Here is a cautionary tale from a Lake Michigan catamaran sailor that explains the events leading to the demise of his Hobie 18 catamaran sailboat while sailing from Muskegon Harbor. Damon

I had been tracking the wind speed, from the office, at 12-16 knots steadily from the southwest all morning. Around noon, I was able to get a crew to head out to the lake at 2:00 PM - Friday July 25, 2003.

I should have known was not a good sign that on the way to the lake there was a major accident. An driver had crossed the center lane of the highway and hit another car, forcing us to detour and delay launching.

My Hobie 18 Magnum catamaran is kept mast up on a catamaran beach inside the Muskegon Harbor breakwater, so we quickly got it rigged and launched. The acceleration out of the harbor was GREAT! After clearing the lighthouse, that is where we ran into a slight problem.

Well, I crashed the Tri-Point race last Saturday. This race, part of the LandRover 3 races series, goes around Rig Gina & Anacapa Island to starboard and is organized by PierPoint Bay Yacht club in Ventura Harbor, CA. Race distance is ~45 miles. It's primarily a lead-bottom sailboat race, but they have an ORCA class for multihull sailboats. My Tornado catamaran doesn't qualify, but what the heck, it's a free ocean! Here's my report of the race... my first ever solo circumnavigation of Anacapa Island:

Multi's started last (about 11:25am) at the Mandalay power station buoy in 5-10 knots wind in fairly flat seas. Since I wasn't an official entry, I decided to let Afterburner (a 52 ft LOA catamaran racing machine), 2 of 10 (a 36 ft Rolland flat-out racing catamaran), a Reynolds 21 catamaran, and several Farrier and Corsair Trimarans have their way with the line.

A new feature is available on TheBeachcats.com.

If you have questions or comments about how things work here at TheBeachcats.com, you can now use the Support Forums. Please try them out to help me shake out any bugs, if you don't have a question right now, there is a test forum. With over 2,000 members and 200 new registrations per month, I'm going to need some volunteer moderators to watch the forums. If you visit TheBeachcats.com several times a day and would like to help, use the contact form to let me know.

PLEASE NOTE: These forums are strictly for help with this site, TheBeachcats.com, and are not meant for general catamaran sailing discussion. To discuss catamaran sailing please continue to participate in our catamaran sailing email list

Just a reminder, August 30, 2003, this Saturday is the grand reopening of Hobie Beach in Oxnard, California. Come out and support the efforts of the Channel Islands Catamaran and Dinghy Association.

Bring your catamaran, your friends, and your barbeque and join the fun. If you don't want to cook out there is plenty of food within walking distance of the beach. For more information see the Hobie Beach Announcement

Catamaran Bench Seats for the Hobie 16, isn't it about time!

New on the market from Sit 'n' Sail, catamaran benches for the Hobie 16. These are "Bench Seats" that you sit on; they attach to your trampoline frame using our supplied stainless steel bracket hardware. We have field tested these products for about one year, and they are rock-solid. This is a legitimate product made by a Hobie enthusiast for other Hobie enthusiasts to enjoy. They are not available anywhere else, inside or outside of the U.S. Go ahead, just try to find some. We are a new company, Sit 'n' Sail, and we'd like to promote our revolutionary new product for the popular Hobie 16 market. It's hard to believe that no one made these Bench Seats until now.