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 Post subject: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 10:17 am 
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Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 8:28 am
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I am thinking about acquiring a used FX1 for my beach house in Jacksonville, Fla. I used to sail an early 80's H18 there, and it was like a tank busting through 3- 5 ft surf outbound, and handled breaking waves great coming back into the beach. I guess that is back in the old days when hobie still designed their boats for surfing as well as sailing. Each year I see less and less catamarans sailing off the beach, probably due to the greater wear and tear.

My question is how is the FX1 in the surf? Will the lighter hulls hold up to pounding taken running in and out of the surf line? It goes without saying that once beached, cat tracks (with cradles) will be used to haul the boat above the high tide mark. Any input from experienced FX1 owners/experts would be greatly appreciated before I fork out the big bucks associated with the boat.

Surfer 208


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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 5:23 am 
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Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:45 pm
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Location: Northfield Minnesota
Jeremy launched his FXone through the surf on a regular basis.

I'll be driving to Florida on Saturday, I could bring my FXone with......


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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:56 am 
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The waves aren't the issue. To me the FX is tough.

It's hitting the sand hard. FX is a strong hull, but it's rounded -- unlike the 18 which has the tough ridge down the bottom -- and a nice, white shiny fiberglass.

Unless I protected the bottom with some kind of coating, I personally wouldn't hit the beach the way that I have seen 16s do it.

FX is just Tiger Lite, so here's an interesting video of Tiger's in the surf:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuRvujRFsjY[/youtube]

Helps when you got Big Daddy company to pay for any damage, I suppose. Hey, maybe Obama can cover...


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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 5:02 pm 
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Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:45 pm
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Location: Northfield Minnesota
I don't mean to rush anything, but if you're interested, or serious about getting an FXone, I will be in Tampa Monday morning and can drag mine down there we'll be pulling the Viper back up on a different trailer. My FXone is dissassembled and sitting in the basement and it'll take a couple of hours for me to get it together, so I don't want this to wait untill Friday.

call me, 507 three zero one 9019


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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 3:19 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2004 7:46 pm
Posts: 1457
Location: Santa Cruz
I ran by FX through surf almost 3 times a week. I made sure to get off in about 6" of water to avoid scraping the bottoms on rocks and the like. The only issue I ever had was on a particularly large swell, I surfed a 5' beach break while standing forward and the hulls pickleforked the sand. No damage, but it stopped pretty fast and launched me onto the dry beach. If you keep your weight back, surfing is no problem.

Going out through surf is very easy. The hulls knife through anything. Its very easy to duck-dive the FX. Still one of my all time favorite boats to sail.

I'm thinking about asking some of my FX friends here in Div 3 if I could borrow a boat to do the ditch run.

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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 4:13 am 
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Surf City Catamarans wrote:
Going out through surf is very easy. The hulls knife through anything. Its very easy to duck-dive the FX. Still one of my all time favorite boats to sail.

I'm thinking about asking some of my FX friends here in Div 3 if I could borrow a boat to do the ditch run.


Jeremy: I want to see a video of you duck-diving an FX-one! Even though I recently got a board and am learning to surf, I can't quite picture it. Sounds super-cool, though. 8)

Seriously, it's comforting to hear from a pro that the FX does fine in the surf. I would prefer a solid boat that won't disintegrate under normal beach conditions, rather than a super lightweight carbon lake cat that will collapse if it hits a few waves or the sand.

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Sailing vintage Hobie Cats in West Africa.


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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 12:29 pm 
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Location: Santa Cruz
It's the same principle as a surfboard. Most of the time I'll be standing on the sand holding onto the bow. When a wave hits, I'll jump onto a hull and push it under, and the wave will just go over the boat. The beach where we launch can be a pretty significant beach break. I've done it by holding onto the bridles and just by getting weight forward too.

I kept my boat on the beach for close to 3 years, and contended with surf on almost every launch.

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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 1:53 pm 
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Location: Oceanside, California
One concern is the way the FX One hull is laminated. This is a Clam Shell which leaves the seam on the keel. You have to take extra caution not to wear this through dragging it on the beach.

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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 11:56 am 
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Location: Washington, DC
mmiller wrote:
One concern is the way the FX One hull is laminated. This is a Clam Shell which leaves the seam on the keel. You have to take extra caution not to wear this through dragging it on the beach.


Interesting note on the FX-one's clamshell hull construction, Matt!

Are there any owners who pro-actively reinforce the bottoms of their hulls? On the FX-one or any other boats for beach use?

From what I recall, Hobie Cat Europe's new Pearl has reinforced hull bottoms, because the cat is intended to be used for beach-hopping and -camping.

Given the way everybody at my club beaches the H16s, I think it would be well worth it to reinforce the hull and be done with repairs for good (or at least for a couple of years).

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Sailing vintage Hobie Cats in West Africa.


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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 12:01 pm 
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Surf City Catamarans wrote:
It's the same principle as a surfboard. Most of the time I'll be standing on the sand holding onto the bow. When a wave hits, I'll jump onto a hull and push it under, and the wave will just go over the boat.


Thanks for the explanation, Jeremy! Now I can picture it clearly.

It's ironic that it is presumably easier to duck-dive with "straight" hulls. So even though the H14 and H16's banana-shaped hulls were developed with beach surf in mind, they'd probably be tougher to duck-dive through a shore break. Of course, this is just my theory, I've only duck-dived on a surfboard. Any experience duck-diving one of the classic Hobies?

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Sailing vintage Hobie Cats in West Africa.


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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 12:06 pm 
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PS: Matt, there's an excellent thread about keel protectors in the H16 forum. This is something the Hobie factory might want to look into for the fiberglass cats. (Wear and tear is obviously less of a concern for the bullet-proof rotomolded models.)

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Sailing vintage Hobie Cats in West Africa.


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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 8:38 am 
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Africat wrote:
It's ironic that it is presumably easier to duck-dive with "straight" hulls. So even though the H14 and H16's banana-shaped hulls were developed with beach surf in mind, they'd probably be tougher to duck-dive through a shore break. Of course, this is just my theory, I've only duck-dived on a surfboard. Any experience duck-diving one of the classic Hobies?


Not sure whether my theory holds true at all. But here's a picture of a Hobie 14 launching through the waves. Over them, actually -- no duck diving.

Image

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Sailing vintage Hobie Cats in West Africa.


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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 8:15 pm 
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Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:46 pm
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Matt is right about the clamshell.

There is a seam that runs down the middle of each hull.

It was why cradles on the trailer became so important. Pounding on seam is not happy.


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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:28 am 
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Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:29 am
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Location: Low Country - SC
Launching and coming back in on the surf can be a blast. Just remember though that depending on the wave and wind conditions there is also a little more complexity in doing so with dagger boards. If you have ever checked out video footage of the Tybee 500 you will know what I mean. These are some of the best cat sailors anywhere, and if the wind and water is not cooperating it can be quite an ordeal breaking surf.


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 Post subject: Re: FX1: Surf Issues
PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 9:53 am 
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Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:45 pm
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Location: Northfield Minnesota
John- Get the boat out since I dropped it off?


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