Turning Turtle

[Guest]

Not really a sailing technique, but a technique to perform if your sailing technique needs improvement. In about a 15 mph wind, with gusts to 20, I took on water in the cockpit during a tack. My jib handler ended up on the leaward side of the boat as the tack wind took hold, and a whoosh of water quickly in the boat. Amazingly the boat slowly went on its side, then kept going into a classic turtle position. No bow high into the air as I thought would happen. Just a slow roll. Anyway, the technique to right the boat is the topic of this note. With the two of us standing on the side of the boat and pulling on the center board, it was pretty obvious that something else needed to be done. A boat stopped by to help. We took a rope, ran it over the top of the boat, around the far side, and tied it to the mast. The boat pulled the roap, and the boat righted itself. I had a rope tying the rudder to the boat, so all I lost was a fire extinguisher. Another thing that amazed me was the large quantity of water that ended up in the bildge. After pulling the boat up out of the water on a trailer, the water ran out of the bildge for at least 20 minutes.

Bill Wintergreen (MRWINTERGREEN-at-ALTAVISTA.NET)