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What would you do?
Boat is overpowered in a gust:
http://i1.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/8f/19/843e_1.JPG Spinnaker flogging, boom dragging in the water and cannot be eased further. In the pic, the boat is still moving forward but very soon the foils will stall and she will be uncontrollable. The skipper has a few seconds to take action or they will capsize. What should he do? As a bonus question, what is different about the boat in the pic from most conventional sloops that might affect the skipper's range of successful options? Fresh Breezes- Doug King |
What would you do?
wrote in message
oups.com... Boat is overpowered in a gust: http://i1.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/8f/19/843e_1.JPG Spinnaker flogging, boom dragging in the water and cannot be eased further. In the pic, the boat is still moving forward but very soon the foils will stall and she will be uncontrollable. The skipper has a few seconds to take action or they will capsize. What should he do? As a bonus question, what is different about the boat in the pic from most conventional sloops that might affect the skipper's range of successful options? Fresh Breezes- Doug King Given the boom can no longer be eased, seems to me the only two things you could do would be to attempt to head up or ease the main halyard. The former would be difficult, given that you'd probably have to move to the low side to get the tiller in the right spot, thus the boat would temporarily heel even more. Dropping the halyard might not be possible very quickly. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
What would you do?
wrote:
Boat is overpowered in a gust: http://i1.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/8f/19/843e_1.JPG Spinnaker flogging, boom dragging in the water and cannot be eased further. In the pic, the boat is still moving forward but very soon the foils will stall and she will be uncontrollable. The skipper has a few seconds to take action or they will capsize. What should he do? As a bonus question, what is different about the boat in the pic from most conventional sloops that might affect the skipper's range of successful options? Do the opposite of what seems obvious, head down, get under the main, jybe. Cheers Marty |
What would you do?
As a bonus question, what is different about the boat in the pic from
most conventional sloops that might affect the skipper's range of successful options? Martin Baxter wrote: Do the opposite of what seems obvious, head down, get under the main, jybe. Aw, you must have cheated. An asymmetric spinnaker on the end of a long fixed pole or sprit will exert a lot of leverage to make the boat head downwind, even when totally luffing or flogging. Therefore heading up, as becomes reflex for people driving fast monohulls, doesn't work. One thing I have not tried is to let go the pole extending line, letting the sprit retract and taking away the leverage. I suspect the pole might not draw back easily under the circumstances but since it is a common way to capsize, finding ways to get out of that situation. I'd like to try an articulating bowsprit, when in this situation you could dump the guy and let it fold back. As a big plus, a-sails don't make the boat broach and actually help steer downwind. Fresh Breezes- Doug King |
What would you do?
Boat is overpowered in a gust:
http://i1.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/8f/19/843e_1.JPG Spinnaker flogging, boom dragging in the water and cannot be eased further. In the pic, the boat is still moving forward but very soon the foils will stall and she will be uncontrollable. The skipper has a few seconds to take action or they will capsize. What should he do? "Capt. JG" wrote: Given the boom can no longer be eased, seems to me the only two things you could do would be to attempt to head up Nope Trying to head up will lay the boat on it's side, especially once the foils begin to stall. In the pic, the rudder is mostly out of the water too. .... or ease the main halyard. IMHO the sail's not going to come down fast enough to get out of the situation. They're a few seconds from capsizing and the crew has to stay hiked out. I'd like to try it if the water was warm. Boom vang! Releasing the vang, which should be on a split control to either gun'l and easily accessible when hiked out, will let the boom rise and accomplish two things. The boom won't be digging in as hard and the upper sections of the mainsail will open up & luff freely. The problem with easing the vang is that if the boat is acting squirrely and the skipper yanks the boat downwind as soon as she'll respond, the upper part of the main is now uncontrolled and will try to death-roll the boat. The skipper has to stay calm, put the boat onto an easy reach, and tighten the vang again as well as encourage the crew to get the spinnaker under control. One problem I've had with this type of situation is that after one of these incidents, the crew will sometimes be spooked and regard the spinnaker sheets as though they were poisonous snakes. An interesting psychological problem as well as a boat-handling issue. Fresh Breezes- Doug King |
What would you do?
In article , Martin Baxter wrote:
wrote: Boat is overpowered in a gust: http://i1.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/8f/19/843e_1.JPG Spinnaker flogging, boom dragging in the water and cannot be eased further. In the pic, the boat is still moving forward but very soon the foils will stall and she will be uncontrollable. The skipper has a few seconds to take action or they will capsize. What should he do? As a bonus question, what is different about the boat in the pic from most conventional sloops that might affect the skipper's range of successful options? Do the opposite of what seems obvious, head down, get under the main, jybe. Not sure if this would work... looks like the boat is about to capsize... putting more pressure on the main would make it worse... might pitchpole... -- Capt. JG @@ www.sailnow.com |
What would you do?
In article om,
wrote: Martin Baxter wrote: Do the opposite of what seems obvious, head down, get under the main, jybe. Aw, you must have cheated. An asymmetric spinnaker on the end of a long fixed pole or sprit will exert a lot of leverage to make the boat head downwind, even when totally luffing or flogging. Therefore heading up, as becomes reflex for people driving fast monohulls, doesn't work. One thing I have not tried is to let go the pole extending line, letting the sprit retract and taking away the leverage. I suspect the pole might not draw back easily under the circumstances but since it is a common way to capsize, finding ways to get out of that situation. I'd like to try an articulating bowsprit, when in this situation you could dump the guy and let it fold back. As a big plus, a-sails don't make the boat broach and actually help steer downwind. Interesting! -- Capt. JG @@ www.sailnow.com |
What would you do?
Jonathan Ganz wrote:
Not sure if this would work... looks like the boat is about to capsize... putting more pressure on the main would make it worse... might pitchpole... That indeed, is a possibility, no guts, no glory. Cheers Marty |
What would you do?
In article , Martin Baxter wrote:
Jonathan Ganz wrote: Not sure if this would work... looks like the boat is about to capsize... putting more pressure on the main would make it worse... might pitchpole... That indeed, is a possibility, no guts, no glory. In So. Cal., I wouldn't care so much... up here... too friggin cold to go in the drink. -- Capt. JG @@ www.sailnow.com |
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