A Hobie Wave to start with?

L

Lexi

New member
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4
I want to cruise with a Maine CAT 38 or a Seawind 1160 lite one day. I know my way around the outboards, and the rest maintenance seem to be not too complicated to me with either boat.

The problem is I have zero sailing experience. Is Hobie Wave a good platform to learn the ropes as a single-handed beginner sailor? I am 150 5.7 middle-aged man in good health, a little clumsy.

I've researched the beginning process - and really want to skip the small keel sailboat phase. I want to gain the necessary reflexes sailing a beach cat and thought of the Wave for the purpose. In between, I might take some ASA courses, especially the ones that will help with the insurance rates.

Thanks.

 
J

JohnoAU

New member
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I'd suggest visiting a local sailing club, if there's a local club with a fleet of beach cats, then all the better, or you can crew on the larger boats to up your experience, crew are always in demand.

 
Evil Gnome

Evil Gnome

Member
293
22
Central Coast NSW
I have had a Hobie Wave for a long time and think they are great for learning to sail a catamaran on. You can sail main only, with extra jib and I have seen a little spinnaker used. They support two people well and are extremely robust and can handle a lot of breeze and are fun. I have surfed them in decent waves as well. Plus there is a second hand market to sell to after. I hope the Husky Hobie boys don't mind me sharing their video of Waves. Go to Youtube   Hobie Wave Challenge Vincentia Jan 2022 and see what you can do with a wave especially when it mounted a rock ledge and survived. They are amazing little boats! It will not replicate sailing big cats but while you are waiting have some fun.

 
M

mundt

Anarchist
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=
Hobie=perfect.  You can learn everything there is to know on a small cat.  I see no advantage in starting on a mono, none whatsoever.  

 
MultiThom

MultiThom

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Benicia, CA
As others have suggested, find a local beer can race (or 2 or 3) and become regular crew for a season.  A racing keelboat will teach a lot of important stuff, like how to use a winch, spinnaker setup, hoist, douse, changing mainsails, powering up/down...and most important, how to read teltales.  Not a whole lot of difference between keelboat and big cat (although the cats won't point as high nor are as easy to tack with just mainsail).  Get some experience.  Take a couple ASA courses.  Skip the Hobie since you want a BIG boat to buy (or buy one and have fun with it...little boats are a lot of fun). 

 
MultiThom

MultiThom

Super Anarchist
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Benicia, CA
MultiThom said:
As others have suggested, find a local beer can race (or 2 or 3) and become regular crew for a season.  A racing keelboat will teach a lot of important stuff, like how to use a winch, spinnaker setup, hoist, douse, changing mainsails, powering up/down...and most important, how to read teltales.  Not a whole lot of difference between keelboat and big cat (although the cats won't point as high nor are as easy to tack with just mainsail).  Get some experience.  Take a couple ASA courses.  Skip the Hobie since you want a BIG boat to buy (or buy one and have fun with it...little boats are a lot of fun). 
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Sorry, meant changing headsails.   

 
T

TBW

Member
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293
Hobie Waves are great for beginners, that's why they are so popular in resort fleets.  Can send clueless tourists out on the ocean and have a reasonable expectation that they will be able to get the boat back to the beach.   They are reasonably fun to sail too.

 
Monkey

Monkey

Super Anarchist
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mundt said:
Hobie=perfect.  You can learn everything there is to know on a small cat.  I see no advantage in starting on a mono, none whatsoever.  
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That’s why I wouldn’t go to you as a teacher. 

 
D

Dolores

New member
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I don't care much about the Mainecat 38 but had the same idea for the 1160. I want to buy a new Wave to teach myself sailing and never sell it. I thought about Hobie 16 at first, but as I want to be a solo sailor, I thought Wave would be a better choice. But after reading this thread, I am not so sure now.

 
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MultiThom

MultiThom

Super Anarchist
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Benicia, CA
Dolores said:
I don't care much about the Mainecat 38 but had the same idea for the 1160. I want to buy a new Wave to teach me sailing and never sell it. I thought about Hobie 16 at first, but as I want to be a solo sailor, I thought Wave would be a better choice. But after reading this thread, I am not so sure now.
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The boat can't teach you to sail.  Sailing with folks who know more than you do teaches you to sail.  AFTER you know how to sail among crew, THEN you can figure out how to do it solo.  But if you want a big boat eventually, you really need to learn some big boat stuff that you won't learn on a Wave.  Like how to use a winch (seems easy, right...but you can do it wrong and it can ruin your day in a blow if you do it wrong).  In my own learning, I was sent out with no knowledge in a daggerboard mono (guppy, rhodes 19); learned some stuff (how to tie a bowline, how to go around a mark and back (took lots of tris and a lot of being dumped in the drink)...Point is, though, I didn't learn to sail until I was part of a crew on a beercan keelboat.  

 
D

Dolores

New member
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MultiThom said:
The boat can't teach you to sail.  Sailing with folks who know more than you do teaches you to sail.  AFTER you know how to sail among crew, THEN you can figure out how to do it solo.  But if you want a big boat eventually, you really need to learn some big boat stuff that you won't learn on a Wave.  Like how to use a winch (seems easy, right...but you can do it wrong and it can ruin your day in a blow if you do it wrong).  In my own learning, I was sent out with no knowledge in a daggerboard mono (guppy, rhodes 19); learned some stuff (how to tie a bowline, how to go around a mark and back (took lots of tris and a lot of being dumped in the drink)...Point is, though, I didn't learn to sail until I was part of a crew on a beercan keelboat.  
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Owning my own boat while learning is important for me though. I have to be able to do this alone - mostly. I really don't get along well with most people. When I say most, I mean like almost all. I have to minimize that learning while being a crew member thingy. However, you're right about learning winch, spinnaker setup, hoist, douse, changing headsails, powering up/down and such. I thought about those too. I wonder if I can learn them, maybe, during a couple of private classes in the future cat. Well, I have a long list of things to figure out with life before I can hop on a big deal like 1160, so I am not too concerned about that at the moment. For now, I want a Wave. I saw some races with it - most solo sailors. With Hobie 16 though, I will have to have a friend when weather gets funny - And I don't like friends.

 
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D

Dolores

New member
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4
Evil Gnome said:
I have had a Hobie Wave for a long time and think they are great for learning to sail a catamaran on. You can sail main only, with extra jib and I have seen a little spinnaker used. They support two people well and are extremely robust and can handle a lot of breeze and are fun. I have surfed them in decent waves as well. Plus there is a second hand market to sell to after. I hope the Husky Hobie boys don't mind me sharing their video of Waves. Go to Youtube   Hobie Wave Challenge Vincentia Jan 2022 and see what you can do with a wave especially when it mounted a rock ledge and survived. They are amazing little boats! It will not replicate sailing big cats but while you are waiting have some fun.
Click to expand...
Seems to sail great. Nice video.

 
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