What Could I Have Done?

[albanysailer]

Scenario:
Enjoying a pleasant sail in light to moderate winds (7-12 from the north as forecast). We are watching a race at the club we are going to join, so staying on the far side of the lake from the launch (East side of lake). Very quickly the conditions deteriorated as the winds picked up to around 25mph, with 3'+ waves.

The other sailboats on the water (in the race) start to head for the docks, but we are further downwind and on the other side of the lake. We make the decision to drop the jib, and as we are trying to stay head to wind to do this, it seems that the rudder is not responding at all. So much so that I looked over the transom to make sure it hadn't snapped off or something (it hadn't).

We try to come to a close hauled position to head NE up the lake before tacking to head W across the lake and back to the club. The admiral takes the helm and I am working the main sheet, but she can't get any response from the rudder either. We are getting blown all over at this point. The decision is then made to drop the main and motor in.

As we are motoring it quickly becomes apparent that the motor alone won't do the trick, so back up goes the jib, and we are making progress across the lake with the waves on our beam unfortunately. We almost made it back but were about to be blown into some danger buoys, so we flag down a committee boat which is nice enough to give us a tow into the bay where the club is located.

Obviously we should have reefed early, but this storm blew in very quickly. At the point it became apparent we were way overpowered, I don't know if reefing would have been safe or manageable. If we had hove to, I think the waves of the beam would have made moving about the boat pretty impractical. The part of this ordeal that really got to us was not having any response from the helm. Also, this being our first full season of sailing in general and with the DS, I just didn't trust in our abilities or the boat to not go over in the conditions.

Suffice to say, we made it back with both our lives and marriage intact, my pride a little bruised, and hopefully we can learn a lot from this adventure. I should also mention the people at the club were great and had our trailer in the water waiting for us when we made it back to the dock.

So I'm asking if there is anything in the above situation that you would have done differently. Has anyone else been caught in similar conditions and safely sailed in them? Anyone experienced a loss of response to the rudder in conditions like that?

Thanks, Bill

[John McGrath]

I've been there--high winds, etc.. First time--I flipped it. I really didn't think I would. Wind grew from dead calm to up around 30 within a couple of minutes. I was alone and smoking along, feathering the main, having a good time, really, with the jib still trimmed, and then in a really powerful gust, with the main completely luffed, she heeled too far and over she went. I tried to free the jibsheet, didn't do it in time. Had it in my hand, too! I was over the side onto the CB in a flash. Feet didn't even get wet--at first. After the squal passed, a power boat came over and we tried to right it, but ended up turtling it. I was cold, so I got up aboard the power boat. Ended up towing it home inverted. Sheesh! Really I shouldn't have capsized. I was glad I was alone, though. Wife would not have been amused

Second time--same story--very sudden nasty squall--again solo on a lake. Should have paddled home during the TWO HOURS of near calm before this. This time I got the main down completely, stuffed up under the cuddy. I let the jib sheets fly altogether. Still we were surfing straight downwind. Didn't want to leave the tiller to drop the jib. If it'd tried to round up, would certainly have flipped. Wind was nuts. Lightning started, too. Said my prayers. Sandy beach dead downwind (lucky). Right before hitting the beach, reached forward, flipped the board up with the lever (DS1). The rudder kicked up on its own when we slid up onto the sand. I stepped down onto beach from the bow. Right after that the wind veered and blew the boat over on its side. Bent the upper part of the mast a little, but it unbent okay later. Not a pretty landing, but I was safe & sound, feet dry. Even sailed it home after the cell passed. In retrospect, I probably should have raised the board sooner to minimize chance of flipping, but I was afraid if I did that that I would lose all ability to get upwind if by chance I could round up to a close reach safely.

Most recently--with a friend--squall, high 20's maybe--we dropped the main. Boom and sail we put up under the cuddy, and we sailed along with jib alone. This is what's similar to your sit. We found that though you have to carry lots of "down rudder," because of huge lee helm with jib alone, it was possible to sail the boat passably, make the landing, etc. Jibing was much easier than tacking with just the jib, and we couldn't point very high, but the boat still could be sailed. You're right, though, carrying all that rudder made it feel as if we had no control, but in fact we did. You just can't get too greedy with pointing. We could only sail effectively just slightly above a beam reach.

Overall--It's still a dinghy. It can still flip (though you've got to work at it!). Keep cool. Wear your seatbelt (lifejacket/PFD). Don't make dopey decisions, like I did in story #2--staying out while the weather cell developed. In fact, my confidence in the boat has done nothing but grow. In each case the boat kept "its" cool also, and protected me from serious harm and danger. I would recommend if you're new to dinghy sailing you go find someone with a smaller, easily-rightable dinghy and do a few flips yourself. The "ejection" routine--going up and over the rail onto the board, or swimming to get clear of everything--need not be so traumatic, really. You just have to come to grips with seeing the hull on its side above you, and seeing things from the level of the water. Keeping your sense of humor is half the battle.

[adam aunins]

Sound like you handled it quit well. How big is your motor?

[shawn]

There is no substitute for good sails. Sails that are blown out and have lost their shape become dangerous in high winds as they provide very little forward drive buts lots of sideways force. Being able to reef safely and quickly, while important in any sailboat, is indispensable in a small centerboard boat. I would look into a "jiffy" reefing system, something that has all the lines run whereby you can just lower the main halyard a couple of feet, pull on the reefing line that runs through the clew and woila you are, well, almost done. Then you can spend a couple of minutes tying off the reef points on the sail. It is virtually impossible to handle an overpowered or poorly trimmed (ie lee helm) boat. We've all been there and have the gray hairs and angry wives and/or girlfriends to prove it.

Shawn
DS10542

[albanysailer]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement!

Shawn-I think what you said about the sails might have a lot to do with it. They are by no means new, not really sure how old they are, but the main always seems to have a little bit of a pocket down by the tack. I contacted a sail loft about reconditioning the main, think this is a good idea?

I was also experiencing a lot of lee helm on the way across the lake, and couldn't point closer upwind because of only using the jib at that point.

We have a reefing claw, is it faster to reef with that then with the reef points?

Adam-We have an electric 55lb thrust motor. I was actually pretty impressed with its performance considering. I had it pointed to give us a bit of force against the waves.

-Bill

[adam aunins]

My vote is for the Reefing points. If the wind gets up before you can reef than you'll have to reroute the main sheet from the mid-boom block when using the claw. I for one have never had fun with an unhooked main sheet in high winds.

I find that when I need auxiliary power it is most often a case of too much wind on the nose of where I need to go and time has never been on my side when that happens.

[shawn]

I think the jiffy reefing is the fastest, with practice you can get it done in less than a minute. If you run a line from an eye on the aft end of the boom up to the reef clew then down to a cheek block on the other aft side of the boom and then run it forward (along the boom) to another cheek block then up through the reef tack and back down to a block on the deck (wow hope that makes sense) you can literally let the main halyard out with one hand and pull on the reefing line with the other and be done before you can say "well blow me down". Google "jiffy reefing" and the info there should clear up any confusion I introduced.

Reconditioning sails is a tough call, if it's only a minor job than I guess it's not a bad idea but I would hate to spend alot of money and still have old sails.

Good Luck,
Shawn

[Roger]

you didn't mention anything about the position of the cb. If you rotate it up slightly the trim on the helm you decrease weather helm; if it was partly up and you lower it, you increase weather helm. You state that the helm was unresponsive, but you don't indicate what the boat is wanting to do; fall off or luff up. sometimes it is a matter of how the sheets are trimmed as well. In the situation you describe, you need both the jib and main to balance the rig and be able to sail, but to improve pointing, the jib halyard needs to be as tight as possible, but the jib sheet spilling a fair amount of wind. Ditto for the main. A fisherman's reef can be used to depower your boat... moderate trim on the jib sheet, but the main is totally depowered by flying in the shadow of the disturbed air of the jib. (essentially letting the main sheet out as far as possible. You can limp home this way by spilling a lot of wind. Very ineffective sailing, but you will maintain some control. slacking the boom vang and allowing the boom to kick up and spill wind is also another way of depowering in gusty conditions.

Reefing of course is best, but that does not seem like an option available to you. A reefing claw is less effective than jiffy reefing because is causes poorer sail shape.

[albanysailer]

Shawn-The jiffy system you describe makes sense, thanks.

Roger-The cb was fully extended. Like I said before, this is only our first full season sailing, so we just keep the board down all the time. Which from reading your post seems like it should have been down to increase weather helm as I was experiencing the opposite.

The helm was unresponsive in that it didn't feel like there was a rudder attached, no resistance at all. At that point we were pointing upwind after we had just dropped the jib, so with the main by itself we were then getting blown off the wind, and I was trying to spill the wind out of the main by letting out the mainsheet.

Thanks again for all the advice. Like I said in the op, we are trying to learn from this experience. We were caught off guard, but want to be better prepared in case something like this happens again.