Good job! If I may offer some advice: Righting a capsized yacht is aided by completely easing the mainsheet. A tightened mainsheet causes the partially submerged sail to hold water and resist resurfacing. Water drains better from a loose sail.
I am a true believer that solid monohull experience is the only way to truly get a good feel for small boat sailing. You just don't get the heeling cues on a catamaran. I miss my old C-15 a bit, but... The 16 has been a blast
I had a Hobie 16 for about a decade and never capsized. I always heard you should do it once just to practice righting it. But I was always afraid of breaking something (it was an old boat from the 1970s). Thanks for posting this!
Capsize practice is definitely important. My boat is actually an old salt as well, it's a 78. I got lucky that the previous owner kept it in such good shape
I had a Hobie 14, then a 16 on Ottertail Lake in Minnesota growing up. Had a blast with both. Also had several spectacular capsizes. I installed a stay lengthener to help right the 16 - only to realize I then had quite a struggle to set the stay back to the correct length once righted while dealing with wind & the chop. Switched to a Hobie Tandem Island trimaran now that I’m in my 60’s. Had no desire to try right a cat at this point. It was tough when I was younger. I’m sure better sailors could pull it off at my age, though.
I've heard of the stay lengthening method for larger catamarans too like the hobie 20 and similar. This instance would have been easier if I remembered to let out the main more than it was (also having basically no wind made it tough)
You guys probably would’ve avoided the capsize if your friend were sitting on the windward side instead. But a great learning experience. Nothing wrong with a capsize
Yup, I was definitely bold in my attempt to fly a hull like the cool kids. Glad to have my first capsize under my belt and looking forward to more action!
Not that day. Probably not enough wind, at least for consistent double trapeze. Wind here tends to be plenty for one and barely enough for 2, often not quite enough
Lose both sail first, it can be really dangerous in high wind when you right it, the catamaran can start rapidly and you will be dragged in the water with no way to jump until losing the boat or a new capsize.
We did rotate the boat around to point the mast into the wind, but there was basically no wind to help us, lol. The great thing is now I know that even without the wind to help we can right it
Did you ever have a capsize on the C15? If so how did it go righting it? I've got a c15 I've fully refurbished and rerigged and looking for some insight on how tippy it is. I'm about to start taking it out.
I believe I capsized it 4 times and turtled it once. Unfortunately when I turtled it, I also learned that my mast wasn't watertight, so without help I couldn't right it due to the weight of the water in the mast. As long as your mast is sealed though, the c-15 rights easily with one person on the centerboard. It's too bad I didn't get any good footage of it, I think I have one old video with a capsize but you can't really see much lol
