Lurking and learning on the site

I am watching this site to learn as much as I can about HC's. My wife and I just got back from Aruba and we rented a Hobie Getaway while there and now we have the fever to have one of our own. Unfortunately, I have NO sailing knowledge and to make the investment in a boat, we need to know more. We're located in Orlando and am looking for advise on where to take lessons, specifically tailored to Hobie's. What are your suggestions? I am a newb so I need all the help I can get.

Kent

I know absolutely nothing about Florida, but my recommendation is to contact the local Hobie fleet and start to meet people in your area. If you are lucky and have a dealer in the area, it is worth having a chat with them. If you find somebody that is looking for crew on their boat, that is an excellent way to learn the ropes (pun intended).

Bob

The Clearwater Community Sailing Center on Sand Key offers lessons. It's a bit of a drive from Orlando but they have very nice facilities and rent boats including Hobie Waves.

http://www.clearwatercommunitysailing.org/

Also there are a couple of Hobie fleets that I'm aware of near Orlando. One in Daytona and one on Merritt Island. Both are on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hobie-Fleet-80-Daytona-Beach/204159539678813

https://www.facebook.com/Fleet111

Another place that I believe offers sailing lessons is Calema, also on Merritt Island. It is first and foremost a windsurfing shop. That's how I know them but they have lots of other stuff including kayaks, paddle boards and sailboats. Tinho Dornellas the owner and his wife are great. I believe they have a couple of Prindles that they rent out and give lessons on.

http://www.calema.com

Florida is a great place to live if you like sailing. I sail year around on my H14 in Tampa Bay.

Hope this helps.

I sail over in the Melbourne area. Our local Hobie dealer has rentals and also gives lessons. His name is Scott and his website is www.performancesailandsport.com

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2007 Hobie Tiger

I store and sail my H14T out of the Clearwater Community Sailing Center and agree with Dave's comment. They have Waves, Getaways, monohulls available for members or to rent. Lessons are given the first weekend of every month.

The http://www.hobieclass.com/site/hobie/ihca/downloads/hobieu/HobieU.pdf guide is a good resource for learning the basics. I used it instead of taking lessons. Perhaps I would have not had to learn the hard way by taking lessons, and there are many details that can only be learned thru years of experience on the water.

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1985 Hobie 14T
2014 Hobie T2

Personally, I like this series of questions on how/what to choose:

http://www.hobiecat.com/sail/help-me-choose/

My recommendation is to decide the boat that you want using the help-me-choose questions and then look at how things rig and see if the steps in rigging fit your time and location. How does the main sheet attach? To the boom with an S hook? When you are bouncing around in the surf, it a trick to put a pin into a D shackle that attaches the main sheet to the boom. Solo it is almost impossible. With an S hook it is a breeze. Just clip it on and go. How does the mast step? How do the rudders attach?

To me, the biggest problem facing racing cats are the strange little rigging problems. And racing cat enthusiasts NEVER talk about those kinds of problems. What I believe happens is that those who start with the faster line of racing boats (not just Hobie Cats), get really tired of these problems, burn out, and give the boats up. The racing cat people say, hey, that stuff is not a big problem, just join the club! That kind of attitude is killing racing, in my opinion.

Strange little rigging problems? Care to be more specific?

In my experience 99% of all Hobie Cat racers are more than happy to talk about how they rig and tune their boats. I have never heard of "strange little rigging problems" as being a reason for the decline in Hobie racing.

sm

My only rigging problem is that stupid flap on the hook at the top of the mast that I have been too lazy to remove. All the rest of rigging seems pretty straight forward to me coming from monohulls.