Exciting day on a Getaway!

OK, I took my new "used" Getaway out for the first time yesterday and was (crazy) fun! The wind was REALLY blowing. Used my new mast stepper to raise the mast and decided it was well worth the investment. After rigging we were off....We screamed away from the dock and the smiles were a mile wide. (My crew is my 12 year old son and my 10 year old daughter.) Well about 10 minutes into it we were flying a hull (about 2 feet out of the water) with my son at the helm and we nose dived into a wave and the boat promptly cartwheeled forward into the water. We had been pushing the boat hard and I am sure this could probably have been avoided, but hey! We then tried out the power righting pole that I had installed which worked like a charm BUT we would right the boat and it would immediately flip over onto the other side. 1) Four boat rightings later we managed to keep the boat from flipping and were off again. Advice? 2) We had yet to tack and that's when we realized we couldn't! Stalled everytime. Ended up jibing our way around the lake. Advice? Overall, I think we were the cocktail hour entertainment for the restaurant on the cliff!!! Cynthia

Sounds like a fun day

I came from Monohuls to my 16 and found some challenges also. The multi capsize entertainment should be resolved by getting the boat into wind before righting. This is acheived by standing on the bow and letting the wind blow the tail round to windward. Also make sure your lines are uncleated

Tacking? well that is a horse of a different color in a cat I struggled mightily to get my head around this, but the concept is (as I understand it), you gather speed and then from close hauled you push the tillers to initiate the turn. Helm stays at rear and crew slides back also as the boat comes to the wind. Key point here is that crew needs to keep the jib tight so it will backwind as you go through the wind. Crew goes to new windward as boat comes through, helm goes last once the bows are through the wind on the new tack. Power the jib on the new tack and then power the main

Phew mono hulls are easier to tack but not near as much fun

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1985 Prindle 16

hey you're out there, right , Cynthia. when the breeze
picks up it's a good idea to move you weight back.
does yours have wings? if so sit all the way back on
them, if you slow down and notice transoms dragging
move forward. tacking, like the previous poster said
can be helped by backwinding the jib and also ease
main out slightly as you go through eye of the wind.
sheet back in as tack is completed.seems like once
the getaway flies a hull it gets less stable and best to
keep mainsheet uncleated..good sailing, doug