Here's a question regarding an instruction I just found in the Prindle 18-2/19 Owner's Manual regarding how to get your bows pointed into the wind if you're capsized. I'd like to know if anyone has any comment. (Btw, I think this is relevant to all cats, not just P18/19s.)
Page 30 has a short section on righting a capsized boat that says:
"If the mast is pointed into the wind, the boat may flip over in the other direction as you try to right it. To swing the bows around into the wind, walk back towards the transom slowly until bows are positioned properly."
Notice it doesn't say stand on the bow. It says walk back to the transom and wait for the bows to swing around into the wind. I never noticed this before and don't get why this would cause the bows to swing into the wind.
I always understood that if the bows are not pointing into the wind, you should stand on the bow, not the stern, and presumably that would sink the bow somewhat, causing the lightened aft end of the boat to drift downwind so the bows end up pointed into the wind. But this owners' manual says the opposite, so maybe I'm missing something??
The back story is that a couple of years ago I capsized my boat (P18-2) while solo-sailing and initially couldn't get it righted because (to the best of my recollection) the mast was pointed towards the wind. I tried pulling the mast up, but couldn't do it because the wind kept blowing the mainsail down. So I stood on the bow and waited. Long story short, my weight there (I weigh around 185 and definitely more with gear on) did exactly DIDLY SQUAT to bring the bows into the wind, even though I stood there for a good while, and even though there was a decent breeze blowing (not strong admittedly, but a reasonable breeze). The P18-2 has a large amount of volume in the bows, and my weight there seemed to do nothing to appreciably sink it or bring the bows around. (Important aside: is the proper spelling didly squat, diddly squat, didley squat, didely squat, dideley squat, didelly squat, didelley squat, diddelley squat, or??? Inquiring minds want to know, maybe we can take a poll. Kindly leave your vote in the comments - btw, this could be more important than righting a boat.)
I ended up getting out of that situation through the help of a good samaritan motor-boater (before I drifted further towards a jetty). But the point is, I just noticed the above statement in the Owners' Manual and I don't get why standing by the stern would cause the bows to swing into the wind. Does anyone think this makes sense or have any comment?
Thanks.
Edit: Not sure how i managed to get this posted in the "Tampa Bay Waters" sub-forum of all places (not that that's a bad place!), but maybe Damon/mod/forum-owner can get it into the "General Sailing" forum(?).
Edited by CatFan57 on Apr 25, 2023 - 05:53 PM.
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1998 P18.2
Sailing out of SHBCC, NJ
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