On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 14:21:14 -0400, Rodney Myrvaagnes
wrote:

We have had a couple of humdingers on a chartered J35, a masthead boat
with a bigger chute than the fractional 36. I believe you about the
fingerprints on the winch. :-)

I have participated in three broaches at speed, one with two seconds
warning, one that took everyone by surprise, got a fair bit of water
in the boat and pulped the chute, and one "practice" one that the
skipper wisely arranged in about 15 knots of wind and pretty flat seas
so that the 2/3rds of his club crew who hadn't "wiped out" could
experience it for real and stop dreading it.

Wise skipper. He warned everyone to let fly the sheets on his command
and then broached the boat without bending a pin. It was like being in
a hot rod doing a doughnut in a parking lot.

The other two were considerably less pleasant. People got wet, hurt
and frightened, although a couple found it "cool". I learned a
spinnaker makes an effective sea anchor, just before it blows up and
that just because it's a ponderous boat doesn't mean things can't
happen mighty fast...

R.