Beach launching a Hobie Oasis solo.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has experience doing beach launches/landings solo in a Hobie Oasis- anything you learned from doing it that might be helpful would be great...thanks, roger

Hopefully Samm will chime in for ya.

Haven't beach landed an oasis, but have an outfitter. Should be close to the same thing. I would peddle in, close to shore (making sure the front drive was already out. As I came in, I'd get the boat squared up to shore, pull the drive up and flipping the rudder up. From there I would just paddle the boat in. I always stayed in the rear seat doing this as it gave me more control of the boat. I did this with beach landing in Hawaii. Hope that helps.

Best demonstration of options that I have seen in a video.  I choose to come in backwards and it is a ton easier for me.  Only crazy if it doesn't work I guess.

Not solo,  but have done it with my little one in the front seat.  She was maybe 50# at the time.  Launching was gallery easy,  coming in was easier than normal because the boat handles a lot more like a surfboard with less weight in the front, and was kinda nice riding a wave all the way to the sand

Not solo,  but have done it with my little one in the front seat.  She was maybe 50# at the time.  Launching was gallery easy,  coming in was easier than normal because the boat handles a lot more like a surfboard with less weight in the front, and was kinda nice riding a wave all the way to the sand

excellent, thanks Lee, so definitely use the rear seating location?  cheers, roger

A couple of other board members with the Oasis sit in the front when going through the surf, hopefully they will chime in. (Sherminator!) They said the nose gets pushed around too much heading out and they had trouble keeping it straight.

I've never taken mine in any kind of real surf alone yet, but my plan is to sit in the back and put 20-30lbs balast in the front hatch (so as far forward and as low as possible). When I do this on windy days on rivers and lakes I have no trouble tracking and I can put the nose where I want it.

Please post back for other Oasis owners! There aren't a lot of Oasis owners doing stuff in the ocean so it's really helpful when people report back.

Not solo,  but have done it with my little one in the front seat.  She was maybe 50# at the time.  Launching was gallery easy,  coming in was easier than normal because the boat handles a lot more like a surfboard with less weight in the front, and was kinda nice riding a wave all the way to the sand

excellent, thanks Lee, so definitely use the rear seating location?  cheers, roger

It's probably different for everyone, but I would definitely recommend the rear seat with some weight in the front like redbeard mentioned.  This makes the boat ride like it's supposed to, PLUS, you don't have the wave breaking on your face.  I always feel a little bad for my wife on surf launches because she takes the brunt of the wave, then again, with her taking the wave, I can put max effort into pushing us through the surf really fast.

Try it from the front and from the rear, and see which you prefer. Over on the Hobie fishing forum, front seat seems to be the more popular spot.

 For me, it definitely is better to sit up front. The first time I tried launching at Pacific City, I sat in the rear and couldn't make it past the first set, but I also didn't have much weight up front. I then tried from the front and made it out no problem. (The surf was pretty high.) Since I am up front when I go out with the wife and am used to view up there, I just go from the front all the time. The back end is a little high, but not so much that it causes me problems. I see no advantage in piloting from the rear, except that it is a little easier to access the entirety of the boat. From the front, the very rear is out of reach. (I store my cart there before I launch.) I use the area immediately behind me for my milk crate, and the rear cockpit is where I keep my fish, and lay my net. It is nice to have a net all extended out, but not up vertical catching the wind.

Good luck in the surf. Coming in is the tricky part - I think coming backwards is the best bet for making it in right-side up...

Samm does it but he's out of the country for a couple weeks.

I've done it both ways. I didn't like being in the front so much, mainly because I felt like I had less control. The rudder was frequently out of the water and turning was sometimes difficult. I launched and returned just fine, though. When I went from the rear, I used a collapsible 5 gal water jug about 2/3 full in the front. It worked great. I had ample room in front of me to carry out a couple of crab traps. No problem coming in. Just make up your mind when to go and come in strong. I pull up the pedals at the last second.
My launches were at PC.

thanks everyone for the input, confirms most of what I was thinking, plus a few new ideas, and gives me a good starting point to practice the different techniques...but first heading to a small lake to practice rolling the Oasis over and back upright and getting in from the water several times...cheers, roger

I'm curious: how many people use thigh straps when going in and out through surf on a sit-on-top kayak?  Since I live in Montana, I don't get to do surf launches, but I have set up both my Trident and my Revolution with thigh straps so I'm prepared to handle big waves which may come up on a lake, and to paddle easy whitewater.  You can't use thigh straps while pedaling, but if the waves get big I switch to paddling so I can brace when necessary.

I've only seen one SOT with thigh straps.  Micahgee has/had them, but he likes to surf his kayak a LOT.  It's not worth the snag potential to me.  you go through the surf once on the way out, and once on the way in.  Even in 20 mph winds with 3 foot chop, I haven't had a problem punching through without straps.

I'm curious: how many people use thigh straps when going in and out through surf on a sit-on-top kayak?  Since I live in Montana, I don't get to do surf launches, but I have set up both my Trident and my Revolution with thigh straps so I'm prepared to handle big waves which may come up on a lake, and to paddle easy whitewater.  You can't use thigh straps while pedaling, but if the waves get big I switch to paddling so I can brace when necessary.

I have no whitewater experience in a kayak (other than ocean surf). I'd rather slide off my boat than flip it. I've ditched in the surf about 5 times now, and 3 of those I just slid off and the boat remained upright. Since I don't know how to use thigh straps I assume I'd have a greater chance of flipping the kayak, which seems like a worse situation to me.