"Maxprop" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Jeff" wrote in message
. ..
Ellen MacArthur wrote:
"Jeff" wrote
Why do you say that? What's wrong with pitchpoling?

Pitchpoling is dangerous. You could break your neck. Did you see
some of those
people flying off the hull? They were standing way back on the back and
the bow still
sunk into the water and it was end over end. I think they should
re-design the hull so
it has more reserve buoyancy at the front.

Sailing close to the edge has its risks - if they weren't flipping then
the boat was undersailed or not pushed hard enough. Anyone who has
sailed high performance dinghies will flip on a regular basis. I'm not
sure I ever survived a day on a Hobie 16 without flipping. And capsizing
dinks like a 505 was just as common.

Hmm. After a couple of decades of racing all sorts of dinghies--Snipes,
Thistles, Lightnings, Lasers, Ensigns, MC Scows, and Hobie 16s--without
ever flipping one, I take issue with your contention. I can recall only
two capsizes in two-man boats and very few more in the Laser or MC (when
racing solo), yet I won my share of hardware. A capsize or flip is
essentially a DNF in most boats. Doesn't exactly make sense to be sailing
so "close to the edge" if it means not finishing or finishing near the
back of the pack.

Max

Jeeez... when I was a kid we used to deliberately turtle the dinghies
despite being told not to do it. They would be po'd, because we kept coming
back with mud on the masthead. It was a nice mountain lake, and I think they
were concerned we'd break the boats on the stumps on the lake bed.


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com