It's time to go CAT Sailing! 12 TIPS for SAFE Catamaran Sailing

It's time to go sailing!

The foul weather is gone and today is the 1st great sunny warm day of the year. Now is the time to go outside.  Call Oceanside Sailing at 760-804-5788. We are located at Oceanside Harbor. Experience the thrill of wind-fueled travel on a large 36ft Catamaran, that accommodates up to 6 passengers. Actively learn to sail the boat with us, or simply put your feet up, loosen your shoulders and enjoy the ocean's breeze. All tours include snacks, water, sodas, friendly smiles and local marine life!

SAFE SAILING IS IMPORTANT!

Rest assured, your captain and crew know Oceanside Harbor and will make sure that you have a safe sailing adventure. For those of you that are planning to sail yourselves, please read the 12 safety tips below if you have never sailed before or you are a novice sailor.

12 Critical Catamaran Safety Tips:

1. Know your boat. Fully understand what each and every control line does and how to effectively sail the boat. When an emergency occurs and you need to think fast, you won't have the time to think, "now what does this line do?"

2. Make sure your mast is sealed. Take it down to your local lake and drop it into shallow water. If it leaks - SEAL IT! Trying to right a knocked over catamaran with water in the mast is next to impossible. When it fills up with enough water, the boat will turtle. And then you've got a FUN time on your hands!

3. Learn the properties of sailing your boat. Learn to steer by the sails alone. Get the feeling of tacking and jybing. Learn to feel how your boat behaves relative to the crew position aboard. Understand how flattening the sails de-powers the boat. Practice flying a hull. Practice going out on the wire. DO MOB DRILLS! Or in this case HOT drills (Hat OverBoard). Since your boat has no engine, you need to learn how to quickly turn around a retrieve an overboard object or person! It's more important on a non-engined beach cat than any other kind of boat!

4. PURPOSELY FLIP YOUR BOAT! It'll happen sooner or later, so you might as well be prepared for it. Getting knocked down isn't a bad thing. It's all part of the cat-sailing experience! Have a friend with a powerboat shadow you and a crewman (in case you need assistance). Knock her over and right her several times. Get the feeling for going over and righting it. This way, you'll never be surprised when it happens.

If your catamaran is prone to pitchpoling such as the Hobie-16 (be extremely careful with this next maneuver) you should get the feel for what it's like one or two times. With you and your crew as far foward as possible, sail into as large a wake as your friend's powerboat can produce and try to pitchpole forward. It's gonna happen, so learn how it feels and how to avoid it. (Bascally - as wind strength increases, get all aboard AFT! Get the weight as far back as possible and keep those bows up! If you feel that you need a little extra security, you can buy some anti-pitchpole fins for the bows. They're not legal for racing, but they are somewhat effective in preventing pitchpoles. You can get them from murrays.com for $82 part no. 01-3240.)

5. Before taking anyone aboard, instruct them on emergency procedures in case you go overboard. Everyone should know the two steps for stopping the boat: How to uncleat the sheets and then steer the boat into the wind.

6. ALWAYS WEAR YOUR PFD when the sailing is getting wild! By law, we must have the Portable Floating Devices aboard. What we do is have them nearby. But when you are a novice, be safe!! Common sense tells you when the weather turns stormy, put your PDF ON!

 7. Carry an airhorn aboard that you can quickly grab if some idiot in powerboat doesn't see you. Maybe he'll hear you and you can avoid a collision.

8. Get yourself a pair of Sea-Snips. They're basically EMT scissors in a velcro sheath. Attach it to your PFD strap. One of the most dangerous things in sailing any boat with a trapeze system (cats, 49'ers, Aussie 18's, etc) is getting your harness hook caught up in a line when the boat flips and trapping you under water. It's very rare that it happens (one in a million chance) but if it does, your PFD won't save you. You'll be caught and you'll need a way to cut yourself or crewman free. Knives require two hands, you can drop them, and they may not cut steel cable. A pair of Sea-Snips stays in your fingers, only requires one hand, and they chop anything in half that can fit in their jaws! They're inexpensive too, like $15!

9. If you plan to sail far from shore, always carry a handheld, submersible, VHF radio. If you are out on a lake alone with no other boats who can render assistance, carry a VHF radio. If you are soloing, carry a VHF radio. As you can see, I believe in the investment in a submersible VHF radio as a piece of safety equipment.

10. When in doubt - sail another day. You've got yourself one of the most fun sailboats every designed! Beach cats are great! But that's exactly what they are, BEACH cats. You're not going to be crossing oceans. If the winds look like they'll overpower your little boat (easily done), just sail another day. There's always another day. When the sailing becomes more work than fun - why do it? It should be fun and exciting, not stressful and worrisome.  

11. Always carry some critical spare parts and materials with you such as duct tape, nylon zip-ties, pins, rings, rudder pin, spare line, etc. and the basic tools necessary to make basic repairs. One of the most frustration things has been to lose a rudder crossbar connecting bolt while sailing. All of a sudden, one or both rudders becomes totally unusable with no way to fix it or steer the boat other than sitting on the transom and holding onto the gudgeon itself. That sucks! 

 12. Before you step your mast, LOOK OUT FOR POWER LINES! Before dropping your mast, LOOK OUT FOR POWER LINES! When moving the boat with the mast up, LOOK OUT FOR POWER LINES! Oh yeah ALWAYS LOOK OUT FOR POWER LINES! Without a doubt, the most dangerous part of cat sailing! You would think that a boat ramp wouldn't have overhead lines around it... Nooooooo! You would be amazed as to how common this is!

Extra Tip: You betcha you can take the kids aboard. Just take it nice and easy and gradually work them into flying hulls. None at first and then add a little bit each time. DO NOT TETHER them down. If a kid goes overboard, do your MOB drill and pick them up quickly (you have been practicing, haven't you?) But if you flip, you don't want anyone tethered because they could get "teabagged" which could cause injury.

 Extra Tip: Make sure you carry fresh water bottles aboard with you. Catamaran sailing is fast and exciting, but you will get thirsty sailing under the sun. Get a bottle in an insulated pouch with a strap and secure it to the trampoline so you can easily get at it. And finally... sunblock, sunblock, SUNBLOCK!
You can never have enough sunblock!

Hope these help you out! Have fun with your new catamaran.

For more information, please visit our website:

http://www.oceansidesailing.com/