From the deck up, a floating Hobie Cat looks like any other mainstream sailing craft with its tall mast, mainsail drawn tight and jib cupped like hanging sheets in a stiff breeze.
But it ends there. It has no galley, wheel, cabin or poop deck. No keel or captain's chair. It floats on double hulls the size of large tree trunks and is tied together by a canvas deck strung like a trampoline.Sailors sit on it not in it. They seldom stand, almost never sleep and frequently shift about to get comfortable.
But it sails, and very well. Better, report Hobie Cat sailors, than other types of sailing craft in Utah winds . . . Winds that change as often as a clock and range from very light to threatening.
The Hobie Cat is by far the most popular sailing craft within the state, and any other state within the United States, for that matter. In Utah it outnumbers other sailboats somewhere around a hundred to one.
The reason is the simplicity of it all. Hobie Alter, designer of the boat, introduced it back in the 1970s to be easily sailed and to be just like the one next to it and so on and so on. He wanted everything to be even, easy and economical.
And, says Marie Phipps, with the local Utah club, Hobie Fleet 67, he succeeded.
A good used boat will cost around $1,000, and new ones start at around $2,500 . . . And, aside from choice of colors, options come as standard equipment - mainsail, jib, mast, rudder and rigging.
What is most attractive, however, is that sailing this breed of catamaran is simple. Becoming good takes time and practice, but learning to go from point A to B in zig-zag fashion, and back, can take a weekend and the knowledge that the wind rules everything.
"The hardest thing, in fact," says Phipps, "is not sailing, but rigging the boat . . . what goes here and where does this go?"
Mike Shearer, a two-time national Hobie 16 champion, feels that a weekend on the water for a captain and crew of one should be enough to learn to tack (zig-zag into the wind) and jibe (turn with the wind).
Then the higher education begins.
"There are two elements you have to be aware of," offers Shearer. "what goes on within a circle around the boat and what goes on outside the circle."
On the boat, there are turns to consider and sails to trim. Too much or too little air can cause problems. Moving the sails into or away from the wind corrects these problems.
Streamers and a wind indicator on the nose of the boat show wind direction, and small ribbons on the sails measure the success at capturing the wind. Then it's up to the the sailors to "trim" the sails to get the full advantage of available wind. Properly trimmed, the sails will billow and bulge, but not flutter or flap.
Contrary to what many people believe, sailboats are not required to follow the wind. They can: 1. sail into the wind, 2. sail across the wind, or 3. sail with the wind.
Which means that the shortest route between two points is, in fact, a zig-zag course resembling a switchback road and not, as science says, a straight line. It's called "tacking" and involves turning into the wind. Coming about, a turn that brings wind to the other side of the boat, is called "jibbing."
This brings out Shearer's second area: What goes on away from the boat.
"You look around you. You watch other boats. The surface of the water will give you telltale signs of `puffs' (brief breezes of wind) and gusts, and you get ready.
"You watch other boats. What are they doing? How's the wind affecting them? You look around you. You become more conscious of your surroundings," Shearer points out.
He also notes that body movement aboard the boat is critical . . . forward in light wind, back in good winds, and hanging out over the water in a trapeze for greater balance in strong winds.
Teamwork, too, goes a long ways toward a good sail. Typically, the crew-person does the adjusting on the "jib" and the skipper the fine tuning with the mainsail and rudder.
Shearer says the best schooling anyone can get in sailing is to compete in races. The first time he caught a breeze in a sail was in a race. Besides the experience, he adds, new skippers can follow the lead of more learned sailors.
Phipps notes that there are five or six local races, and a similar number of out-of-town events each summer.
She adds that people with questions on events can call, 451-5728.
The next event will be the Eric Hoff Memorial at Bear Lake, July 13-14. The five-state regionals will be at Strawberry Aug. 17-18.
In September of 1992, the Hobie Cat Nationals will be at Bear Lake.
In the meantime, Utah's contingent of sailors will be trying to keep wind in their sails and at least one hull firmly embedded in the water.