More teething problems

So i finally got harnesses and me and my crew were out on a decent day (15k winds) and on my very fist hike out i pitch poled the boat! this happened because i let go of the power line in order to get myself on the rail and basically couldn't get back to it as we started to pitch. i keep watching videos which show the crew dealing with the main sheet, is this common practice or do i just need to practice more? also as i am sailing, my main sheet has a tendency to dip into the water and get pulled off the boat, what can i do or what do you do to stop this?

thanks again everyone

First question I have is did you pitchpole or simply capsize. A pitchpole is when the bow digs in and the boat trips over the bows and rolls. A capsize is just basically laying the boat on its side. When going out on the wire I keep the sheet in the hand I grab the wire handle with, rudder is in the other hand. I keep the sheet under my forward foot and sort of layed across my leg to keep it out of the water while trapezing . Sometimes it just doesn't matter, it gets in the water anyway. Thats when I have the crew retrieve it for me. I would suggest that you become more experienced sailing the boat before you consider handing the main off to your crew. It takes an experienced skipper and crew to sail like you see on videos. Until you know what the boat is doing you need to be in complete control.

When you go out on the wire, put both the mainsheet and the tiller in your back hand. Hook into your trap wire, grab the trap handle, get out on the wire, then grab the mainsheet the mainsheet with your front hand and sail normally. The whole process should take only a few seconds at most. Although you can't handle the mainsheet during these few seconds, you can still control the power in the boat through steering. Turn the boat into the wind to depower. You also don't want to wait until you're fully powered up and fully sheeted in to get out on the wire. Instead, go out on the wire when you're sailing comfortably at about 3/4 speed. Then once you're out, sheet in the rest of the way.

I would not recommend handing off the mainsheet to the crew, at least during your learning stages. You need a fairly experienced skipper and crew to pull it off.




Crew! That's the crew's job. When you see the line falling off the boat, have the crew pull it back onboard and toss it into the boat. If it's really rough, they can hold onto the whole thing. Just make sure they leave you enough slack in case you need to dump sheet quickly. Another thing we do on 17s is to put some foam tubing (pull noodles) across the back of the boat to help hold the lines on. But if you have a crew, it's really not necessary.

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Communication is a good thing as well. You can practice handing off the mainsheet with both you and your crew still on the boat and with the crew on the wire with the mainsheet as well.

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i guess it was more of a capsize. i will try what you have all suggested, thanks =)

As for the crew handling the main sheet, I suspect you are watching the crew handle the traveler part of the sheet. This takes considerable skill and practice.

pitchpoled for real a few days ago

and. . .?