Greenheart
Well-known member
Just watching footage of a Hobie 14 Turbo with one guy aboard, I see the leeward hull is almost entirely submerged. And, the guy is no porker...
...I remember the mid 'eighties advertising for these boats, saying this was the perfect performance singlehander, "with room to bring one or two friends, particularly the ladies".
Quite apart from the feminist screeches such a sales-line might engender today, I can't help wondering whether they ever put the idea to the test.
Granted, when any cat heels, her whole displacement presses the leeward hull deep into the water, so perhaps the Hobie company was counting on users of their 14-footer restricting picnics and sex-parties to days when the cat wouldn't heel.
Has anybody tried really loading a 14, two or three-up, in a breeze? Isn't it a one-way fast-track route to a pitchpole?
...I remember the mid 'eighties advertising for these boats, saying this was the perfect performance singlehander, "with room to bring one or two friends, particularly the ladies".
Quite apart from the feminist screeches such a sales-line might engender today, I can't help wondering whether they ever put the idea to the test.
Granted, when any cat heels, her whole displacement presses the leeward hull deep into the water, so perhaps the Hobie company was counting on users of their 14-footer restricting picnics and sex-parties to days when the cat wouldn't heel.
Has anybody tried really loading a 14, two or three-up, in a breeze? Isn't it a one-way fast-track route to a pitchpole?