It's winter up here in NJ/NY. We're waiting for spring, and it's already itching. Some folks are fixing their boats, some are working on upgrades, some are hanging out in this site here, but we're all basically just keeping busy.

In our club (SHBCC), we just decided to make our Statue of Liberty Race this season something really special. It's our clubs' 30th anniversary. So just for the fun of it we pulled together this invitational video clip . We're hoping to see MANY of you at the start this year. Sailing New York harbor and rounding the Statue of Liberty is a "once-in-a-lifetime-must-do-can't-miss" event for every catsailor . We're inviting you early cuz we know your season will be booked up before you know it! Click here to view the clip.

By Gary Friesen -- I was about 21 years old and had just bought my first Hobie 16. It was a beat up, old red thing with plain white sails. I wasn't proud of her appearance, but I could afford her. I think that I paid about $350, on the trailer. As usual, I had no crew.

My niece who was about 9 years old at the time, was a good swimmer, body-surfer, and had taken some kind of a junior life saving swimming pool class. The two of us had swum like fish together in the ocean surf, many times. So I invited her along for a possible boat ride. I invited my parents too. It was a ploy. I could tell them that they were needed to baby-sit my niece in case I found it unsafe to take her on the boat. This way, I did not have to admit that I wanted my father there in case I couldn't raise the mast or get the boat back onto the trailer.

I had sailed my friend, Dan's Hobie 16 in a lake and had sailed my 12' mono hull in another local lake. Both experiences were lacking much wind. I knew where to find wind; the Pacific Ocean. I was familiar with where all the public motorboat launches were and I chose the one that I thought looked like it had best access. I was not too far from a well-known catamaran beach at Claremont Street but did not know anything about Claremont.

Los Angeles harbor is huge, a hundred square miles. It seemed like a good place to get ocean breeze while not being too affected by the surf. I headed to Cabrillo Beach public boat launch in San Pedro. When I got there, the wind was already blowing pretty hard and I was noticeably intimidated. I spoke to one of the locals and asked about how windy it gets there. He found out that I was a rookie and immediately told me that I was at the wrong place. I did not know that I was at the windiest hole in Los Angeles that carries the nickname "Hurricane Gulch!"

The Hobie HOTLINE, the original publication for Hobie Cat news, has returned. The Hobie HOTLINE started in 1971 as a little newsletter for Hobie Cat owners but grew into a full-fledged magazine thought the 80's and early 90's. In the mid-80's, the HOTLINE began to loose its way. It became more of a marketing tool for the Coleman Company, promoting Alpha sailboards, Hobie Power Skiffs and other Coleman products. The Hobie Class Association started the NAHCA News newsletter in 1992 in part because the HOTLINE was trying to serve too many masters. Eventually the HOTLINE became a financial burden on the Hobie Cat Company (now independent of Coleman), who ceased publication in mid-1995.

For ten years after the demise of the HOTLINE, the NAHCA News/HCA News kept plugging along, filling the void. In the last ten years, the HCA News has grown into a professionally produced magazine, comparable to the original HOTLINE. So, the Hobie Class Association has changed the name of its bi-monthly publication to the Hobie Class Association HOTLINE. For many the name change will bring back memories of "the good old days." Not to mention the fact that Hobie HOTLINE rolls off the tongue more easily than Hobie Class Association News.

Repairing a dent in a mast sail track.

I have had two masts that had a dent near the sail track, and was able to repair them with this method. Here's a photo of the Prindle 19 mast that I just received. As you can see, the area is pinched enough to cause problems when raising the main.

I use thin hardened metal as spacers to spread out the pressure that is applied with a tapered device. In other words, I drive a screwdriver in between a couple putty knives. To keep the straight side from getting damaged, be sure to use a thicker piece of metal as a backer on that side. I started out with two putty knives and advanced to a heavier piece of stainless steel when the track was opened up a little. As you can see in the mast dent repair photos, it does a great job of opening the track back up.

When you have a straight opening in the groove, you might touch up the area with a fine metal file.

Good luck,

Jack Hoying
Fort Loramie, Ohio

Amateur sail building..

Scene: The sails on your catamaran looks (and pulls) like they have been trough both WWI and II. However you are seriously short on money, as the "admirals" priorities have your boat a long way down on the list (mortgages on the house, food, electricity and even gas are higher on the list, go figure..). So, what do you do? You gather all the creativity and initiative you normally pump into your sailing sessions, make a good deal on some sailcloth, keep on chanting "Navigare necesse est!" and build your own sails.

When we bought our current Tornado in 2001, a set of sails from year 2000 came with the boat. The Tornado class changed their sailplan after the 2000 Sidney Olympics, so these sails were a first generation cut. We used these sails both for training and competition until 2004, when we bought a well used asymmetric spinnaker from the Swedish Olympic Tornado team. Strangely enough, there was a huge difference in the power and speed this asymmetric developed compared with our 2000 asymmetric (I'm being ironic).

After this discovery, we began studying our main and jib with a critical eye. Compared to other T's, we were lacking both power and windward ability. A common problem with sails where the draft has moved aft. When hit by a gust, the boat wanted to heel instead of squirting forward, no matter how much we "massaged" the downhaul during gusts.Wanting to stay competitive with the fleet on the beat, it was time for some new sails. Besides, the old sails were literally falling apart. The luff tape on the main was so worn that hoisting and unhooking the main was a chore at every outing.