If you can't already tell, I'm completely new to sailing. I've always been interested in sailing but now I'm seriously thinking about it.

I'm particularly interested in a Catamaran. They SEEM (possibly showing my ignorance) fairly simple to operate, lightweight, fast ENOUGH, and affordable.

Any good advice on a nice sized Cat? I'd like to be able to carry 4 to 5 people MAX.

Any help will probably save my life.

Thanks

Where are you located, and where will you be sailing? I would say, contact a local Cat Fleet and try to get out on some boats with people that know how to sail them, and then take the helm yourself to get a feel for the differences. Cats are not as easy to sail as monohulls, but once you get the basics down, are unbelievably fun! Also Cat sailors are as a rule, incredibly generous about answering questions, and teaching newbies! If you really get serious about it, buy Rick and Mary's book, and the first video! Be forwarned cat sailing is addictive, and if you are not careful, you will find yourself part of the cult! Of course your new mates will be some of the nicest most generous people you have ever met.

Maybe I overstated my abilities. Let's but it this way. I have been on a sailboat. That's about it. When I say new I mean NEW! I guess I know the basic stuff. The difference between the bow and the stern, but other than that, I don't know jack about sailing.

There is a sail. That I'm sure of.

Help!

To save your life learn to sail first. Tacking, jibing, capsizing, righting, different wind strengths...choose a small boat (monohull) that you can easily manhandle both on and off the water. Something like a Sunfish would work well. I have four of them that each cost less than $100 complete. Get to a decent skill level and work through any of your fears (sea monsters and what not) then move on to a cat.

Good luck.

Three years ago I bought an old Hobie 16 just because it looked like fun. I had never been on a sailboat in my life. I used all the information I could find (mostly on the net)to fix it up and get it ready to sail. There are few catamarans in this area of Ohio, so I didn't know of anyone to ask for help with sailing. One April afternoon my wife and I took the boat out in high winds for our maiden sail. (photo below)I had read enough information about sailing to realize that I could reef the main sail (lower the sail area by 20% or so) and leave the jib in the van. We didn't do too bad and for the first 45 minutes our only mishap was getting blown backwards into a stump that was hard to get released from. When we were about ready to call it a day, I turned the boat downwind during a gust of wind and were promptly flipped over. We righted the boat fairly quickly and returned back to the dock. Our next outing went better and we've been improving ever since.
If you can get help when you first sail, that would be great, especially if you are on the ocean or large body of water. As for a boat, in order to haul 4 or 5 people around you would probable need a 20' boat, which is hardly a beginner boat. I now have a Prindle 18, which is a nice, forgiving recreational boat, but I don't think it would handle more than 3 people with out some difficulties. You might want to purchase a 16' Hobie and sail it a season or so before you decide on what you want in the future. If you've got the bucks, a Hobie Getaway would be a great boat to learn on and it would haul more than a Hobie 16.
Good luck,
Jack Hoying
Fort Loramie, Ohio

SuperNewbie:

Brian's advice seems pretty appropriate; finding a local catamaran sailing club would be the best way of choosing between all the different styles of boats. You mentioned a few things, though, that you should be aware of from the start:

You really do have to have some respect for the water and be able to tell present and future weather conditions. As a practice, each morning get up and turn your computer on and see the local marine weather report. Get a feeling for what winds feel like. You'll need to know what kind of weather to expect before you go out.

You also mentioned 4-5 people riding on your catamaran, and this is done very rarely, though you could do it with a larger boat like a Hobie 21 or a Nacra 6.0. However, these boats are very powerful and cumbersome. They're difficult to move around on the beach and they're even more difficult to right if they flip over. There are tools (e.g. Rick White's power righter) that can help, but they take a fair amount of practice and experience on the water.

I think a person can learn to sail on a catamaran, not necessarily a small monohull. Most of my friends in our club did exactly that by coming to a cat owner at the beach. It's really not that difficult; you can probably learn to sail in light winds (around 5 knots) in less than a day. Learning to race will give you the highest learning curve.

One other thing; I can't think of any newer catamarans that now have reefing points on their sails. I think Hobie Cat stopped doing that around 1979.

Have fun.

Wyatt

I started about three years ago with a Nacra 5.2 after competing once on a 21' monohull in a regatta. My dad had a Hobie 16 when I was very young and I remembered that boat enough to know that a catamaran was in my future. My monohull buddy steered me toward Nacra and much like most of the public, all I knew of were Hobies. I knew very little about sailing - just enough to know that I could get from point A to point B and back again (that's the important part!).

The 5.2 I bought needed a lot of work because it had been sitting for 9 years in someone's backyard. I got it for $900 and enjoyed it so much I probably ended up putting $5000 in that boat. I have since moved up to a Nacra 6.0NA to continue to feed my addiction and drain my wallet. I was getting to be a serious contender with the 5.2 but the 6.0 set me back for a while. The 6.0 has been an incredible learning curve because I am a relatively small guy and no longer can I manhandle the boat with my weight. However, it's starting to come around and with these new sails and a lot of knowledge on how to depower a boat. I hope to be in front again now!

Learning to sail on a catamaran is totally dooable. You just need to be sure you know a couple of key things and while sailing (any boat for that matter). This is a great forum to learn about these things and there is plenty of reference material available.

1) wear the safety gear

2) know how to right a capsized catamaran. There is a special technique to it that can make this less than a 2 minute task - I've seen PLENTY of folks - been there myself - trying the wrong way take 30 minutes or better. You might even want to practice if you have some friends around to help if it doesn't go well the first time - remember that you almost always need a good steady breeze to right a boat on the water.

3) While under way in a stiff breeze, always have it clear in your head what your escape maneuver would be if you got overpowered (steer up, steer down, sheet in, sheet out - all depends on your angle of sail and it's real easy to have an impulse in the wrong direction).

I only had #1 down when I went sailing the first time. Initially I spent a lot of time capsizing and stuck with the boat on it's side before I found this website and the material! Good Luck and enjoy the ride!

Hey SuperNubie

There is some good advice above. LISTEN to what they say. I was in your same pedicament not more than a month ago. I wanted a cat I could sail with 4 people (me, my wife, and two young daughters). I had absolutely NO sailing experience, and unlike you, I did not know the difference between bow and stern ( I still get them confused ). We got a Hobie 18 without having tried anything else. I figured It's bigger, it floats more, I can get more people on it, and I can race it eventually when I get better on it. Well, the first time we went out one of my daughters took a slap of salt water in her face, and cried all the way back to shore. she doesnt like to sail anymore. With her went my wife, who has to watch her on shore (because she is too young to be left alone). So now I am sailing my Hobie mostly solo, and let me tell you, it is a handfull!! and when I am sailing (by myself) instead of really pushing it (like you think you are going to be doing right away when you buy it) I am always a little worried that I am going to flip it. and not because I have a problem with flipping over or anything, but because I know there is no F..ing way that I can get that thing Back up on my own if I do. Anyway... after eating it on the beach, and trying to dodge lunatics on jet-skis in the bay, I finally found a quiet, little lake near our house (with really flat water, which is a welcome thing when you are learning) where I can calmly learn to sail my cat. There are a lot of things to learn. Especially if you have never sailed before.

Good Luck, and Good sailing!!

I imagine your daughter is younger.... maybe when she gets older, she will get over the little bit of water in the face and enjoy it, then you'll have to worry about to much on board

I started sailing last season after not having sailed for nearly twenty years (on a 420 when I was about twelve). I bought a second hand boat (Tomcat from Stealth Marina, 16ft, no daggers, very light and easy to right, 10m2 main, 3m2 jib, 15m2 spi) with a friend and joined an extremely friendly local club. The boat was probably the right choice (rather luck though). Very easy to handle and not too much sail area. However, the key was the support of the local club. I was amazed by their friendliness (as stated in another response). They never gave me this newbie feeling and helped me out with the most stupid questions. Join a club and try to crew for a couple of sailors with different boats. You will quickly find the boat that is most attractive to you. Another benefit from joining a local club is the safety boat that is always out there when we sail (don't know if this is the case with all clubs). It gives you just a bit more confidence to try things, knowing that if everything goes terribly wrong, you will get help. Rick's and Mary's book were extremely helpful, too. Simple language and very thorough.
You're warned again about addiction. I got so addicted, I wanted more. The boat I bought didn't give me enough tuning opportunities and was not fast enough. After having talked to a lot of guys in the club and read many threads here in this newsgroup, I came up with a detailed list of questions to help me to find the right boat:
- do you want to sail single handed, double or both?
- what will be your typical crew weight?
- are you keen in a light boat (below 130kg) or does weight not really matter
- are you interested in class racing
- will you sail in a light wind or heavy wind area
- are you planing to trail your boat a lot and do not fancy to disassemble every time (limits width to about 2.50m)
- price willing to pay? new? second hand?
- local dealer & support for spare parts?
- racing against the same boat/class is much more fun than using handicaps - what boats are sailed in your area?

I bought a second hand F18 (Dart Hawk) in December. To be honest, I was scared the first time I went out in January this year. Everything reacts so fast and the speed is incredible. However, the skills I learned last year helped me to make this step (similar to Jake). I can tell you, it is so much fun!!!

Hope this gives you a couple of ideas from a nearly NEWBIE.

Happy sailing.
Phil

SuperNewbie

Phil gave great advice......

I think if anyone wants to learn how to sail they should do atleast a season as a crew.

Check out some boat clubs and ask around if there are any crew spots available for a biginner. Don't bother with spinnaker cats for quite some time.

Best and quickest way to learn is to race as a crew. Sailors are very freindly and more than welcome to teach someone especialy if they show comittment and an eagerness to learn.

The reason I said the best way is to race is because you have to go around a set course. You have to learn all angles of sail... Upwind, downwind and across the breeze. If you just go out cruzing you tend to spend most of your time sailing backward and forth across the breeze - beam reaching as it is called. This is the fastest point of sail, most exciting (unless you have a spinnaker) and also the easiest, hence why beginners get stuck on that point of sail. If you do not learn how to sail upwind or downwind you could get yourself in a bit of trouble one day. Also racers are very safty concious (even if they sound like mad men) and place a great deal on boat maintenance.... You could pick up alot of good habits.

A great exercise I have found to do with biginners to teach them how to steer is -

Set up 3 bouyes in a triangular course

Have 2 biginners on the boat without the sails up. One guy paddles whilst the other steers. The reason for no sails is so they don't keep worrying about the sail / boom swinging above their head and just focas on learning how to steer. The guy paddling will also let you know if you are not steering a staight line because he has to paddle further.

Steer around the corse until you feel compitant then swap possitions.

Once you are both expert helmsmen, put the sails up.

Set up 2 bouys so the course sails at right angles to the breeze. Sail between these bouys, rounding one with a tack and one with a gybe (check a boat book regarding tacking and gybing)

Tack - To turn the boat so as the bow (front) of the boat passes through the direction from which the wind is coming from.

Gybe - To turn the boat so as the bow (front) of the boat passes through the direction OPPOSITE from which the wind is coming from.

Keep praticing until compitant.

After this set the bouys up so one is upwind of the other. Sail around the course, tacking upwind - Heading up to the bouy closest to the wind direction sailing at an angle about 45 degrees to the wind direction and tacking (turn the boat 90 degrees through the direction of the breeze... see definition of tack... so you are sailing at about 45 degrees to the wind but with the wind coming over the opposite side of the boat).

Then round the mark and sail in the direction the wind is blowing (downwind). Turn the boat through a gybe and round the bottom mark and sail upwind again.

These excercises will realy help you compitantly sail your boat.

I have taught many first timers how to sail at the New South Wales Accadeny of Sport (Australia). We have had young kids go from not knowing the front of a boat to the back.... to compitantly sailing around a race course within 2 days.

PS - Before you put the sails up it is a good idea to learn how to tip your boat over and bring it back upright again. Tipping over is nothing to get scared about - you just get wet. Learn this in fairly shallow water and once you have mastered this it will give you great confidence.

Best of luck
Enjoy your sailing future

Tornado ALIVE

great advice!! I will certainly try the buoy thing. I saw Sunfishes doing exactly that at a sailing course they were holding in the small lake I sailed at last weekend. After the day was done the instructor asked me if I could pick up the Buoys for him since he had broken his propeller on a rock. It was no easy task getting to and stopping at the exact buoy locations. after a few tries (and laughs), my wife and I did pick up all the buoys. It was a very satisfying feeling!! I will probably be flipping the catamaran this coming weekend also to build up a little righting confidence.

Thanks again!

Fred
Hobie 18