wave blowing away

Hi folks. I'm new to the forum and I just thought I should tell of my first high wind sailing experience in my new Wave SE. I know this is long, but bare with me ... it's pretty good. Well, first of all, let me say that I was new to catamaran sailing before buying my Wave, so I was at first very cautious. I always wore a life vest or had one within reach at all times sailing, and avoided very windy days until I felt more confident about catamaran sailing. Six weeks and about the same amount of trips later, I felt very confident. It was July 4th, and and the winds were picking up to around 20 mpg, and I felt ready to try to learn to fly a hull. Of all the days, I decided not to wear my life vest so I could manouver comfortably and quickly, so I kept it within reach. The life vest kept trying to blow away so I tied it to the hiking strap. Anyhow, I was just getting the hang of flying a hull, and it was very exciting. I was begining to feel like a pro riding high in the ever increasing winds when finally the inevitable happened. No big deal I thought as I was sliding off the hull, I'll just tilt it back up and away I'll go as if nothing had happened. Obviously I should have practiced this. I dropped in the drink, and came up a moment too late while scrambling to save my new no-line bifocal sunglassed that had managed to separate from the attatched neck float. At that moment I realized the boat was not staying where I was bobbing around. I had to swim to reach the boat. No problem I thought. As I was swimming, I came to the sickining realization the the cat was sailing away by the verticle trampoline faster than I could swim. I thought my boat would turtle, or perhaps turn sideways to the wind, thus slowing it's speedy departure from me. It never turtled. It never turned. It just sailed away with it's tramp side facing the wind while I struggled trying to catch up to it in three foot chop. Rather quickly it was out of sight as the winds picked up even more. Of all places to capsize, I was in the middle of the river, nearly 2 mile from either shore. I had been sailing from shore to shore with a beam wind. I tried to make my tee shirt into a life preserver with no success. A moment of panic and the realization that July 4th would not be a day to celebrate, but a day for all the family on shore to worry, or worse. I started to swim, but I was already tired. It was dificult to breath without taking in water every other breath, and although I can swim quite well in smooth water, this was another thing. I focused on my task at hand knowing it was do or die. I felt like the shore never got any closer each time I looked. It seemed to be taking all day and I was trying my best not to think of anything but the shore ... lots of time seemed to go by. I thought someone should be looking for me by now, but strangely, I never saw a boat, even though it was the 4th of July. Finally, my foot hit a crab pot. I looked around and saw the float bobing next to me. I tried to stand on the bottom and realized was only 4 feet deep and I was very near the shore. Within minutes three jet skis converged on me. My brother, my neighbor, The guy who cuts grass ... They must have seen me when I stood up, I thought. Apparenty, everyone had been looking for me and I had created quite a stir. Even the authorities were called in by my frantic wife, and when she told them the boat had been found capsized, without me around it, with the life preservers tied to it, and that I was seen not wearing my vest, they said they were sending a dive teem! Can you imagine how embarrased I was to face the authorities and half the river front comunity standing by the shore when I finally made it back? Amazingly, what seemed to take most of a day only taken about two hours or so! What else can I say? Well, I can say I am lucky. I know that. I was foolish as well, and I am humbled for my experience. Mostly, I am thankful. Thankful to those that dropped everything on their holiday to look for me. It's nice know people care. Even for those they've never met.

wow sounds like you had an ordeal. glad to hear you came out okay. Guess the moral of the story is to wear your life jacket when out and about. I know i will keep that in mind next time i am out on the water..

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What happened to the water?

Good sailing
Robbie

Thanks for the story and the lesson. My first sail was under similar conditions and I turtled in the middle of the Reach, 1 NM from either shore. I was very glad to be wearing my PFD as it was tiring righting the Wave in high winds and waves, and then climbing back on board.

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Adolphus Reach, Canada

tomcat88,

Thanks for the story. Glad you are here to tell it.

Important lessons for all. Wear your life vest.

What seems like a small thing can be a major problem. You move quite a distance very quickly on a sail boat. That distance can be difficult to swim for many people.

Second lesson is to stay with the boat. Always try to be holding something, line, strap... stay with the boat. Even a slow drift can be faster that some can swim.

I have had the experience myself. Sailing solo, had a trapeze harness hook fail. Dropped me in the water and couple miles off shore. I was luckey. The water was warm. I saw several boats come out looking for me, but had the same experience. They could not see ME. It was a long swim!

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

I read your post with interest before I bought my Hobie. There were 2 things I learned from it. WEAR YOUR PFD and DON"T LET GO OF THE HOBIE when she goes over. Both of these were very important for me today.

Thanks for your post.

Put a whistle on your PDF too, the little kids have to do at sailing school, so should the big kids.