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Reply to: Need advice after my first solo

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[quote=erice]1. if you want to solo a 2 man cat you really need to be hooked up to the trap and have cat-like reflexes. the issue isn't so much as slow-moving static weight as a fast moving weight

2. at all times on a cat, sailing across the wind is the most dangerous angle to be. it is often called the "zone of death", this goes double when you are soloing a 2-man boat, and maybe triple if you are soloing a 2-man boat without trapeze and hunting for speed...

3. going upwind when a gust hits you can de-power very quickly by jerking the rudder upwind, or you can release thw sheet to spill air from the main

4. going downwind you can get much more bow buoyancy/stability by steering downwind

5. reaching you can do neither, you can only dump sheet, so you'd better not have the sheet cleated or you'll never get it dumped quick enough to save the deathroll

6. righting - isn't just weight, it's also positioning of the boat mast into wind or even better at 45degrees to the wind and getting as much of your weight as possible as far from the boat as possible. many people end up just hanging like a sack of potatoes only a few feet from the hull. need to be almost parallel to the water and just above it with your head 5foot from the hull

7. weight - once the boat is coming up you need to not get killed by the falling hull and dolphin-striker, but staying away is not an option as you need to be between the hulls and right next to the dolphin striker as the hull splashes down so you can grab and hang from the dolphin-striker to stop the boat rolling over the other side. then as so as the boat has stabilised in an upright position you need to get over that front beam very quickly to take control of the rudder and sails before it sails away from you

think fast chin-up, then leg over hull, then pull and roll onto tramp

it's a speccy sport that few are game to get into because of the risks, they can minimized but not eliminated

suggest reading a good beachcat sailing book over the winter, "catamaran racing for thr 90's" is perfect for a hobie18  [/quote]

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