Just moved to Maui - have had a hard time tracking down a Hobie to buy. Any & all advice about where to find one, keep it, sail it, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Mahalo

Good luck trying to find anything that still floats! Any Beach cats left will be rotting at Kaanapali, if you want to know why just look out 200 yards from the beach and you will see a 25knot wind line. best investment if you do sail in Maui is to get yourself an EPIRB, it's a long way to drift turtled to Tahiti.
Come on over to Oahu (Kaneohe Bay) if you want to see the one and only active fleet.
20's 16's and Getaway's

The ones on the beach are junked - there was a 20 miracle that someone was living under until last weeks blow turned the boat into beach parts. The 25 knot wind is exactly why I want a boat - I just cannot believe no one sails.

There's a NACRA6.0NA sitting here on Oahu for sale w/trailer in great cond.
But you would need to add extra traps, maybe with 4 on the wire it will stay upright in Maui.
What size cat did you have in mind?

WOW! That would be a great place for Hobie Wave.., they love heavy air and are bulletproof. And hiking would sure help the abs. :grin: Rick

We have been here at Kihei for a week, and have not seen any of the Waves on the water. There are about three on the beach, but none have been out. Wind has been light in the AM, great for Kayaking, which we have been doing. It does pick up in the afternoon, and should be great for sailing.

Caleb

Caleb

Grab one at the first opportunity and enjoy :) Have a nice time. Bet you are not looking forward to going back to the cold again though. I was about to visit my old Vail ski buddy in Spokane and do some turns on Mt. Spokane, some points in Idaho and possibly some of the Canadian areas, but he says they are really having a snow drought. :p Rick

Hello,
i have an 18 on the north shore. it's on the trailer. also someone put a supercat 20 on a trailer in their new vacant lot facing hana hwy. in haiku.
in general northshore conditions are rough in the afternoon, but the mornings are moderate. the rough conditions are fun if you like a challenge. the shape of the northshore is like a big glove. if a something happens, you get pushed towards shore. that can have its own set of problems depending on which shore, but at least you are not drifting out to sea 3000 miles from a continent.
the idea to have a paia yacht club is there, but it's work and finding a location is tough.
there are rentals in kaanapali as well as wailea. both rent hobiewaves i think. the cat beach in kihei moved up towards maalaea where the canoe beach is. the prindle beach in kaanapali has no more boats. it's private propery got developed. plus the kiawe trees got really big and the thorns are hell. some cat sailing is done at kanaha, but they use kites with no mast.
for real

If you want to rent in the Ka'anapail STAY AWAY FROM THE HYATT!! Their boats are junk. On top of that they have no idea how to set them up. Can you say reversed rudders?

Talk to Greg at the activity center in front of the Castaways restaurant. He's go a 16 and a Getaway. Both are in good shape.

I was told that there was no multihull action on Maui so I donated my 16 to the Boy Scouts when I moved over. Big mistake. I'm going to order a 20 from the mainland next week as the local dealer wants $20K plus $4K for shipping. Yeah right.

FYI,
The local dealer will sell it to you for less but you will have to assemble it and void the warranty. which is no biggie cause the Hobie warranty is [censored].
someone just bought a 20 on Oahu for 12k from the dealer assembled.
Does you price include a trailer?
Have you sailed in saltwater before?
make sure your diamond wire turnbuckle doesn't unwind while sailing, a new mast is expensive.
GOOD LUCK

Dray,

No kidding on the warranty. I've assembled a lot of Hobies in the past so it shouldn't be a problem. My team won the assembly contest at the 16 Nationals when it was held at Coyote Point about 15 years ago.

The trailer is extra for about $1100.

I've sailed SF Bay and the ocean off Northern and Southern Cali. It's so nice not to have to wear all the clod weather gear.

Thanks for the turnbuckle advice. The 20 is a new type of boat to me so any other tips are very welcome.

Some info from a guy that has been sailing maui for 18 years:
sailing the north shore here is similar to sailing out past the mile bouy in Santa Cruz. there are a few more of the force 7 days in a maui summer though compared to norcal. if you get down to the Paia beach and on the water by 8:30-9:30 in the summer you can sail in force3 building to 6 or 7 by 2:00. every day is different, but most wind patterns hang around for days or weeks in the summer.
sailing a beach cat in force 6-7 is kind of an extreme sport if you use sails for winds of force 1-6, but those are the sails you normally have. a smaller mast/main sail, say 90% of the current one, would be nice. it's on the list. for now we just roll up the jib when lazy or inexperience people are on board. we sailed from Paia 20 times in august and september this year.
in the winter we sail prindle beach kaanapali when possible. the wind is varried in winter.
i've only sailed southkihei-wailea areas a few times on a beachcat, but the winds are twichy there. sometimes switching from the left side to the right and back just like that. sometimes the wind can't decide if it wants to fill in from the La Perouse bay side or the Ma’alaea side. still a blast tho. you are better off sailing from the first canoe beach south of Ma’alaea. far from the Alenuihaha Channel. gateway to Tahiti, and purported to be the roughest channel of the islands.
hope this helps. you will be dealing with some potential dangers.

That's some great info Jolly Roger. If you ever make it to Oahu give me a jingle and we'll take a ride around Kaneohe Bay on the H-20.
BTW do you know if Chuck Johnson is still sailing over there? He's a very good Hobie 16 sailor.
I've spent some time in Maui but have only sailed the Lahiana return race on a Hobie 20 w/a chute.

Thanks for the info. I live up the hill from Prindle/Airport beach. I'll probably launch at Mala as I don't have beach wheels.

I lived in Kihei in the 80"s and owned a new P-19. Rigged it with triple traps, me and boat mates were about 150 lbs each. It was the best sailing that I ever did and by far the fastest I have ever sailed on a beach cat. If you are used to heavy air, it is the greatest, but if you are timid, "STAY ON SHORE" When I lived there we had 3 or 4 races a year, with about 10-12 boats racing. If you happen to see a P-19 with red deck inserts and a red stripe in the fiberglass (not tape) that was my boat.