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Looking to get the best performance from your Hobie, check out the tuning guides and videos below. Follow the guidelines, but always experiment and try finding what’s best for you. The weight of the crew, the specifics of the craft together with local wind and sea conditions all have influence on the performance your Hobie.
Have a Hobie Day!
Hobie University
The ‘Hobie University’ booklet is designed to assist the beginner to the expert in Hobie sailing. The booklet is a great way to quickly improve on your racing, tuning and sailing skills in a short period of time and gives you the knowledge to continue improving in the future. The IHCA acknowledges the contributions of Bob Mimlitch Jr., Fleet 23, Mimi Appel and Fleet 204 with the support of North American Hobie Cat Association. The ‘Hobie University’ is made available with the kind permission of the Hobie Class Association of North American.
Hobie University also has a YouTube page which the update racing tips. The link to the page can be found here.
Download Hobie U Learn to sail the Hobie WaySetting up a Hobie 14
Wayne Schafer, one of the original Hobie legends, and Bob Curry, a Hobie 14 legend of the 1980s and beyond, are both Hobie 14 World and National Champions and both wrote racing guides on the Hobie 14 in their respective eras. What follows is a compendium of their advice, updated for the 21st Century and the newer equipment allowed by the class rules.
Download Guide
Hobie 16 Sailing Guide by Gaving Colby
Written by multi-Hobie World Champion Gavin Colby.
Hobie Cat 16 is, above all, a story of pleasure, of FUN, of fantasy, and of FEELING. Even if we would prefer whenever possible to sail at the front, we never forget the pleasure of sailing, whatever our placing in the race. Here is how we set up our boat… it is not a Bible. You will certainly find your own personal set up adapted to your morphology and to your way of sailing. Here are our little secrets. We hope we can talk to you about them when our paths cross on the water.
Download Gavin's Hobie 16 Sailing GuideHobie 16 Sailing Guide by the 1997 Hobie 16 World Champions
The 1997 Hobie Cat 16World Champions Gwenaël Roth and Thierry Monfret talk about how they set up and sail their Hobie 16. It is an inside guide to what made this team the Hobie 16 World Champions.
Download Guide
Hobie 16 Tuning Guide
Hobie 16 Tuning Guide by Matt Miller 1
This is part 1 of a great Hobie 16 tuning guide with Matt Miller of Hobie USA telling it like it is..
Hobie 16 Tuning Guide by Matt Miller 1
This is part 2 of a great Hobie 16 tuning guide with Matt Miller of Hobie USA telling it like it is.
Hobie Tiger Tuning Guide by Mitch Booth
Written by multi-Hobie World Champion Mitch Booth.
This guide and it should be applied to each boat and crew depending on total crew weight, sailing technique and most important, the feeling that only the sailor can judge performance.
Download Mitch's Tiger Tuning GuideHobie Tiger Tuning Guide by William Kieser
Most sailors on first sailing a Hobie Tiger will be baffled by the myriad of settings to tune and trim the boat properly. Not only will you need to get to grips with different setting combinations, but you will also need to master totally new sailing techniques, which could take much trial and error.
Download William's Tiger Tuning Guide
Hobie Wild Cat Tuning Guide by Mischa Heemskerk
The tuning guide is written by 2008 Hobie Tiger World Champion Mischa Heemskerk. Mischa has won many championships and this guide will help the experienced sailors get that little bit extra. Also it will help those new to the class get close to the front of the fleet quickly.
Download Mischa's Tiger Tuning GuideMark Modderman Hobie 16 tuning tips
Some good tips from Joseph Bennett
Service Your Hobie Rudders
How to take any movement out of your Hobie rudder system. This will make your boat handle much better.
Catamaran tacking technique the fundamentals and tips
Here we go over the technique for improving tacking on any type of catamaran. It’s all about the mainsheet!
Trapezing technique multi cam with live commentary
How to trapeze on a catamaran!
Here we look at the technique for trapezing on a catamaran as the crew then as the helm. First on land and then on the water.
Power control, which way to steer to lose power on the catamaran
We’re looking here at which way to steer your boat to control the power.
This has been included in probably all of the onboard videos but here we are clarifying the details.