Extreme WX emergency tactics

We are fairly new to sailing our hobie 16 and we got caught out in what I estimated to be 30 knots of wind. It was a pleasant day with light winds predicted and there were a few sailboats out to include some tour boats with customers out. Long story short we saw a tour boat (25' mono hull) almost dump its passengers into the water before due to an unforecasted storm that came out of nowhere...blue skies and just lots of wind. We ended up needing rescue from the park ranger. We don't have reefing capabilities. We live in the mountains and sail mountain lakes so this sort of thing happens more than once in a lifetime. We thought about turning into the wind and lowering the main and trying to make it to shore on the jib only but capsized before we were able to make that happen. Also our tramp ripped through on both sides to complicate things. Anyone have any tips or thoughts about this scenario?

Maybe flip on purpose and go turtle to ride it out.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

I've got a motor on my Getaway, and the couple of times something similar has happened to me, I furled the jib, dropped the mainsail (I keep bungees on board to strap it down) and motored in.
When I had a Hobie 17 with no motor, it wasn't as easy to drop the sail (very fussy latch system), so those times, I picked a non-rocky shoreline in a direction that let me feather the sail, and went to shore.

Maybe you can heave to, to ride it out? Release the mainsheet, backwind the jib, and hold the rudders to the same side as the jib. I often do this to park the boat for lunch. Haven't tried it in high wind. https://asa.com/news/2017/03/24/heaving-to-steps/

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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

A very good skill that all sailors should know is how to go “hove-to.” It is a method of essentially parking the boat in a controlled manner. You put the boat on a close hauled course or close reach. Then release the main and jib sheets completely (also the main traveler). Push the tiller all the way away from yourself. Sheet in the jib on the windward side (the jib will be pulled across the mast and filledfrom the “wrong” side).

With the boat in this configuration, the jib will try to blow the bows downwind but everytime that happens, the rudders will force the boat up into the wind, so the boat will just very slowly claw its way forward. You can even lash the tiller over so you don’t need to hold it. The only real risk in this case would be blowing over backwards, so keep weight forward.

Once hove to, you can either ride out the storm or take your time dropping the mainsail knowing that the boat is under control, more or less tending to itself. Definitely a good idea to try this technique out in controlled conditions, but it works quite well.

sm

SRM's advice is good, as always.

Last night, in our first Club race of the season, we had SW-W winds of 11 k, gusting 19 k.

The NACRA Foiling F18 hit 23 knots in a puff, which is amazing.

I had challenges, for three reasons:
A. there were wind shifts in the gusts, of up to 30 degrees. That can be fun.
B. there was the usual inland lake/river chop of about 24"-36", but the chop was very close together, which led to a lot of 'slamming'. Not comfortable.
C. I was sailing solo.

So yes, heaving to is an option, but watch out for gusts and chop.

Years ago, we could 'see' a front approaching, so we headed for shore, dropped the sails, and physically held down my old H18SX while in shallow water.

Keep safe

_________________
2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

What exactly happened to cause the tramp to rip?