Our Hobie TI, the Miss Hobie Haven, finally arrived Saturday. It was delayed by Hurricane Sandy because many dealers could not accept shipments. We picked it up Saturday, but decided not to try to take a shakedown cruise in gusty, 20 mph winds. We got out Sunday and tacked our way north from the launch at Tennessee Ave in Ocean City to the 17th St. lagoon in OC on the Great Egg Harbor Bay. We started out peddling, debating whether to unfurl the sail in 10-15 mph winds. We finally partially unfurled the sail, even though the rudder levers were very difficult to turn. We took off like a rocket. What a great feeling. We were flying along nicely until the front aka on the starboard side popped off. Much scrambling ensued furling the sail and plugging the aka back in. I hope it just wasn't snapped in right!
After we docked in the boat slip, I spent some time trying to figure out why the steering was so hard. First, based on some other posts here, I looked at the routing of the cables, making liberal use of my cell phone to "see" inside the hull, but found nothing amiss. It turned out that the gudgeon and rudder were binding badly. I don't know if that is a problem that others have had, but it seems that it would be something that would be checked at the factory. Shame on me for not figuring this out before setting sail.
As the water is 55 degrees, we wore Kokatat paddling suits, which kept us toasty and dry. I didn't even realize that I was sitting in 2" of water until we got to the dock. Note to self: Open the drain plugs under the seats BEFORE embarking.
Here we are at the boat landing.
20121118-P1020775 by dougc405, on Flickr
No "in-flight" pictures, as we don't have a waterproof camera. Besides, we were pretty busy just trying to figure out how to operate the beast. Can't wait to get out again.
The name we have given the boat is Miss Hobie Haven. My wife's grandfather, a high school teacher and guidance counseller, ran a sailing school in Ocean City for 40+ years. The school's name was Hobby Haven, name so because in the depths Great Depression, he envisioned a "haven" for all sorts of hobbies, not just a sailing school. The sailing was the only thing that stuck. I learned to sail from him and his daughter, my mother-in-law. I still run into people that learned to sail there. The boat's name is a play on name of the school. My wife has already been online looking for custom lettering.
Let the fun begin...