Comprehensive demonstrations of righting an upturned Island

Ideally, rolling up the sail completely will reduce the resistance to righting the boat, but as a bare minimum, the sail must be totally uncleated, to avoid the catastrophic possibility of your Island attempting to sail away as soon as it is upright!

(Disclaimer: I have never attempted to furl the sail while my TI is inverted, so I do not know whether the mast will rotate freely in the ball-race in the mast holder. I would very much appreciate hearing from somebody with first-hand knowledge on this.)

_________________
Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

agreed. Seems like having the loops in the ideal spot makes it easier. Please share. (And thanks for the great video.)

[quote="skymax"]So do you wind the sail back on the mast first underwater somehow?[/quote

No, we didn't bother trying to do that. We either started with a fully furled sail or left it out completely. If you look at the second video, you will see that we found it didn't really make it any harder with the sail fully out and cleated. Ideally, you should try to uncleat as soon as possible, but the sail can recleat itself as you turn it back over as you are likely to be still holding the mainsheet line and you really need to hang on to your boat and not let it get away from you as the wind hits the sail before you can get back up on it and uncleat it again.

Hi Tom,

Glad you enjoyed the videos.

The line is about 5m, so about 16 feet, but it doesn't need to be that long. That is a rope I have stored in one of the mesh pockets that we attached to the handle of the ama for the first drill. It was not kept and is not kept in our pfd's, but you could if you wanted. PFD pocket space is at a premium as you would understand with radios, phones, keys etc. We tied about 3 or 4 loops in the line. That line is used for mooring the boat and a range of other things, so it is not a dedicated line as such. The loops were tied in on the day as we realised we needed something more to hang on to. They are untied again when we have finished the drills. It is actually incredibly difficult to tip the 2015+ AI if you are sailing in less than 20 knots. A rule of thumb we have been using is to partially furl the sail when the leeward ama is submerging more than 50% of the time you are sailing. We have been out is some pretty big winds to see what these things are capable of - around 30 knots with 40 knot gusts.

On the second video I used the anchor trolley that is on the port side of my boat to see if it was possible without using anything else and it worked reasonably well but wouldn't be possible without both akas folded in.

Hi Tony,

We were happy for you to share the videos and had a lot of fun making them. We did consider trying to furl the sail for one of our demo's but upon discussion, we decided that having to get under the boat when it was upturned was not a safe thing to try. We all have the spinnaker kits installed and there is a lot of rope that seems to have a mind of its own when it is in the water and we didn't want to risk entanglement.

Cheers,
Jason

Thanks Jason! There is no substitute for real;-world experience. I'm sure many Island sailors will benefit from the efforts you and your friends went to to see what works, and remove some of the doubts they might have had about capsize recovery.

I remember talking in 2012 to a fellow who tried to get an Island-based "water-safari" tourism business established in Port Stephens, and he was required to write comprehensive capsize-recovery instructions for his customers. Unfortunately, the red-tape got too much, so he gave up, and sold his six TIs. The availability of your videos could well have saved his business.

_________________
Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

These are fantastic videos! Thank you for sharing!

I intend to practice capsize recovery myself this summer (July 2017 - Northern Hemisphere ). While these videos show that it is possible, they also show that practice would be really helpful, too. I am thinking I can tie some loops in my tether and use it as a recovery line, as well.

Thank you again!

_________________
-MM
2016 Hobie TI Golden Papaya "Wave Dancer"
Trailex Trailer

Being one of the few people to actually capsize in 16-18 mph winds with a fully loaded AI 2, I feel I can comment about the sail when righting a capsized Island.

In my case, I capsized toward the leeward side because the lee-ward aka pin broke allowing the aka/ama to fold in along the hull almost instantly. The boat did not turtle because the water was only about 6-7' deep. The tip of the mast was driven quite hard into the mud/sand as it capsized. Without my realizing it, the boat rapidly rotated so that the the mast and sail were trailing the wind-driven hull. At some point, as I was trying to figure how to right the boat, I was on the bottom of the boat (the boat is sideways in the water, the mast/sail are trailing), I realized I wanted to release the sail so I worked my way around to the windward side where the mast/sail were. It was not easy to release, because there was considerable pressure on the sail even though it was under water. Remember, the boat is being pushed along by the wind. I managed to detach the sail from the main line. The sail was now free, and I proceeded back around to the bottom of the boat. I got in position to pull the boat up (I had no righting lines), the mast slowly came up with the sail (a beautiful sight), and finally the boat was vertical again and the sail flapped wildly. I was back in the water, but never felt in danger of the boat sailing away--I also never let loose of the boat at any time.

You can read about my capsize and recovery here: http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=54465&start=0

You can read about my various modifications to prevent another capsize and, just in case I do capsize, my righting lines, here: http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7276&start=750

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon