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A disaster waiting to happen?
The windy '89 Worlds at Vallensbæk. Unless
this boat is turned, the wind will get under the sails as soon as the mast
clears the water, and it's a virtual certainty that the boat will flip
over on top of its crew. Of course, if you're prepared for this to happen,
it may be the fastest way to get the mast pointing downwind. In that event,
one sailor could stay on this side, while the other swims around, climbs
onto the board, and rights the boat with a crew already inside it! I've
seen this done in a 5-0-5.
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| If you look at the angle of the sails on
the other boats in this pic, you get the impression that the mast is pointing
a little bit upwind, and if this boat is righted at its current angle to
the wind, it will immediately gybe and capsize again. However, if
the righting is done slowly enough, what will happen is that the boat will
luff up as the wind starts to fill part of the sail. If this sailor is
patient enough, the boat will probably luff itself up 90 to 180º by
which time it will be in perfect position for safe re-righting.
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| A good re-righting angle here. Looks like
they're just on their way over for the first time - perhaps the aftermath
of an uncontrolled turn through the gybe????? Somebody should make sure
the main is uncleated while the other gets out onto the board as quickly
as possible!!
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| Another boat angled well towards the wind
for a safe re-righting. Although the telltales on the shroud seem to indicate
that the wind is pretty well dead aft, a moderately paced re-righting will
allow the boat to luff up and end up sideways on to the wind - as desired.
I'm not sure where the crew is in all this? If he's inside the boat, he
should make sure that the main and jib sheets are uncleated. While he's
at it, he could warn his partner (in a load voice!) that he's about to
put the board down. (I once almost lost a bunch of teeth when I was fiddling
- on land, no less - with the board on the outside when my crew decided
to lower it from the inside without warning me!) If I were the person trying
to right this boat, I would be tempted to let the mast hit the water, and
pull the board out of the box (by its aft tip) while hanging onto the blue
rope just in case. Then I would stand on the board to do the rest. The
gentleman in the photo is not going to get maximum mechanical advantage
from his weight the way it's being done now. |