Well, today I yet again found another way to capsize a Flying Dutchman. Since I seem to manage to capsize the FD just about every time I sail it, I have in my short career, experienced quite a variety of capsizes. I have capsized to leeward [That's a dawdle]. I have capsized to windward [That's quick]. I have capsized during gybes with the Spinnaker up [That's messy]. You would think I should be getting better at righting the boat and rescuing myself. Guess again. Anyway, let's get to today's story.


There was a nice light eight mile an hour breeze on Traverse Bay today and it was a perfect day to take my son-in-law, Nikos, out for his first FD ride on the wire. We have been out practicing on the Wayfarer a few times with the intent that he begin crewing on Wayfarers but riding the wire on the FD was going to be a new experience. By the way, I couldn't get him on the boat again the next day. He was complaining about the possibility of a cracked rib or something. The malingerer!

Off we went, upwind with Nikos on the wire after a couple of tries. Things were going so well that I was engrossed with the prospect of our journey back home with my new FD guy flying the spinny. Right in the middle of one of my Walter Middy fantasies, a little gust hit us and I threw myself back to hike. Wham! The hiking strap broke and over I went. As everyone who has broken a hiking strap knows, when this happens you flip over backward into the water and right away begin pulling yourself back in the boat with the mainsheet.

For some reason I didn't have the mainsheet in my hand, which left me with nothing but the hiking stick in my left hand. I of course wasn't going to be able to pull myself back into the boat with that flimsy stick but at a time like that, you don't think those things through and I just began pulling like the dickens on my one feeble connection to the boat.

But wait! The boat was not leaving me. It seemed to be taking me along. GOOD NEWS. It was taking me along because my right foot was still up at the rail and it was there because the spinnaker halyard was wrapped around it. Just as I realized what was happening, God decided that due to my behavior here on Earth, the boat should drag me under water for a while. BAD NEWS. As I was trying to develop a plan for getting my head above water, the Lord must have looked down and said, " He's had enough" and I was miraculously lifted out of the water. GOOD NEWS.

But wait! I was lifted out of the water because the boat was capsizing and very shortly I found myself hanging upside down from one foot. The good news was that the boat is as wide as I am tall and I was able to keep my head out of the water. The bad news was that I figured it would very shortly turn turtle and I was not looking forward to being flipped over and probably under water with the halyard still wrapped around my foot.

By now Nikos had been thrown into the boat still attached to the wire and I really didn't know what state of mind he was in or if he would be inclined to come back and rescue the guy that got him into this mess, even if even if he was not in a panic. I very calmly said, "Niko, I am in a lot of trouble back here and am afraid I may drown. You need to come back here and untangle me. He was my only hope since in my infinite wisdom, I had taken my knife out of my pocket back on shore. Luck was with me. Nikos did have a surprising amount of calm and grit and wended his way very quickly through the mess of sails, cables and lines back to where I hung.

In seconds he had me loose, and I dropped into the water as the boat began to invert. By now, as a result of his crash course in capsizing, Nikos didn't have any trouble scrambling out from under the boat as it turned turtle. Our next step was to pull the centerboard out full and begin the slow pull to get the boat back on its side. Once the boat was on its side we then both stood on the centerboard to pop the boat upright. This was all fine except that the main and genoa were both cleated.  Over we went again.

I then swam under the boat and released the sails, as I should have before. With the sails uncleated, it was simple to climb over the side and lo and behold, since it is a self-draining cockpit, all we had to do was sheet in and sail away. The lessons learned:

1. Always have a knife with you. A knife on a lanyard tied to you. It could save your life.

2. Before trying to right the boat always get down there and make sure the sails are not cleated.

3. The part I didn't mention was: BE PROPERLY DRESSED, even at the risk of being over-dressed. It was such a beautiful day and with the light wind I didn't see a need for wet suits. Well, there we were in the water for maybe a half hour. Fortunately the water was pretty warm and I didn't feel any hypothermia but Traverse Bay is part of Lake Michigan a wind shift can bring cold water in pretty fast. Remember, we were out there alone and even though there was occasional boat traffic, we could have been in serious trouble if the water had been colder than we realized. I will never again be on Traverse Bay in my FD without a wet suit on.
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