maiden voyage

This is the moment, launching my Hobie cat at Ngaroto. I have worked on it throughout last winter. It was parked on my front lawn since May 2015. I had some nasty surprises and learned quite a lot about catamarans. I also googled and watched some videos on You Tube posted by the manufacturer and also Hobie owners in Australia.

The catamaran is sitting on four rollers of its trailer. If I untie the ropes, would it just roll off into the lake by itself? I will find out soon enough.

There is no hurry because this is its [maiden voyage] and several things could go wrong at this critical stage. People tend to forget and rush when they are launching their boat. Accidents always happen during this simple process of allowing the boat to float away from the trailer. No brute strength is required. If a boat seems to be reluctant to go, usually it is due to the boat being still attached to the trailer! 

There is nothing holding it now to the trailer. I gave it a gentle push and it was launched. This boat weighs much less than the Nanook, (my previous trailer yacht), a Noelex 22 which is 6 ft longer and 500 kg heavier and yet I could easily launch it every time and it simply floats away. This catamaran should be quite easy.

I secured the boat to the jetty and recovered the car and trailer from the ramp...

 ...parking it further away from the boat ramp, in case some one else wants to use it. At Tauranga there is always a long queue of boaties waiting, on week ends. These are mainly fishermen in their power boats. This is a very exciting moment for me. The Hobie cat has been on my bucket list for 30 years. I have sailed dinghies but never a catamaran; but after 35 years on the water as a single hander, I feel confident that I can manage it alone.

ready to test the boat

Catamarans have very bad reputations: pitch poling or impossible to tack or un-capsize if single handed. I will soon find out whether this reputation is true at all.
The advantages are many; can fly one hull and the boat speed suddenly doubles, otherwise with two hulls, it should be a very stable boat in light winds like today. It does not easily capsize in winds less than 10 knots. 

Catamarans are usually much faster than a one hull dingy because of the larger sail area. In this case, the main and jib are fully battened and is a very powerful combination because most one man dinghy has only one sail, the main. 

I cast off, using only the jib to move clear of the jetty. At first it was fighting me and refusing to tack, drifting backwards. The full length batons were getting caught on the halyards on the mast every time I tacked.

I am considering removing all the full batons from this jib and installing a jib furler for single handling on the lakes. I do not need the extra power provided by the full batons on the jib until the day I am on the trapeze in 15 knots wind. The main sheet and traveller were already a handful.

Last week, I used a shock cord rigged up as an auto pilot on the tiller. It was a smart move because the boom was very low and I had to let go of the rudder when I gybe and duck under the boom at the same time. This could get awkward in a fresh breeze. I intend to install a muscle box for tightening the fore stay some more to reduce the mast rake-angle, thus lifting the boom end higher and provide me with more room for moving around on the trampoline when
turning the boat.

Soon, I was at the centre of the lake where I slowly raised the main and away I went for an hour. This boat did not want to tack against the wind. Change of direction was achieved by gybing instead of tacking. From then on, I was able to control it much better. What I need is more practice on days  like this when there is only a gentle breeze of less than 5 knots. Then perhaps slowly increasing the wind speed and going on to the trapeze and practise hanging out. I believe that the view is much better out there, away from the trampoline when you are horizontal!

Raising and lowering the main while still tied to the jetty to be sure that it can be easily done when I am out alone at the centre of the lake. This is practical only when there is little wind because the main sail is bigger than the Nanook's. Its full batons give it a powerful aerofoil shape. In stronger winds, this boat is very likely to leave you behind, standing on the jetty!

Recovery is an opposite operation to launching. First I reversed the car and dunk the empty trailer into the lake until two rollers are just under water.

Then I positioned and pulled the boat up manually onto these rear rollers and kept on pulling until the boat sits on all 4 rollers. I have installed a 5:1 winch on the trailer for doing this when necessary. Its main purpose, however, is for raising the mast slowly, (cold turkey) during rig-up or rig-down using a gin pole.

I am still in the process of designing a special gin pole for doing this, utilising the jib sheet as temporary side stays to keep the gin pole moving in one plane with the mast.

The forestay (steel cable) is attached to a point half way up the mast. Its lower end can be attached to the top end of the gin pole where the winch cable is also attached. With this stay wire, it will form a right angled triangle with the mast, giving me more purchase or leverage (turning moments) at the winch installed at the front of the trailer.

Meanwhile, I utilise whatever help is available at the lake side. Three men helped me to raise the mast last week. When I asked them, they were most helpful because they have just finished their walk around the lake and already warmed up! I have learned not to ask for help from people who were just starting their walk!

Yes, I managed to bring my kayak on the same trailer as the catamaran.

It fitted nicely on the cross beams, under the trampoline. The previous week I came and there was no wind. The lake was like a mirror. I did not bother to launch the Hobie at all. This week, I shall be paddling my kayak as I wait for the wind!

A rooster came to share my lunch with me. Usually owners of pet chickens or ducks leave them at the lake side when they are on x'mas break in Australia for a few days. In their absence, the public learned to look after these pets for them!. When the owners return, they call the chickens by their names, catch them and bring them home!

Rigging down should take a little less time than rigging up. It is all part of the fun of yachting. There ain't no green/red buttons like on power boats! There are no engines on catamarans and no anchors! It would not be easy to paddle it either. Because of its light weight, it will move easily on the water even when there is little wind. If there is no wind, just wait a while.

Lowering the mast is much easier than raising it and I feel comfortable doing it alone. With no sail attached, it weighs 18 kg horizontal and much less when vertical. For safety, I also rigged up two side stays to keep it moving in one plane with the mast base. A gin pole is necessary for lowering the mast safely. It has a tendency to drop suddenly near the end because of the acute angle of the winch line pull without the gin pole.

mast link

The mast link attachment helps to avoid a lot of unnecessary side way stress and strain during raising or lowering of this mast. It is also safer for the yachtie and his L3, L4 lumbar vertebrae, especially if he chose to do it manually without a winch!

For me, it is much better and safer to do it remotely from the front of the trailer using a mechanical winch and a gin pole arrangement.

I am still experimenting to find out the best place to attach the lower end of this gin pole.

mast down and ready to be
 packed for going home

From here, it took another hour at least, to secure everything on the trailer. Usually bystanders interrupted this process and kept on asking me about this boat or sharing their experiences with me on how to gype and not try to tack a catamaran. That was certainly very useful information. 

dream on sucker!

I came across many sailors who used to own a catamaran of some kind. I met one recently at Burnsco Marine where I was buying spares for the boat. He helped me a lot regarding the main sheet blocks. (tie the end of the main sheet to a pulley wheel on the boom and thread through the other 7 pulleys not in sequence, so that the end comes out from the middle pulley!) 

Most sailors are very keen to talk about their boats and sharing their experiences. I am the same with the Nanook because I am very familiar with this particular boat after using it for 15 years, (exploring all the lakes on the North Island). This catamaran is for exploring Lake Wanaka and the Abel Tasman national park in years to come. I will cross Cook Strait on the ferry, towing it all the way there and back again. It is good to have dreams. Meanwhile I shall enjoy just rigging up the gin pole and the mast on my front lawn. My boat is ready; but I am not physically fit enough to use it!

homeward bound