OzOne wrote:
Yep, can't get slack in the fresh.
In the Skate, we didn't fall out / off. When you capsize one of them
you either get gently dumped into the mainsail when the hiking plank
unlocks and slides down, or get catapulted out over the end of the
mast if it doesn't.

That doesn't sound so bad. One thing I like about the Jn-18 is that it
has little tendency to bite. Many fast boats like to bounce you off hard
fiberglass (usually with metal chunks sticking out at the exact wrong
place) at 20 mph.

I like pain less & less as I get older....


We were lucky this time and both managed to stay on the boat so the
mainsail was no sooner in the water than it was out again and with the
spinnaker pole on a shockcord back to the mast, we just release it, it
stows on the boom, and we can just reset the kite and get going again.
Nothing to untangle.

Could you leave the chute up & flogging? Done that and got away with it
a few times, but it's better to tuck it away if you can spare the time.
A dousing line is really nice!



I will till the day I die remember my mistake as a crew that cost us
an Oz national champ, when we gybed in 25kt+ and I'd left the dagger
board just an inch or so too high and it caught the vang.

Ouch! I've done that too.


Yep, way too easy to do. We were surfing a 3-4 metre storm swell in a
real good 25kts and there was not a second chance .... hell, we even
had a black line on the board that lined up with the deck when the
board was down just enough.
I still think it might have floated up that extra inch, but wouldn't
use taht as an excuse because it sounds lame, and I just don't know.

Y'know, boats really *are* just like women. Sometimes they are all hot
and cooperative, other times they are slyly awaiting the perfect chance
to make a fool of you.

I wonder if, in a Skate, can you make that pause at the near-DDW point
to double check these things. Some boats put you under too much
pressure, not to mention fast competitors close astern (or close ahead),
to do this. You can see stuff like this out of the corner of your eye,
but if you can't get to the middle of the boat to do anything about it,
then what's the point?


Hope the story has gotten better with age!


Nope, unfortunately it hasn't. :-)
I still cop a pasting every time we get together over a few too many
beers.

But it still beats not being there, eh?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King