tips on tacking

Really nice first effort at an instructional video. As a new Hobie 16 sailor, I found it helpful. Thanks.

thanks - very easy to understand, can't wait to buy my first hobie

seems like a torture technique!...watch Waterworld....Coster uses a crank and a centerboard to control a trimaran 10x the size of this "Hobie".

Hard to believe this is your first effort at an instructional video. Nice clear footage chosen, and good audio quality. Your pacing of the points you want to make is just right, and the complexity is pitched at a level that will be of interest to both beginner and intermediate.

Great explanations man, I really appreciate the info.

Just watched your video and found it to very informative. Good Job! Please continue with more videos as I am getting ready to retire in Florida and plan on doing some sailing.

While blowing hard a catamaran, being a very light boat, may have not enough turning inertia to go through the wind unless you are acting fast enough: the boat may "stall" — stop turning before you get position "in the wind". The solution is pushing the rudder pretty energetically and at the same time closing the main to help the boat to turn in the wind. Well, if you are sailing solo it's not easy to do these two actions at the same time. In case you stall you have nothing to do but to go back off the wind, gain speed and make another trial. What makes the situation even more difficult is that you might not want to jibe at strong wind because jibe will take way too much space and time, and your speed may be dangerously high while jibing at this condition.

And here is the second and a very important moment. Having passed through the wind with your main closed and with virtually zero boat speed — this is "the best" position to get capsized. To avoid this you have to open your main immediately after the boat passed through the wind, this will give you two benefits: first, the boat will turn away from the wind faster. And the second: having your main open you reduce the wind load on the sail wile your speed is still low. After that you may start gradually closing the main to increase the power and accelerate the boat.
(Have been sailing Dart 18 since 2002)

Your crew is going in and out in front of the side stay. You shouldn't do that as you have to stand up causing a lot of windage. Therefore the crew should go behind the stay and swing in like the skipper at the same time. If you do this you will keep your momentum and not slow you down in the tack.

I just got to sail my Hobie Cat 16 for the first time yesterday and it was truly amazing, wish I had a bit more air but overall it was awesome. My only problem was with the extension pole for the rudders while tacking, had to swing it behind the main sheet, and it really is pain in the ass, especially when its fully extended. I thought I had something rigged wrong but couldn't find a different way to rig it. I see in this video that you guys are doing it the same way I was doing it, I guess it will just get some using to. 

Thanks for the Vid. Have you got any tips on JIB set-up. I really just clip it in. Is there anything technical I should concentrate on?

From my experience you don't want the jib cranked in on the wrong side during the entire tack.  The crew should crack it off a little at a time while it is backwinding.  By the time the bows are around the jib should be almost touching the mast.  Then snap it across.
A well done video none the less.

Thanks for this video very helpful. I noticed that your tacks are very swift so assume that you push the rudder quite aggresive. Myself I sail a Nacra 5.0 (most of time in very light winds) and I'm often unsure how much rudder to give it when tacking. I often find it difficult to get the right combination of keeping enough speed to actually complete the tack vs how much rudder I can give which potentially puts the boat at a dead stop without the ability to do anything anymore. It doesn't always work out and we sometimes end up going in reverse or using the jib to push the boat through the wind. Of course Hull shape matters in this case but do you have any tips for me?

nice cat video tutorials, very enlightening...

good video and explanation. I found this video very helpful Thanks

thanks please make more very good

Very informative - especially due to the slow motion, great explanation and rare (for YouTube) footage quality. Thanks a lot!

Hello, thank you for this post. Question is how do you work with the trapeze as the helm during the take? I would like to begin using a trapeze but I have no experience with it. Any information that you have would be helpful.

This was great. Thank you.

Great training video. Like the verbal and video "slow motion" feel. Good tips. What type of Spinnaker is that? down wind, reaching etc? how well does a spinnaker work with a Hobie 16? The hobie 16 is such a sexy boat! Thanks and continued happy sailing.

I just took my 16 out this weekend solo in 15mph winds. Left the jib off and therefore could not get the boat to come about. This video showed me how to use the jib to push the bow through the turn and gain speed while controlling the main and tiller. Thanks. Tipped it over too. The main was sheeted. Won't make that mistake again. Jib crew would be helpful too. Thanks for the video. Cheers