Dismasting

Just curious. Anyone have a DISMASTING experience? Our port shroud parted recently at the Nicro fitting (where it's pressed at the bottom of the shroud) in 15-20 knots on our 6 year old Getaway. Dealer said it's probably been kinked due to trailering and jamming the shroulds when storing, thus weakening the wire shroud at that point.

Mast went over just forward of the starboard wing, mainsail being sheeted in tight enabled it to "gently" go over. We removed the mainsail, secured the mast on the boat and motored back in. No other damage.

I have had 2 dismasting experiences on a Getaway. The first time occured on my 3rd or 4th day on my boat after having bought it new. The shackle that holds the forestay and shrouds came loose and mast fell straight back and landed on the tiller crossbar. I suspect a lock wire had not been put on the shackle during assembly and as I was new to sailing at the time, I had not checked this. Lesson learned the hardway, but fortunately nobody was hurt and no damage was done to the boat. Now the shackle is wired shut. I have since drilled a hole in the small shackle that holds the forestay and jib near the furler and wired this shackle too, after my wife noticed that it had started to loosen itself. No problems since with our boat.

Second dismasting occured while on vacation in St. Maarten when my wife and I rented a Getaway on the beach. It was an earlier generation boat that had clearly seen a lot of use. The chainplate on the starboard hull broke at the top screw when I sheeted the sail in on a starboard tack, and the mast fell sideways, across the port hull near the center crossbar. No other damage and no injuries.

Interesting--different ways to have a dismasting. Guess we need to get into the habit of a routine check of the critical parts each time we go out. Thanks!

I have also had two dismasting experiences, not in a Getaway but on a Hobie 16. In one of them, apparently one of the rings-dings from the pin that holds the shroud to the chainplate came loose, and the mast went down to leeward. Fortunately nobody was on the leeward side of the boat (4 people on the boat). Since then, I regularly check those ring-dings. Used some of the sail to drift towards an area where we could get the boat out of the water. Fortunately also we were in a closed bay up in Fort Walton Area. Nice guy who saw us arriving dismasted gave us a telephone and a six-pack of beer. Woo hoo!
Other time the plate that holds absolutely every line (shrouds, forestay, etc) up in the mast broke. Fortunately we were able to drift to a shallow area and walked the boat back.

guillermo

Hey--welcome to the club! The Hobie Dis-masted veterans! Anymore out there?
These are interesting, entertaining and informative stories.

well, I have never had a dismasting, but have seen a pretty crazy one

It was while I was at sailing school.(those monohulls are so SLOW) we were sailing around, racing against the other classes, when suddenly we hear a fairly loud pop. I look over, and all I see is a Hobie 16 with a mast crashing down. I later found out that a damaged forestay/jib chainplate, and Mr. Hercules at the mainsheet was to blame. The chainplate failed right at the point where it connects to those two wires that come from the bow. since the mainsheet was in so tight, when it failed the mast came crashing down at great force. the skipper and crew bailed. boat patrol came after a minute or so to tow them back to dock. fortunetly no one was hurt.

_________________
'72 Hobie 16
with
#56 Gonzo Nationals

Blew out a shroud in about 25kts of wind one day...wing seats kept the mast out of the water and sailed back under the jib directly downwind luckily...mast didn't come down fast as I expected..was close hauled and sails acted like a giant parachute so the mast came down slowly...not one boat on a busy narragansett bay asked us if we needed help.

Had the port shroud on my old 17 break. No serious damage-the bow port forestay connection got a little beat up, but I fixed the gel coat. It surprised me that it was fairly gentle.
Also, I had recently bought the boat and the seller claimed the standing rigging was "recently" replaced. Hah! So, I put all new standing rigging on the boat.

_________________
Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks

Gmozavala's remark was interesting about the tang at the top of the mast letting go. When I first bought the boat new that was the first thing I noticed might be a problem as its is attached to the plastic comtip. My opinion was that it couldn't hold very well just screwed into the plastic, especially with all those loads. That being said the boat is now 4 yrs. old and (knock on wood) I have checked those screws every year and never observed a problem.

_________________
06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

Yea, that tang breaking is a big problem. When it happened to me, though, it was on a Hobie 16, and instead of the tang coming off the mast (rivets or screws getting pulled), what actually happened that time is that the tang itself broke (the attachment point for the big shackle).

Yep, dismasted today. I had replaced the mast tang on my 1984 hobie 14 turbo with aluminium rivets which is probably the cause. Anyway, the mast came down about 1Km off the shore of the lake with the wing blowing the wrong way. A real pickle. In the end I took the sail off the mast and used the mast as a paddle to row back to shore against a 5 knot breeze. An emotional journey of almost 2 hours...

I had a close call with my Getaway last year. I took off the jib to scrub it, and evidently didn't tighten the front shackle enough when I reinstalled it.
Next time we sailed, we set out, and before we were out of the breakwater, I noticed the front shackle pin almost all the way out! Only a thread on the pin was hooked on the jib grommet.
My crew held the mast up while I turned up wind and went forward and retightened the shackle.
I bought a shackle with a drilled pin (later I realized I could have just drilled the pin) and safety wired it. I also bought one of the "emergency parts" kits to carry on the boat.

_________________
Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks