Hobie Cat : More Than Just A Sailboat !

A Hobie Cat is a small catamaran (or two-hulled) sailboat manufactured by the Hobie Cat Company of Oceanside, California, USA. Begun as a manufacturer of surf boards in the late 1950s, Hobie (named after Hobie Alter, the company's founder) began manufacturing catamaran sailboats in the late 1960s and has become the largest manufacturer of small catamarans in the world.

Today, Hobie's line of products ranges from surf boards to catamaran sailboats to kayaks, though the Hobie Cat Company is most famous around the world for its catamarans. Hobie also designed a very successful monohull, the Hobie 33.
Over 100,000 Hobie Cats are sailing around the world in huge Hobie fleets and regattas.

Through the social and racing activities of Hobie fleets, members have an opportunity to participate in activities designed to enhance the quality of their recreational time, and to contribute to a spirit of friendship that has graced the sport of Hobie Cat sailing since 1967. Sailors everywhere have come to call this unique affinity "The Hobie Way of Life".



SAILING A HOBIE CAT

Safe and sane guidelines for the beginner; and an easy review for the experienced:

Always wear a life jacket when boating.

BALANCING THE BOAT

When sailing, sit on the upwind side of the boat (wind on your back) just in front of the tiller, facing the sail. Balance your weight further outboard as the boat begins to tip or heel over with the wind in the sails. Tuck one foot under the hiking strap for balance. Use your hand that is forward to hold and control the mainsheet. Use your hand that is aft to steer.

STEERING

Steer the boat by pushing the tiller away from you to turn towards the wind. Pull the tiller towards you to turn away from the wind. Keep the movement of the tiller to a minimum to prevent over-steering. This will help you keep the boat moving in a straight line as you pay attention to other watercraft and sail adjustments.

SAIL POWER

Face the sail in order to pay close attention to the trim or adjustment of the sail. When the front of the sail, just behind the mast, luffs or flutters in the breeze, you lose power. To start moving, pull the sail in just enough to stop the sail from luffing. There are also short ribbons hanging on either side of the sail. Follow the diagram of sail and course adjustments using the "tell tails" to get the most performance out of the sail for all angles of sailing. The tell tails react to air flowing over the sail and will help you see that the sail is pulled in too tight or too loosely. If you pull the sail too tight you will stall the sail power. Ease the sail out until it luffs, then pull it in just a little until it stops luffing. You will adjust the trim whenever the wind changes direction or you change course.

TURNING

To tack or turn the boat into and across the wind to the opposite direction (also known as "coming about"), follow the points of sail guide and take the boat to the close hauled point of sail. This is when you are nearly 35 degrees from sailing straight into the wind. With the boat moving forward and not stalling, push the tiller away from you slowly. When the boat is pointing straight into the wind the boat will become level. Ease the mainsheet trim out just a little. At this time move your body to the other side of the boat, switch hands with tiller and mainsheet and begin to bring the rudder back to straight.

LAUNCHING THE BOAT

Launching the boat is easiest when the boat can be pointed into the wind to keep it de-powered and floated into deep enough water to lower the rudders. It is possible to launch in shallow water with the rudders partly up. Try not to steer with too much force on the rudders until you lock them in the down position. Keep the sail loose and trimmed out completely until you can power up and steer away from any obstacle. Trim the sail in quickly to get the boat moving forward and steer away from the wind slightly to prevent stalling into the wind.


RIGHTING THE BOAT

If you tip the boat over, stay with the boat. The boat will not sink and is easy to right. It is not necessary, but it is easier, to right the boat when the bow and the mast are pointed into the wind as in the diagram.

DOCKING

Docking the Getaway properly will prevent damage. Always dock and rig on the leeward side of a dock (the side the wind reaches last). Come in slowly and always be aware of the wind direction so you can properly de-power the boat when needed. The stronger the wind the more difficult the docking will be. Until you feel confident, you may want to practice with a friend who will remain on the dock and help slow you down if necessary.

BEACH LANDINGS

Landing on a beach is simple. The idea is to reach the beach in the point of sail nearest straight into the wind as possible. This will assure that you can properly de-power the sail once beached.

All read and done, you will only learn to sail the hobie when you actually sail the hobie. Experience is the greatest teacher! Are you ready to fly the Cat? Read more...

Seamanship

Seamanship is the art of operating a ship or boat. It involves a knowledge of a variety of topics and development of specialised skills. The degree of knowledge needed within these areas is dependent upon the nature of the work and the type of vessel employed by a mariner. However, the practice of good seamanship should be the goal of all..


Navigation:
More than just finding a vessel's present location, safe navigation includes predicting future location, route planning and collision avoidance.


Ship-handling:
A fundamental skill of professional seamanship is being able to manoeuvre a vessel with accuracy and precision. Unlike vehicles on land, a ship afloat is subject to the movements of the air around it and the water in which it sits. Often another complicating factor is the mass of a ship that has to be accounted for when stopping and starting.
A key ability for a ship-handler is an innate understanding of how the wind, tide and swell, as well as the shape of the seabed, will affect a vessel's movement, which, together with an understanding of a specific vessels performance, should allow that vessel a safe passage.


Progression in Seamanship:
The crew of a large ship will typically be organized into "divisions" or "departments", each with its own specialty. For example, the deck division would be responsible for boat handling and general maintenance, while the engineering division would be responsible for propulsion and other mechanical systems. Crew start on the most basic duties and as they gain experience and expertise advance within their area. Crew who have gained proficiency become "able-bodied seamen", "petty officers", "rated", or "mates" depending on the organization to which they belong.


Most commercial vessels in excess of size limits determined by local authorities are handled by a 'Marine (or maritime) pilot. Marine pilots are seafarers with extensive seafaring experience and are usually qualified Master mariners who have been trained as expert ship-handlers. These pilots are conversant with all types of vessel and propulsion systems, as well as handling ships of all sizes in all weather and tidal conditions. They are also experts in the geographical areas they work.
In most countries the pilot takes over the 'conduct' of the navigation from the ship master, this means that the master & crew should adhere to the pilots orders in respect of the safe navigation of the vessel when in a compulsory pilotage area.


On smaller commercial craft, there is little or no specialization. Deck crew perform all boat handling functions. The officers of the ship are responsible for navigation, communication, and watch supervision.
Captains must pass formal examinations to demonstrate their knowledge. These examinations have a progression based on the size and complexity of the craft. In the U.S., the progression begins with what is known as "the six pack", a license that allows fishing guides to operate with up to six passengers.

Lack of seamanship may cause damage to property & life.. Read more...

Seasickness - Cause & Prevention.

Virtually anyone can be subject to sea sickness or motion sickness. In fact, 90% of the people have experienced motion sickness at one point in their lives and only veteran ocean sailors seem rather impervious to it..

Cause of seasickness

Motion sickness relates to our sense of spatial orientation, which tells the brain where the body is “in space”: what direction it is moving, what direction it is pointing, and if it is turning or standing still.


This sense of spatial orientation is regulated by complex interaction of the 4 following mechanisms:

1.Muscle and joint sensory neural receptors report which parts of the body are in motion and in which relative direction.
2.Our eyes observe where our body is in relation to its surroundings as well as the direction of motion.
3.Skin pressure receptors such as those located in the feet and seat sense in what direction the gravitational pull affects our body, in other words: what side is up?
4.Both inner ears monitor the directions of motion in three dimensions.

All these sensory data will subsequently be processed in the central nervous system, which enables us to balance, move and position ourselves properly in our three dimensional surroundings.
The symptoms of motion sickness appear when the brain receives conflicting messages from the 4 systems. And a conflict on board can easily occur: when reading a book on deck your eyes observe no motion, yet your inner ears feel the motion of the yacht due to the waves.

Symptoms of seasickness


The first telltales of such a conflict are often lethargy and a slight drowsiness. But for the victims it will usually start with a nauseous feeling and/or a slight cold sweat. Then these symptoms increase, and the face becomes paler, perhaps even greenish. Any attempt to concentrate on a task will worsen this predicament. The nauseous feeling eventually becomes incontrollable, and leads to - sometimes violent - vomiting.

Prevention of seasickness

Hours before casting off you could well use an over-the-counter antihistamine such as meclizine or dimenhydrinate and you should - before and during the voyage - avoid spicy or rich foods, alcohol and apples. For longer trips, a prescription medication called Transderm-Scopolamine patch can be worn behind the ear for up to three days at a time. Side-effects of these medications usually consist of sedation and dry mouth.



Interestingly enough: Recent studies have shown that ginger root may be as effective as the other drug treatments but is associated with fewer side effects.

If, despite all these precautions, you still notice the early symptoms with one of you crew, act immediately and:


o Get the victim out on deck but not in direct sunlight.
o Don’t give the victim any task other than steering.
o Steering - as well as studying the horizon works and will help to anticipate
the boat's motion. Else let the victim lay in the cockpit to leeward with closed eyes.
o Steady the yacht, either by heaving to or letting the best helmsman drive the yacht. Read more...

The Points of Sail - A Sailor's 'Rules of the Road'

The Points of Sail would be the most important concept to keep in mind for a beginner sailor. It helps us in understanding a sailing boat's course in relation to the wind direction.

First, there is a distinction between the port (left) tack and the starboard (right) tack. If the wind is coming from anywhere on the port side, the boat is on port tack. Likewise if the wind is coming from the starboard side, the boat is on starboard tack. Except when head to wind, a boat will be on either port or starboard tack while on any point of sail. For purposes of the racing rules and "rules of the road," the wind is assumed to be coming from the side opposite that which the boom is carried.

Below are some of the terms and techniques of sailing that are followed as per the boat's course in relation to the wind direction :-

HEAD TO WIND

At this point of sail the boat is headed directly into the wind. A boat turns through this point of sail as it performs a tack. The boat is on neither port nor starboard tack. Since a boat cannot sail directly into the wind, if a boat comes head to wind, and loses steerage it is said to be 'in irons,' and may begin to travel slowly backwards. To recover, the jib (headsail) is backed to one side, and the tiller is moved to the same side.

NO-GO ZONE

The boat is pointed too close to the wind for the sails to generate any power (unless they are backed). The sails will be luffing ('flapping') in the breeze and making noise, like a flag.

Here it should be noted that the existence and extension of the No-Go Zone depends a lot on the general characteristics of the sailboat. This fact is applicable to all other techniques but more so noticable in the No-Go Zone.

CLOSE HAULED

A boat is sailing close hauled when its sails are trimmed in tightly and it is sailing as close to the wind as it can without entering the No-Go Zone. This point of sail lets the boat travel diagonally upwind. This is a precise point of sail.

REACHING

When the boat is traveling approximately perpendicular to the wind, this is called reaching. A 'close' reach is somewhat toward the wind, and 'broad' reach is a little bit away from the wind (a 'beam' reach is with the wind precisely at a right angle to the boat). For most modern sailboats, reaching is the fastest way to travel.

CLOSE REACH

This is any upwind angle between Close Hauled and a Beam Reach. 'Fetch' (or 'fetching') is a synonym in many English-speaking countries for a close reach.

BEAM REACH

This is a course steered at right angles to the wind. This is a precise point of sail. Sails are put out at roughly 45 degrees.

BROAD REACH

The wind is coming from behind the boat at an angle. This represents a range of wind angles between Beam Reach and Running Downwind. The sails are eased out away from the boat, but not as much as on a run or dead run (downwind run).

RUNNING DOWNWIND

On this point of sail, the wind is coming from directly behind the boat. Because running is the most difficult point of sail for modern yachts, and can be dangerous to those on board in the event of an accidental jibe, it is often called the don't go zone. Modern racing yacht design favors sailing rigs that can point very high to windward, which means a high aspect ratio sail. Downwind performance suffers, but that is overcome by the use of a low aspect ratio spinnaker for running.

The above terms and techniques are the most essential knowledge required about sailing and in understanding the nature of it. A successful sailor is one who is able to be judge the winds and adjust the sails accordingly to exploit the wind - which is afterall the basis of sailing.

As the famous quote goes "You may not be able to change the course of your life, but you can surely adjust your sails..."

Read more...