Launching off weather shore

P

Pedal-Force

Member
I had a horrible day on the water. Got rigged fine. Got the boat in the water fine. The wind was off the shore so I decided to wait until I got away from shore a bit, then go head to wind and put the clew hook through the sail.

Easier said than done. Wind was supposed to be 12 mph, ended up more like 18 with gusts to 25 or something. Couldn't get head to wind, every time I got close a gust came and blew me around. Boom kept falling off the gooseneck, it was awful. Eventually I capsized, not sure how without a sail on. Pro tip: drysuits work better when you zip them the WHOLE way.

Ended up righting the boat, but couldn't get in. After much struggling and freezing, and losing a glove (took it off to tie a knot, lost it in the capsize), a powerboat came along and thankfully gave me a tow in.

Jeez. I'm wiped out. At least I didn't drown.

Oh, and when I put my knee down in the cockpit I heard a distinct crack. Yeah, it's delaminating pretty badly. I got screwed on that boat I think. Thought I got a good deal, turned out it wasn't so good.


So, what's the proper way to launch from a weather shore? I have the new stuff, with the clew hook.

At least I learned some stuff today. I'll be out next weekend, if it's not so windy. It's been too long since I sailed a dinghy, I need to start in very light winds.

I'm a keelboat guy at heart. Reefing a main in 25 knots? No problem. Launching a Laser? I'm screwed.
 
Pedal-Force said:
I had a horrible day on the water. Got rigged fine. Got the boat in the water fine. The wind was off the shore so I decided to wait until I got away from shore a bit, then go head to wind and put the clew hook through the sail.

Easier said than done. Wind was supposed to be 12 mph, ended up more like 18 with gusts to 25 or something. Couldn't get head to wind, every time I got close a gust came and blew me around. Boom kept falling off the gooseneck, it was awful. Eventually I capsized, not sure how without a sail on. Pro tip: drysuits work better when you zip them the WHOLE way.

Ended up righting the boat, but couldn't get in. After much struggling and freezing, and losing a glove (took it off to tie a knot, lost it in the capsize), a powerboat came along and thankfully gave me a tow in.

Jeez. I'm wiped out. At least I didn't drown.

Oh, and when I put my knee down in the cockpit I heard a distinct crack. Yeah, it's delaminating pretty badly. I got screwed on that boat I think. Thought I got a good deal, turned out it wasn't so good.


So, what's the proper way to launch from a weather shore? I have the new stuff, with the clew hook.

At least I learned some stuff today. I'll be out next weekend, if it's not so windy. It's been too long since I sailed a dinghy, I need to start in very light winds.

I'm a keelboat guy at heart. Reefing a main in 25 knots? No problem. Launching a Laser? I'm screwed.
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Always make sure you are 100% rigged before casting off. Your sail is your only source of power and direction. It's as if you were in a power boat with dead engine and decided to cast off anyway figuring you'd get it fixed before too long. As you've learned its nearly impossible to rig the clew once on the water. The good news is you are learning!
 
So after rigging everything except the clew, I should spin the boat around so it's facing head to wind in the parking lot, rig the clew, then let the main all the way out so it can spin around in front of the boat, and put it in the water. Put the dolly away, face the boat downwind, get in, sheet in and go?

The ramps all point one direction, and the wind was directly off the shore.

But yeah, leaving half rigged was a terrible idea. It's been a while since dinghy sailing, I'm pretty rusty.

I love the new rigging though. I might put a small quick shackle on the end of the skinny line after it goes through the cunningham and connects to the bottom block. Tying and untying a tiny line with cold fingers sucks. Saw that tip on that Scroth Fiberglass site.
 
Sometimes you have to put in bow first. You only need 6 inches of water to float the boat off the dolly. If you offset the bow off the bow mount you can push the boat off the dolly bow first. Typically we use a buddy system when launching or beach the boat or tie the bow off on the dock to put the dolly away when going solo. When I come back in and get the boat on the dolly I'll unhook the clew. Snugging the vang all the way down keeps the boom from coming off when moving the boat around the park with the clew unhooked.
 
Do you mean windward (weather) short or lee shore ?

I think some people are replying assuming you mean lee shore.

Ian
 
I'm assuming he means weather shore. Which makes it hard to back a laser into the water when the breeze is pushing against a full sail. If he went bow first it would be easier assuming there's not a 3+ foot drop off at the end of the launch ramp. A lee shore launch is cake.
 
Rob B said:
I'm assuming he means weather shore. Which makes it hard to back a laser into the water when the breeze is pushing against a full sail. If he went bow first it would be easier assuming there's not a 3+ foot drop off at the end of the launch ramp. A lee shore launch is cake.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_shore and expert from that "A weather shore has the wind blowing from inland over it out to sea. For example, if you were standing on a beach, looking out to sea with the wind at your back, you are standing on a weather shore.".

Or, from the original question:
Pedal-Force said:
... The wind was off the shore ...
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Maybe I'm confused but I have always understood a lee shore to be one the wind is blowing on-to (i.e. from the water onto the land).

Ian
 
Deimos said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_shore and expert from that "A weather shore has the wind blowing from inland over it out to sea. For example, if you were standing on a beach, looking out to sea with the wind at your back, you are standing on a weather shore.".

Or, from the original question:


Maybe I'm confused but I have always understood a lee shore to be one the wind is blowing on-to (i.e. from the water onto the land).

Ian
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I think wikipedia has it wrong. In my years of cruising I've always practiced anchoring on the lee shore. This way if your anchor drags you won't end up on the beach. To me the weather shore has always been the one the breeze is blowing onto. , (from the water onto the land). Someone else needs to chime in...
 
Rob B said:
I think wikipedia has it wrong. In my years of cruising I've always practiced anchoring on the lee shore. This way if your anchor drags you won't end up on the beach. To me the weather shore has always been the one the breeze is blowing onto. , (from the water onto the land). Someone else needs to chime in...
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I think Wikipedia is correct in this instance. Compare to the term we are all more familiar with: "weather helm."
 
pez said:
I think Wikipedia is correct in this instance. Compare to the term we are all more familiar with: "weather helm."
Click to expand...

Weather helm is a condition that typically occurs when you are overpowered going to weather. It makes you want to pull the helm to weather, (to the breeze) to keep course. The wind is in your face not your back.

Lee helm is when you need to push the tiller toward the leeward side, (the side the wind is spilling off of) of the boat to maintain your weather course.

In the rules the boat "to weather" has to give way, (often) to the leeward boat. The windward boat is in the position where the breeze is coming from or in your face. As the leeward boat you are downwind from the weather boat and the breeze is hitting your back.

The leeward shore is the downwind side of the land. The weather shore is the shore that gets the weather, i.e. the wind.
 
Rob B said:
Deimos said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_shore and expert from that "A weather shore has the wind blowing from inland over it out to sea. For example, if you were standing on a beach, looking out to sea with the wind at your back, you are standing on a weather shore.".

Or, from the original question:


Maybe I'm confused but I have always understood a lee shore to be one the wind is blowing on-to (i.e. from the water onto the land).

Ian
Click to expand...

I think wikipedia has it wrong. In my years of cruising I've always practiced anchoring on the lee shore. This way if your anchor drags you won't end up on the beach. To me the weather shore has always been the one the breeze is blowing onto. , (from the water onto the land). Someone else needs to chime in...
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In which case it is pretty seriously spreading error:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lee+shore
http://www.go-sail.co.uk/sailingglossary-h-m.asp
http://www.yachtdeliveryasia.com/glossary.php
http://en.mimi.hu/boating/lee_shore.html
http://www.yourdictionary.com/lee-shore
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lee_shore
http://yachtpals.com/lee-shore-9180
etc.

In my offshore days the lee shore was the shore you don't want to get stranded on (in inclement weather anyway). But maybe things have change in the last few years.

Maybe its a difference in terminology between US and elsewhere (like IALA channel buoys).

Ian
 
I meant weather shore (as I understand it) where the wind is blowing OFF the shore.

Lee shore is where you get pushed to by accident (and where I would've ended up eventually if a boat hadn't come alone).
 
Rob B said:
Apparently this isn't confusing to just us. I took this to SA for further discussion and there seems to be a range of opinions.....

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=118773

Follow the link to see.
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Regardless, I was referring to the wind OFF the shore. I maintain that this is a weather shore, but it's not really important to the question.

Thanks for the help. I think I've got it now. I'll give it a try next weekend.
 
I just saw this explanation which helped me a lot:

"A lee shore and the leeward side of an island are not the same thing. Leeward/windward side of an island is taken from a reference point on the island, a lee shore is taken from a reference point on the boat, in other words to leeward of the boat."

So launching from a leeward shore is preferable to a windward shore from your perspective when standing on the land, but anchoring your boat on a lee shore is NOT what you want to do when lookind at the land from the boat. However, you do want to anchor on the leeward side of the island. What a mess.
 
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Windward shore and windward side of the island are different things. Very confusing.

Launch from a lee shore, anchor on the leeward side of the island.

Now we can discuss how to pronounce leeward and lee. I pronounce leeward (loo-erd) but I pronounce lee just like it looks. So why don't I say lee-ward? Dunno.
 
... shore and ... side are completely different. Lee shore is a lee shore irrespective as to your being on and or on the water.

Thinking of leeward shore when you are on land will just confuse. Even when you are standing on land, lee shore is still a lee shore (and you have to launch bow first into the water). I have never some across the term "leeward shore" - maybe because it is so similar to "lee shore" as to not be a useful term. In fact a Google search on "Leeward shore" does not come up with anything sailing related.

I suspect the confusion on Sailing Anarchy was from the title of your thread "Weather side or leeward side of land" - and the term under discussion was lee shore NOT lee side of island (same as lee side of a boat, etc.)

Ian
 
Back to the original question (which actually was quite clear: "The wind was off the shore ..." i.e. blowing off the shore, I suppose), that should be the easiest scenario. Just get your boat all set up an launch it stern first and head to wind and then drift out on the water backwards, sideways or even sail backwards actively, if you don't have the patience to just wait for the wind to push you out and then go.

Maybe you were simply uneasy to rig the sail up all the way because of the wind strength, out of fear it might power up before you had enough room to maneuver and control the boat? Then the solution would be to just wait for a little less wind and practice the drift, getting out of the head-to-wind-position by sculling or sailing backwards.

Keep on trying!

Once you got that, you can work on the more tricky stunts like barreling down on a lee shore with 25 knots on your rear quarter...
 
When I first got my Laser I did have one difficulty (with wind from any direction). I used to leave the sail off the boom, launch and then attach the clew to the boom in the water (before sailing off). However, standing at the transom with the boat head to wind trying to attach the clew, the boat would keep bearing away meaning I dropped the sail, straightened the boat, tried again, etc. (as you pull in the clew, so the sail would full a bit and blow the bow off).

I don't remember what I actually did but now I seem to attach the clew to the boom before launching - not to get round the problem but sort of just how I started doing it for some reason.

1st time out is never going to be as slick as 2nd time out which will be easier 3rd time, etc.

Ian
 
I rig everything up before launching, but may leave the mainsheet undone depending on the wind direction. This lets the mast rotate to keep the sail unloaded.

I'll go ahead and run the sheet through the boom and dangling out the end with a stopper. Once I get the boat in the water and the dolly secured, I'll quickly rig the sheet through the transom blocks. Minimal fuss, and I'm good to go.
 
Rob B said:
Weather helm is a condition that typically occurs when you are overpowered going to weather. It makes you want to pull the helm to weather, (to the breeze) to keep course. The wind is in your face not your back.

Lee helm is when you need to push the tiller toward the leeward side, (the side the wind is spilling off of) of the boat to maintain your weather course.

In the rules the boat "to weather" has to give way, (often) to the leeward boat. The windward boat is in the position where the breeze is coming from or in your face. As the leeward boat you are downwind from the weather boat and the breeze is hitting your back.

The leeward shore is the downwind side of the land. The weather shore is the shore that gets the weather, i.e. the wind.
Click to expand...

Interesting... it made sense to me for completely different reasons... I was thinking a lake vs an Island... a boat will point to weather when in experiencing weather helm, in which case the bow of the boat would point the the [lake]shore most difficult to launch from :)

What makes it quite confusing is that your explanation makes sense as well.
 
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