The mast hit the water with a lot of speed and no sooner than my head popped back above water from falling in the whole boat dropped on my head and went full turtle. I remember thinking how the heck did that just happen, I'm in like 20 feet of water max. The leeward shroud had broken the cotter ring, and the pin came out. I was basically in the process of trying to take a breath when the tramp shoved me underwater. My heart rate was already up from 2 hours of sailing and I think I instinctively let out a "whoa" when I got hit in the head by the boat so realistically I felt out of breath the second I was underwater. My immediate reaction as I was laying on my back was to reach out to the hull and pull myself back out the other side. The only problem was that my trap hook was still hooked to the port trapeze and I was trying to pull myself out the starboard side of the boat. I didn't move at all. I reached down to my trap hook but everything just felt tangled on it and I couldn't pull it off.
I had that panic moment where you feel helpless and I didn't have any better ideas than to reach out to the hull again and pull as hard as I could. It probably took another 7-8 seconds but I felt myself slowly moving towards the hull. I finally slid out enough to get my head above water and get back on the boat. It was only after I looked down and saw my harness hooked to the side lacing of my tramp and still under the boat that I realized I had pulled myself out of the harness to get to the surface. I use those red hobie bucket harnesses and thankfully always have the legs and hips really loose. Barely enough to keep it on when I walk around. That's the only reason I got out.
Sitting in the water for awhile without a wetsuit and getting recovered was a whole different issue but that all turned out fine and I only have a mild cold to show for it. It gave me plenty of time to think about the reality that if I would have had my leg straps tighter or was wearing a full harness then I probably wouldn't have gotten out from under the tramp.
I always thought those trap harnesses with a quick release hook were a bit of overkill and that you were more likely to accidentally dump yourself off the trap than for it to come in useful. I actually still think you are more likely to dump yourself off the wire but at this point that seems like a fair trade off vs at least having a plan B when you get tangled up underwater. I'm going to do some shopping and see what options there are out there. It's probably a good idea, being stuck underwater sucks.
