I broached my Day sailer yesterday, and am looking for a little feedback on what happened.
We set out in about 12mph winds, and made one big mistake from the beginning. I couldn't get the main hoisted all the way to the top, and wasn't patient enough to fix it. I left it about 6" short of the top of the mast (I later decided another halyard was in the way). We sailed well on a broad reach, but the wind was freshening (white caps appearing) so we turned around. Beating to windward was slow, which pointed out to me the benefit of a baggy sail on a run and a flat said on a beat (one of the lessons learned yesterday). Puffs were hitting us and I had to keep luffing into the wind as we were heeling enough to put the rails in the water once in a while.
I tacked on a lull in the wind, but I was slow to get to the windward side and we were hit with a gust (weather reports later showed gusts were 23 to 30mph at that hour). Over we went.
Two questions:
1) did my (ridiculous) failure to have the main properly hoisted contribute to this?
2) I was under the impression that pulling/climbing on the centerboard would right the boat. It didn't. Is there more to it than that? (I did release the sheets before we tried this).
Any input would be helpful. We have some weak kneed sailers in my house today.
--john