slapping back and forth....

Just about the only conditions which will keep me at home are strongish winds (over 25 knots or so) or rain.

Can I put a vote up for quieter winds? About 3 knots of wind and I'd leave the outriggers at home and just go for a pedal on the water, light winds and the pedal drive means we do cover a lot of ground easily.

If 15-20 knots blows then I'll enjoy that as well, a touch of sun adds to the smile, sailing is being in touch with all states of weather. If you get frustrated because you can't sail in light winds then the answer is to go and practice.

Not frustrated in the least. Just prefer more wind than single digits. Was curious to see what others thought, thanks.

It takes me about a half hour from the time I say GO! to rolling out the driveway, then a 15 min drive minimum, and once there about another half hour before I shove off ...

... because of this I dont even think of going unless its predicted to be over 10and I've got several hours to be out there.

If it was just a matter of grabbing my PFD or the like I'd be more apt to go in less.

To bag out of work Im looking for at least 15+ for several hours with nice skys. I've done that 3 times to date and it was worth it each time.

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Alan W.
'07 AI dressed in Golden Papaya

... because it fades to Golden Papaya

I never skip work soo.

I will go for a hour long sail in anything over 18 and I won't cancel a planned sail till the wind is below 5. I have no maximum wind speed limit, so far I've seen gusts of 35.

J

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2011 Golden Papaya TI with a 250 square foot spinnaker!
also a more manageable 100 square foot spinny...
&
the TI3 rear ama mod

Tom Kirkman:
We have been down here in Key West with our new Tandem Island for the last couple weeks sailing, scuba diving, and catching lobsters. The first few days the winds were nice 10-15 mph and steady (trade winds) but with the wind comes rough seas. When the winds are light, the water becomes crystal clear and the water remains flat. Even with my huge sails things are not fast in 5mph winds but we do get around. Upwind is ok as long as you also pedal, with the sails pulled tight (main and Jib) the boat seems to create an apparent wind that allows you to go around 4mph upwind in low winds (<6 mph winds), where just pedaling with no sails showing you might go 1-2 at best with the same pedaling effort. It appears to me the problem is always downwind when the winds are very low. Even with the main and jib pulled out like a gull wing the boat is pretty slow downwind. Thats why I added the huge 130sq ft assemetric spinnaker, with the spinnaker deployed I can get very close to 1-1 with the wind from any points from 90 to 270 degrees downwind. With everything on roto furlers it's pretty easy to pull out whichever sail I need for the moment. The only downside to light winds down here in Key west is if you need to go in the cruise ship channel (in front of Mallory Square) where the current is around 5-6 mph, it's impossible to make any headway in light winds even with the sails deployed. I have needed to fire up my emergency 2hp gas motor a few times in order to get back to the launch at the end of Simonton street.

Ok I'll admit it... when there is almost no wind at all I have been known to motor sail (sailing with the motor running), I always carry around 50 miles of fuel on board which I can stretch even further if I deploy the sails. A couple times now I have followed the big Sabago sailing cats (they are used for snorkeling tours out to the coral reefs) into port and was able to keep pace with them (downwind only) "until they fired up their engines".

At least with my circumstances as a diver, down here in KW, when the winds are very low the clarity of the water is so unbelievable that you can just jump off the boat pretty much anywhere and see tons of beautiful colorful fish and sea life.

One thing to note if anyone plans to use their TI for diving. I have two anchors on the boat, the main anchor is a fortress fx-7 (4 lb aluminum) with 150ft of 3/8 nylon rope. The rope is deployed from a spool on the motor mount, and I have a 36 inch bracket that flips up on the back of the boat. The bracket swings the anchor up over the rudder out of the way on the back of the boat when not being used. The guy at West marine insisted I need to have 16 ft of chain on the anchor in order for it to work. I didn't put any chain on at all, and everything works fine, we have tested it quite a few times now and it seems to hold in almost all conditions. I have actually just sat and watched the anchor working on the sea bottom several times now and simply don't understand what more the chain would do than what it does without the chain. The second anchor is a standard claw anchor that I throw out just in case (the claw anchors don't hold very well).

So bottom line we go out even if there is almost no wind at all and still have loads of fun, but it becomes extremely difficult to keep anyone on board the boat ( LOL).