Trailer?! 14?!

I'm interested in buying a new wave for its obvious simplicity and compactness, but was wondering if i could fit the whole thing on my minivan. I read it'll fit on a car, but was wondering if anyone here does that, and what kind of advise one would have for a newbie like myself.

I was previously thinking about a Hobie 14 for its faster speed. and was also wondering how much more speed a 14 has on other Hobies. Trapezing (sp?) sounds a lot of fun as well. Is there a steep learning curve? Are Fiberglass hulls hard to maintain? cost?

Sorry for all the questions, im just really excited about cats, i used to sail Opti's, 420's and Laser's with my friends a while back...a lot of fun.

i can't answer all your questions, but i'll comment on the info i feel i have a good grasp of.

the only way i imagine a hobie wave on top of a minivan is if you disassemble it and carefully tie it down on the van; i am not even sure you could fit it all up there. in any case, it sounds like a GIANT pain to me. ask yourself - do you really want to assemble/disassemble a sailboat and mount it to your roof each time you go sailing. that would cause me to not want to sail and the boat would end up collecting dust.

my advice - get a trailer. i have one and it makes using the boat very easy. that way, the only thing you have to do is rig the mast, launch, sail, retrieve, take down the mast, secure the boat and go home.

i've only sailed one fiberglass hobie and it was a long time ago. my feeling is that the wave, while fun, is not as fast as the fiberglass boats. the wave is a "casual" boat for lack of a better description. it is, however, as i indicated above, relatively easy to rig and use. if ou have kids, you'll appreciate the boomless design as well (no head injuries if a child happens to get whacked when the mainsail goes over).

good luck.

You can cartop the Wave if you wish (I've seen two in the back of a /14 pickup and one on a VW Rabbit before) - but the trailer means faster setup. However, if you are mostly going to be taking it out camping for a few days, the extra setup is no big deal.

As for the 14, it's faster with one person. You can sail it with two...but you can sail the Wave with 4. 4 People on a 14 and you are a submarine, not a sailboat.

It's not 'official' but you can get a trapeze for the Wave - you'll have to be solo in some good wind to use it though. More useful, I've heard, are the backrests. Comfortable as the back of a seat or hike way out!

-Tim

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Tim
Unofficial Fleet 72 Communications Officer and Div 4 Webmaster
http://www.hobiefleet72.org
http://www.div4.hobieclass.com/

The choice of which to huy depends on what you want the boat for, as for the 14, I own the oldest sailing 14 the anyone on here has heard of. It is a 67 and still as solid as a rock, that should answer some of the hard to maintain questions. It is a really easy boat to learn on, I had sailed on a sunfish and a snark quite a bit before getting into my Hobie, man had I been missing alot. The 14T is a great little boat if you are going to be sailing solo or with one other person. If you put to many people on it, well she is a slug but with me and a lady friend we can catch every mono on the lake and most of the other cats. I know that sounds weird to the people who sail bigger boats but my little boat flys solo, there is nothing that can catch me. It is simple to rig and haul although you will have to get a trailor but I would think you would want on with the wave also.

Now for the bad about the 14. Although she is fast she is very weight sensitive, also you will not be dry, every wave will crash over you and you will be getting splashed from under the tramp. I do not consider this a bad thing but some might. As for a family boat, look at the wave, the 14 is a racer not a cruiser. And just as the other guy said, small children will not enjoy the boom swinging across the entire tramp... but in all honesty would you enjoy a sail swinging across?

I hope that this helped, I would go with the 14 but that is me a young college student who loves speed. I am not looking for a family, about all I haul on my boat is a potential girlfriend from time to time. Oh and just for the record girls love to hang out on the trapeze so if that is what you are looking for go with the 14.


No matter what you will have fun, enjoy a Hobie!!

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Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!

Waaaaaayy back in the '80s there was a company (Murray's?) that sold a car top rack that had rollers. It would take either a 14 or 16. It was made of 2 inch square steel stock. You could fabricate one fairly cheaply that would be custom fit to your van.

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Thanks a lot, i never thought about how often i would be using it with friends, so i think the wiser choice would be to stick with the wave for my camping and the 420 for races. hah. you guys rocks. thanks again.