The Executive Council voted at the meeting of May 10 to make all three big cats (sx18, H18 & H21) Intermediate boats with a specialty rating. Going forward, a Catamaran Intermediate rating will still only enable you to sail the H16 in Intermediate conditions on Union Bay. However, if you can successfully show a Chief how to rig the big cats, you can then sail them on the bay. There is one restriction, however; in order to sail the gennaker (both the sx18 & the H18 have an asymmetrical spinnaker, or gennaker) you must practically demonstrate to a Chief how to rig, set, jibe, and douse the spinnaker while in intermediate conditions.
For those members who were awarded a Catamaran Intermediate or Skipper rating previous to May 11, you will not be required to obtain a specialty rating for the H21, but absent one already, you will be required to obtain the rating for the sx18 and H18. For those members who were awarded an sx18 rating previous to May 11, you will not be required to obtain the new gennaker rating. Both parties will be grandfathered.
The following will likely be required for a specialty rating and what we hope grandfathered members will make every effort to learn. The rating came into existence because knowledge means more safety and less frustration on the part of the sailor and because it reduces maintenance.
Same amongst all Big Cats
Ø Make the mainsail: clockwise to set, counter to strike
Ø Furling jib: at least one wrap of sheets & not over-tight furling
line
Ø Pump the hulls
Specific to the Hobie 21
Ø Raise rudders and lash tiller crossbar to center to avoid damage against
dock
Ø Mooring: fenders just inside bow & stern. Tie off bow and stern
lines perpendicular from tramp cross spars, not at angles. Test it for rubbing
against the dock.
Ø Using Shroud extenders
Specific to the sx18 & H18
Ø Remove dagger-boards before bringing back onto dock
Ø Raising the rudders before bringing back onto the dock.
NOTE:
- Go to http://hobiecats.com/support/pdfs/HobieU.pdf and attend Hobie-U.
- Raising or lowering Big Cat main sails think: "Spring forward and Fall
back:" When you go sailing (generally forward) rotate the mast clockwise
(clock forward) setting the mast hook under the halyard ring. Dropping the sail
(fall back (to earth) or turn the clock backwards) rotate the mast counter-clockwise
bringing the mast hook out from under the halyard ring.
- If the sail is hard to set (raise), look to the leach and the luff. Invariably,
a shroud or trap-line is caught over the leach end of a batten or the batten
or boom is caught under the tiller cross-bar. STOP. Lower and free the sail
or you will damage it. The other possibility is that the boltrope along the
luff skipped out of the track. STOP. Lower it and feed it carefully. Each time
it skips the track or you fight a caught trap-line or shroud is one less time
we'll be able to raise the sail in the future; it eats away at the material
risking a tear.
- Ask someone how to reef two of our H16s!!