Posted: Apr 17, 2011 - 09:21 AM
Before I bought my 5.8, I would rent boats from Key Sailing at Pensacola Beach. One 4th of July around 1995 we had rented a Prindle 19. While we were sailing we saw one of Key Sailings Hobie 16s capsize. As they were newer to sailing than I was we went over to help. The young man and woman on the 16 were having trouble. She would not, could not help, and was in the water hanging on the hull so the boat would not swing mast to the wind. My crew jumped in and swam to the masthead and helped turn the boat. When they were ready, my crew since he was wearing a pfd was able to lift the mast out of the water. The boats captain was on the righting line and was ready to grab the dolphin striker to keep the boat from going all the way over. As the boat came up the woman saw that she was going to end up under the boat, so she let go and swam down wind. The hull came down right on her head splitting her scalp open.