Think you had a bad day?

1990 H-17, H-14 National Championship at The Gorge. Winds over 50 MPH at the weather mark. You had to be there to believe it.

See this video of guys who keep the spi up in strong wind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i128Pk8vFbE If I see it right they let the spi totally go when the boat comes up, and the helmsman sets the traveler way out together with the S turn. As I'm not that experienced in strong wind combind with a spi, I was wondering if this is the way to do this?

That's about 12-14knots of breeze. Look at the flag on the committee boat:

I suspect that those guys are trying to lay the finish line but there are other things they could do to depower the boat and not flog the kite. You want to avoid flogging the kite if possible. The skipper should be bearing away and changing the wind angle as the boat heals but if they are trying to sail a higher line for some reason, this could explain why they keep it pointed in the same direction. In that kind of wind (or stronger) you carve the boat constantly to keep the power level consistent without having to constantly make sail adjustments. If they are trying to sail a high line (perhaps they are overstood), easing the main traveler is the first thing to execute, putting in a little downhaul to take a little power out of the main would be next (not a whole lot...you can overstress things here). The skipper should probably also be out on the hull but it's hard to tell what the water conditions were...putting your weight in may help take a little pressure off the bow but it won't help you sail a higher line. His crew should also be trapezing back as far as possible...it looks like he's in front of the rear beam. He should have a foot on the stern to help keep the bows a little drier. Oh! and good lord, get the daggerboards up at least half way. That alone would make these guys have a much easier day by keeping the boat from healing over so fast and often.

I don't think a spinnaker will take a lot of that so I'm sure that will get expensive.

that video reminds me of the time I was crewing on a 29er and we wiped out big because the skipper didn't bear away in a puff. In the resulting carnage, while I was picking myself out of the rigging, he asked me why I didn't

depower the spinnaker

.

Note to self...1) don't crew for inexperienced skippers on skiffs who think they know what they are doing and 2) these small skiffs do not sail fast enough to be thrown clear.

There was no strong wind in that video (15kts tops), the 30kt winds started about 20mins after the video ends on that upwind leg.

IMO the helmsman is a bit late when bearing away sometimes (amongst other things), and releases the traveler because of this.
At 6:52 they passed the lighthouse and really should have been double trapping since the next gate was at quite a high angle.
(We went swimming when double trapped on that leg though, bummer since we where the first F18 at that point).

Arjan, you should attend some races sometimes.
The more sailors the better <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

Tony --> agree, we try to do that more often. Starting coming weekend in Tiengemeten if the wind is not too bad...

Ok thanks a lot! This confirms a lot of my thoughts. maybe I should watch less video's 🙂

I think that was a rather Polite way of explaining
your point of view ; and i

Get-It

now !!!

Thanks : Bille

Furl the jib, travel out, and stay away from the strong surf; that seems to be the most dangerous part.

We got caught by a squall in the Great Texas that capsized us. When we tried to right the boat we found ourselves capsizing in the other direction. We opted to sit on the side of the hull while the squall passed overhead.

I'm sure these guys are not having their best day either:

http://www.vsail.info/2013/10/10/virbac-paprec-70-has-capsized-off-belle/

[Source] This Thursday 10 October, at 13:00 hours, Jean-Pierre Dick and Roland Jourdain were sailing off Belle Ile on VIRBAC-PAPREC 70, training in 15-20 knots of wind with a view to the Transat Jacques Vabre. The boat overturned suddenly. The crew is safe and sound. The Cross, SNSM (lifeboat association) and technical team have gone to recover the crew and the boat.

In that top right photo, is that one of the crew being launched from the high side?

That's a long way to fall! I hope he hit the water and not the mast!

Looks like a flag to me. Easier to see if you right-click on the pic and open in a new tab or window.

But in the first pic, rudders don't appear to be pointing the right direction. Shouldn't she be heading down? Water spray kinda looks like she's on a beam reach at that point.

Hard to say - easy to armchair quarterback...

That's a flag. Three guys are in the center hull ****.

Video of the capsize

You can see one of the guys get ejected. The aft frame ALMOST comes down on him. Yikes! The other two pop out of a hatch under the hull after it flattens.

Damn! Looks like the driver kind of bounces into then out of the *.

This s the 2nd time one of the MOD72's has capsized in recently.
In the video there is a hydraulic cylinder under the boom, maybe those thing are too slow for sheeting out quickly in an emergency.

Ok-- so please don't laugh ; NAH -- go ahead, it's cool.
I told Ya all that i'm a Mono-huller.

I got Numerous Hours on a land-sailor ; more than 1/2
in 25-30mph winds.

When the windward wheel comes up to a height where something
NEEDS to be done , like right now, i would turn the
land-boat down-wind and sheet Out.

If i JUST turn down-wind a few degrees, the windward wheel
will immediately go lower, but it won't Stay there unless
i sheet-OUT.

So when your windward hull raises to high, do Ya come off
the wind to lower it then sheet out ?

Bille

If your below a beam reach, yes. If somewhere near a beam reach (death zone) it becomes more a

which way feels like it will hurt less

kind of deal. The wave action can play into that scenario also.Sometimes it's sheet out AND dump traveler and sometimes it's just time to get wet.

They seemed to be reaching a bit but had the sails sheeted pretty hard on. I would think that heading up into the wind sharply would have been the thing to do there (easy to second guess from a helicopter view, though). It doesn't seem like he tried to steer much at all through the event.

I was amazed how far they went before they finally tipped over! Looked like they were going fast and then got a big puff, but didn't worry too much about it.

Looked like they were sailing on the side of the low hull for a long time and the didn't try to fix it. It didn't look like he was trying to go up or down to save it, just straight ahead.

Maybe they are so used to sailing it that far up on the edge they were thinking the puff would pass and it would come back down to normal?

It looks like the main trimmer tried to release the main as they were heading over but it never eases.

Maybe someone was sitting on the main sheet... <img src="<>/shocked.gif" alt="shocked" title="shocked" height="15" width="15" />

Yeah, that's my job...

I'm liking the lazy-boy recliner the helm is using. Hmm... wonder if I can get one of those on my boat.

Interesting linkage to the rudder. Never saw them move until the very end. Didn't see the boom move much either. Very strange...

When Spindrift went over this past summer, I think I read they use some kind of hydraulic sheet control that doesn't react very quickly in emergency.

I've read they have some sorta big red button near the helm that blows the main in a hurry in emergency. It appears that button doesn't work as well as it should.

How do you think these guys felt?

Part of me wondered if they didn't do that on purpose looking at the lack of reactions to that puff...but there's no way those guys would have taken such a bad fall if that were the case. Just watch the skipper closely. As he finally bails out of his lazy boy he takes what looks like a heck of a fall and I couldn't find him again.

The perils of helicopters filming you.

The question was :

So when your windward hull raises to
high, do Ya come off the wind to lower it then sheet out ?

Originally Posted by Team_Cat_Fever

If your below a beam reach, yes. If somewhere near a beam reach (death zone) it becomes more a

which way feels like it will hurt less" kind of deal. The wave action can play into that scenario also.Sometimes it's sheet out AND dump traveler and sometimes it's just time to get wet.