hobiesrock wrote:
Sort of on the subject...I sail solo sometimes on my 16. Today I flipped and no matter what I tried I could not get the boat to rotate into the proper position to get it righted. Has happened a couple other times. I get way out on the bow and bury it and it will spin the boat around to a point, then it just stops. I can not get the boat to spin the rest of the way to the "righting angle". What the heck am I doing wrong? Had to sweet talk a boater to jump in and hang on the righting line with me today...which sucked.
Ahhh stuck in irons.. on your side...
I have had that happen once or twice...
Often swimming like heck to get the bows to swing around to no avail... most of the time simply leaning back on the righting line slightly while walking as far 'forward' as possible does the trick.. Just enough weight on the righting line to begin to lift the mast but not have it clear the water.. somtimes it works.. and other times I just don't have the patience..
I think the problem in these situations must have something to do with the wave action acting on the sails... how the sails are hanging/dragging in the water... whatever... The wind is driving the boat downwind and the sails act as a brake preventing the boat from rotating as you would like...
I have two easy solutions to this which are often faster than waiting for the boat to drift around or swimming it around...
First.. Most importantly Your mast is sealed up properly, RIGHT? You wouldn't want to intentionally try these tricks below if you thought your mast was even slightly leaking.. because the further it is under the lake.. the faster it is going to fill... making it VERY hard to right..
Turtle the boat (if possible, be mindful of lake depth)... and pop it up the other way.. This works great in a typical sideways capsize and in my opinion often faster than trying to spin it around... I turtle all the time on purpose... No big deal at all if your mast ain't leaking and you have enough rig tension to keep the mast from popping out... generally it will pop up and roll right into the position you were seeking.. I have used this one several times in 'survival mode' to make sure the boat was on the tack I desired when it came up....
Or... If you know the lake is to shallow to turtle... Be careful about this... But go back on the boat and roll it onto the rudders, pointing both bows for the sky and lay it down on the other side.... This works great also with some practice...
With power boaters around... As soon as they approach make sure they not only understand your sails are under the lake and not going to agree with the propeller... But make certain not to right it with them anywhere near a position in which you could nail them with an "up and over"... Those are easy enough to do... Most of the time If I am in need of help from a powerboat... It is easier to have them grab the head of the mast and lift... Once the mast clears 4-5 ft over the water it is pretty easy to keep on going up from there.. Even with some water in the mast...