Twoinch wrote:
Just got back from my first attempt at sailing my new used first Hobie 16. Got the mast stepped,jib up(which may have been our downfall) and secured,boat off the trailer and in the water and that's where our problems started. The launch ramp of our closest water to home is located in a narrow branch of the lake and is quite busy. By the time we had the boat in the water the breezes had picked up pretty well mainly blowing into the "cove". There's not really enough room to maneuver against the wind in your face blowing you into the dock. How realistic is it to leave the jib down, paddle off the dock out to where the lake opens up and there's room to maneuver and then raise the sails? It was quite frustrating fighting the wind pushing us into the dock and fighting the jib. We never even got the main hoisted. Can anybody help a rookie out? Thanks in advance.
PS I had new standing rigging put on the boat and I noticed that the shrouds were attached about half way down the chain plates where the old one's were attached to the very top hole. I believe this resulted in a pretty healthy mast rake. For a newby is a more upright mast more desirable and wouldn't this be achieved by locating the shrouds further up the chain plates?
If you can't get out of the cove, the boat will absolutely paddle easier without sails. And if you were trying to sail out under the jib alone.. You are NOT going to be able to go to weather at all.. You could run the main up and sail upwind without the jib.. but not the other way around..
The new standing rigging (assuming NEW factory Hobie parts)
should be shorter than older factory hobie parts. Where you attach them on the chainplate, no matter the length of the shroud is fully adjustable, and an important aspect of tuning the boat. What might make the difference is the length of the forestay limiting you on how far aft you can rake. If this is a problem you can just put another chainplate up front to lengthen the forestay.
For a rookie I would lean more towards raking the mast further aft for a number of reasons.. But if you don't have the adjustable rudder castings you are probably going to want to adjust rake to balance the helm.. Meaning the boat should round up into the wind.. If it doesn't simply rake the mast aft until it does.. Or if you have the opposite problem and you are really having to muscle it down into the wind, rake the mast forward until things feel a bit more balanced.
Also don't forget that Jib halyard tension is also a VERY important part of this formula. As you gain experience you will notice that small changes in jib halyard tension make huge differences to boat feels performs, as it is also an important factor in mast rake.