Hi folks,
So I am a Hobie Cat 18, 16 and 14 and mono hull sailor and hoped to get some first hand feedback from actual Weta owners regarding both the stability and speed of the Weta compared to those catamarans in general. Mostly stability. Also I wondered how much control you have dealing with wind gusts using just the main sheet in and out because both the main and that first small headsails are not on roller furlings and always full out. Thanks very much.
You can push a Weta downwind with all sails up to 22-24 knots of breeze. No one should really be sailing the boat (unless you have a rescue boat nearby and you like breaking stuff) in over 25 knots especially with any kind of sea state.
I think most capsizes I have seen have been due to either the sailor is sitting too far forward in big breeze downwind or the mainsheet is not eased sufficiently after a tack (the latter is the closest I have come to a capsize in the boat). In any breeze over around 17-18 knots, I move to the aft weather cockpit seat behind the rear beam. You can sail pretty deep and the trick is to slightly overtrim the mainsail as the bottom of the mainsail will be stalled (it pretty much always is since there is no traveller!) and the top will be twisting off. A lot of cats capsize downwind because both the mainsheet and traveller are well eased and that creates a lot of pitching moment at the top of the rig that wants to drive the bows in.
I never sail the boat downwind in heavy air from the aft corner of the weather trampoline. It’s slow if you are racing and I think you have a lot more control of the boat sitting in the cockpit in the correct position fore and aft.
I agree with the previous comments about a Weta being (a lot) more stable than any beach cat or dinghy in big breeze.