dangerous moments?

Hello everyone
What was your most dangerous moment while sailing your boat?

My story is not with mine h14T but with a friends dinghy FINN type .
Was last summer we went sailing with strong wind in Aegean sea here in Greece .Suddenly while we were sailing close - hauled we capsised ,cause a huge wave came into the boat .
This type of boat is open inside ,and uses 2 airtubes so as not to sink .The problem was that I dont know how ,but the one airtube was broken and filled with water ,so the boat was turtled and half sinked....
Nobody saw us or knew we were sailing ,and we couldnt swim near the coast cause was far away and we were very tired ,3 hours in the water with huge waves feeling cold and waiting for help .
Our luck changed 3 hours later while a motor boat passed from this point and rescued us ,plus we brought the half sinked boat at the coast with a lot of damage of course .
I am 23 years old and for the first time in my life I put myshelf in such a big danger .
All I have learned now from this ,is to inform people for my plans ,and carry a mobile phone in a special water resistant case .
I also want to add ,that I have a good life jacked ,typical solas type that really saved my life in this moment ,I didnt have to swim all the time and it was holding my head off the water .

Sorry for my english!I will post a foto of the boat ,and when I can I will post a foto from the local newspapers with fotos of the half sinked boat!

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hobiecat 14Turbo - TORNADO

For what it's worth, I always try to let someone know my sail plan, and carry a phone. I figure that a few miles offshore, dismasted with an onshore wind, you might be in for a long trip.

On a Tiger alone, heading toward rocks, capsized, and crew missing

I was out pleasure sailing one evening with someone who was not my regular crew. We had a great outing. It was blowing about 15 to 18 most of the time. As we were coming in toward the harbor jetty she was wondering if I wanted her to trap out while sailing downwind with the spinnaker still up. We had been doing this for the better part of an hour already. I let her decide if she wanted to hang out. She was wearing a borrowed harness and was not familiar with it. There was a latch or something that was supposed to capture the trapeze handle securely. She thought she was hooked in as she pushed out and fell off the boat. Trailing in the water while holding fast to the spinnaker line, watching as I was getting overpowered flying a hull she decided to let go. Her thought was so I may be able to save the boat from an eminent capsize. It was too late, I was floating mast in the water, spinnaker still deployed and the wind pushing the boat toward the rocks. My first concern was to see if she was okay. I looked in her direction and she was comfortable with her lifejacket on but the current was going the opposite direction of the wind and she was not able to get to the boat. I tried several times to right the boat by myself to no avail. I never heard of anyone being able to right a Formula 18 by ones self. Just about ready to resign to the rocks I gave it one last-ditch effort. I was really exhausted by this time. As I was struggling I saw the mast lift out of the water. Concerned that the rocks were only about 3 boat lengths or less away I had no idea, even if I was to right it, which way the boat was going to head. Facing to or away from the rocks. My mind wandered to what the insurance company was going to say and whether they were going to keep me as a client when I bought a new boat. I just got the boat up with inches to spare, facing the right direction, but had lost sight of my crew. I sailed to weather tacking every minute so I could narrow down the field. I saw her in less than 10 minutes drifting pretty swiftly away from my location.

While floating she was mostly concerned with my plight as she was watching me try to get out of that situation. She could see me the whole time and was rejoiced when she saw that I was able to right the boat. She was rather calm under fire and a bit tired when I dragged her on board. She kept apologizing for not checking to see that she was hooked and I assured her that everything turned out fine and we have a good story about it.

I did have a radio aboard but there was no time to pull it out in this situation. I could call if things got worse.

Later,
Dan

very intersting story ,cause the mistakes of the others sometimes can be usefull to us all ,we learn from them...
I also wanted to notice that when you put yourself in a dangerous condition you find the fysical and psychical strengh you never knew you had ...

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hobiecat 14Turbo - TORNADO

Wow...

My story isn't from a cat... it's from a Tartan 37' monohull... I was sailing with my uncle out by Martha's Vineyard. We were actually heading back to Rhode Island from Martha's and were just coming up on Newport, along the coast when my uncle asked me to guide him through a busy field of fishing buoys... I was laying on the deck, tanning... as I sat up, I saw a dozen 50 gallon drums floating in the water and immediately told him that they weren't buoys... it was a fishing net!

By that time, it was WAY too late to do anything but see what happened.. I grabbed our hook and tried to push the net below the water as far as I could to hopefully prevent it from hooking on the keel, prop, and rudder but there was no way that was going to happen... I broke the first hook as the barrel slid up to the side of the boat and I was pushing it down trying to get it off us....

We had both sails out, but our first reaction was to roll up the jib and see what we could do... We did that. Then it swung us around the other direction and my uncle though if we did wing on wing, we might be able to pull ourselves off the net... so we unrolled the jib again and let the main out, wing on wing... it didn't work at all...

Now we had a problem... we were tangled but now had the force of the wind pushing us over a bit... oh, and the barrel that was beating on the side of the boat now moved underneath the stern. At this point we rolled up the jib again and then began the very difficult task of lowering the main. It was full of wind and we had no ability to turn the boat.. we used the power winches to pull it in a bit, then just struggled to pull it down. I nearly fell over board several times during this process.

Once we got the main down, the barrel came out from under the stern.. My uncle then got back on the phone with vessel assist and they were telling him it was a salvage operation because a storm was coming in to the area. It was bs because we were an hour from the harbor and the weather was 4 hours out...

While he was arguing on the phone, I had his wife get me a knife and I used our other hook to pull up the lines that connected the barrels together... I basically hung off the stern of the boat like a monkey to cut the barrel off our boat. Once I cut both sides of the barrel, thankfully the net dropped free from the keel and we started to drift free.

We were not far from shore and this caused a bit of a problem because we needed to start moving or we'd float into another section of the net and be right back where we started, so we crossed our fingers and fired up the diesel. We were lucky, no rudder or propeller damage... we drove around the fishing minefield and into the harbor.

I don't know how dangerous it really was because we were never tipping over or anything... but it was pretty scary for a bit while we were stuck and with the barrel beating on the stern, it could have been bad, especially when we had both sails up... we could have easily capsized his yacht and it would have been definitely life threatening!

Not dangerous, but one of the most fun. 1990, Hobie 17 Nationals, in the Gorge on the Columbia river. Last race after five days in heavy wind. Trap line broke at harness, fell off, broke Hot Stick, turned over, and was finished as I drifted down river across the finish line.
Caleb Tarleton

1) See ride below..... After first day of racing @ Sail Melb 04 the Tornadoes were all racing to shore dodging 470s and lasers in winds over 25 and waves up to 2.5mtr top to bottom.

One of the Ts put it in after rounding up under kite as a 470 gybed in front of them. Another crew fell of the back of the boat with his rear foot still in foot strap and was draged backwards. Skipper Gybed and put it in to save him.

As seen below we wound it up surfing down the waves. I said to my crew "hang on I am going to see how far we can push it" . All I could here from the wire was "Ohhh $hit, f@ck watch that wave" repeated over and over again. As we got closer to the club and in the lee of the breakwater a big gust hit us. My crew threw the kite sheet and we survived for a few more boat lenghts and then ....... my crew lept of the backoff the boat as we went over and landed about 30 feet awayfrom the boat. As I landed I hit the boom with my leg and could barely walk after it. Still had a big lump on my leg a year later.

Anyway, knowing my crew was seperated from the boat, I grabed the main sheet and swam of the back of the boat to him and stuck out my leg for him to grab. As he body surfed down the waves and was within a foot of me the boat would surf down the next wave and we would be seperated again. After a few minutes of this he became exhausted and gave up. I pulled my way back to the boat.... jumped on and retrieved the kite and lent back against the dolphin striker and the boat came up. It was that windy, no righting rope was needed.

My crew difting out in the bay was pased by a Mistral sailor..... He stoped and asked if that was his boat off in the distance. He replyed Yes. The Mistral guy next said "Is there anybody on it". My crews reply was "I f@cken hope so".

Shortly after, another crew droped by and picked him up, returning him to the boat so we could limp in with huge grins on our faces.



2) Sail Sydney 2003, first day, wind 36 knots average gusting to 42 (measured at Airport on the bay) We were the only mad dogs to put up a spinnaker and as we tore down the course very deep we were dodging a wreaking yard of monos. As their crews held on the bows looking up at us with eyes as big a saucers, we shot past at warp speed with our eyes as big as saucers. Every gybe we did we turned the boat only a few degrees and as the sails came accross it would throw up the other hull and threaten to send us swimming. On the second downwind a gust caught us and we did go swimming. My crew was traped on top of the hull as I was pinned under the boat and for the first time in my life, thought I was seriously going to die on a sail boat. Anyway, managed to free myself and get the boat upright and limp back to shore.

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www.2007f18worlds.com

Wow... that's crazy.

I always thought the Ozzies were half crazy. I was off by 50%.

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My worst experience ever occured on the Fox. Out in the atlantic in small craft advisory. 3 on board, 2 on the wire. One experienced crew and one rookie. 20-30mph wind, 5-7ft seas. We left with a fifth of Patron for a extended run up the coast. On the return, with spin out my surfing background got the best of me and I began carving the waves with my 20' spin cat. I could go deep down the face and carve back up to the top with incredibly speed, what a rush. Then it happened. My wave piercing cat stuck a hull at the bottom and cartwheeled. Very fast and very violent. The crew went flying like window cleaners in a hurricane. I somehow ended up tangled in lines, under the sail, and unable to free myself. I really thought this was it for me. Somehow found the power to rip my hand and arm free and find the surface. My hand and arm are now bleeding, rather profusely as result of the alcohol, and I can't locate one of the crew. The rookie of course. I pull myself up on the hull and see the rookie 300 ft or so away from the boat. The boat is hauling butt on its side away from said crew when I see a Hammerhead in the crest of a wave 50ft from the boat heading towards us. I'm bleeding, inexperienced crew in the water and boat capsized. Other crew is concerned about righting with the shark and me bleeding. I know the boat must be righted and the other crew picked up immediately. So we do a right and roll on by getting the boat headed up and going to opposite ends of the tramp and climbing on as she hits the water. Snatched up the other crew and went straight to the beach 3 miles from where we should have landed. Dropped the sails and walked home. Lesson learned - Rookies, tequila and small craft advisories don't mix well.

Dang F18! Those conditions look out of control. Most of the time wind speed, boat speed and swell size are exagerated like fish stories, but your pix tell it how it is.

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