[quote=MN3][quote]i do keep the mast raked back a bit so it probably would have gone into irons anyway, it just would have been a long swim.[/quote]
a couple good reasons to point into the wind:
boats handle differently with zero crew weight on boards.
i have seen at least a dozen boats sail away without captains / and crew. I have had to deliver 2 captains back to their catamarans that were sailing perfectly without anyone on board (Darts sail very well without people).
boats can sail themself: after righting and off beaches, off anchor, etc
After righting:
I personally had a horrific capsize (from a gust and a riptide that turned me around) in the washing machine like waters off Sand Key Pass a few years back. After getting her righted, the jib was still sheeted and she took off like a rocket (and was pointed at a wooden channel marker).
I had to pull myself up the boat by the righting line (the boat was doing about 10MPH / which exhausted me), had a very hard time getting aboard my moving cat, only to find the main sheet was wrapped around my rear beam/ traveler and i could neither steer away from the marker, nor sheet out to slow down. I missed it by a hair... and got my sheets together[/quote]
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