Bent mast

TNT

TNT

New Member
This isn't quite the place to post this, but I don't know where to go. Normally I sail bigboat and Laser, but last weekend a friend of mine invitited me to sail his new 420. He doesn't have to much experience, so I put on my trapeze-pants and there we went. It was quite a windy day, 22kts and a bit choppy. The first few hours went well. The friend comes from bigboats, where we matched some times. So he had to learn not to steer into the wind when gusting but to ease the main. And how to hold the tiller-extension etcetera. Well, at one time we had a big gust and he steered full into the wind, quite a bit to much so we tacked and immediately capsized. But this strange thing happened, the boat immediately rolled through, mast down... Into the mud... So after about half an hour trying to get it on its feet again, we gave up. I couldn't get the main sail down, probably because of all the mud. There weren't many boats around so we had to wait quite a while. Luckily we were wearing our drysuits, but the water was around 50F/11C. After a while a small yacht came to help, they threw a sinking line which they immediately sucked up in their propeller. So the yacht had no propulsion and was hanging with it's prop to our 420... After that a big (really big) police boat came to the rescue, they first towed away the yacht, which took them half an hour, and we were still sitting on the bottom of the 420. And then took us onboard. I suggested to take us to the harbour where we could borrow the harbourmasters fast motorboat. They where quite grumpy, because their shift ended and they had to help us... But, at the end the boat of the harbour mast dragged us out, with it's 90Hp motor. There was much damage, especially to the mast.
And that's my question, is it possible to bend the aluminium mast back? Maybe by heating it (if it doesn't affect the coating)? Any suggestions?
 
Re: Bend mast

Is the mast kinked ? If not, you should be able to bend it back into more or less it's original shape, the same way you bend a laser mast back.

If it's kinked you are going to have to cut it and splice it or get a new one.
 
Greetings bent mast,

just recently noticed my bottom section had a very slight bend in it...the section is approx 1.5 yrs old and minimal use.....I had it straigtened and went sailing yesterday in about 15 plus K's and the identical minor bend re-appeared.......annoying because typically the corrected bends I have done in the past have not been a problem, only this time seems to be the exception....bought a new bottom section this morning

bottom line-corrective measures do not always survive, but what the hey you have nothing to lose by trying, although recommend you take the section to professionals
 
Normally, I don't suggest the use of insurance unless I really beileve there is a real loss and it should be covered.

having said that>>

I think you should use the insurance you purchased for that boat and get a fresh start.

If you are not insured. Tell the Forum members. We ought to be discussing the insurance issue anyway.

Consider the following what ifs:

the towing boats could have charged you for their services.
the original rescuer could have decided the entire event was your fault and I bet there were come serious dollars spent on that line / propeller / tow job fiasco.

You could have been hurt.
Somebody else could have been hurt.
Medical costs seem to start at $100,000 these days.

Oh yeah. the measly $10,000 you might have in that boat should be considered too.

Are you ready to pay those things from your pocket??

For the racers>>> Is it "nice of you" to enter a race and risk whacking into and injuring someone else or the boat of another owner without adequate ability to pay for what you cause??

Just a few thoughts.

meanwhile.. I would get an estimate to Put that boat back in its original condition pre big mistake day and see if that pile of money you give every year to insure yourself is well spent.
 
I think you should use the insurance you purchased for that boat and get a fresh start.
the towing boats could have charged you for their services.
the original rescuer could have decided the entire event was your fault and I bet there were come serious dollars spent on that line / propeller / tow job fiasco.
Click to expand...

Well... We both have a liability insurance till, I think till 10 million or so. And we both have medical insurance without any personal contribution. I also insured my Laser for theft and liability. But my friend failed to insure the 420 for damage...

The police didn't file any charges or charge us for the towing... And it was a real big relieve to hear that the small yacht that came to the rescue, had an inspection hole above his propellor. So he could remove the rope out of the prop himself. Otherwise I would have removed it myself, being a sportdiver. The harbourmaster only smiled when he heard we needed his help. He neither asked for money, but is payed *very well* with our ships in his harbour.

I would like to point out to all sailors around here how important insurance is. The capsize into the mud could have been a real expensive adventure... And, besides the shame, it is really nasty when you damage someone else or their boat.

I'm gonna try to bend the mast back, maybe by putting some sand into the mast. Normally a 420 doesn't roll through immediately. It probably has something todo with the mast being damaged so the air went out immediately. I'll let it know on this forum how it went...
 
TNT said:
I'm gonna try to bend the mast back, maybe by putting some sand into the mast. Normally a 420 doesn't roll through immediately. It probably has something todo with the mast being damaged so the air went out immediately. I'll let it know on this forum how it went...
Click to expand...

Well.. Tried to bent the mast back, but it didn't work. Now we have a S shaped mast :). So, we bought a new one. The guy who sells the mast said the bending a mast back is quite hard to do.
 
TNT - you said a 420 doesn't normally roll over straight away, which I would agree with. Therefore, is it possible that the waves caused it to turtle? Otherwise, you didn't happen to have the mainsail cleated off did you? Cause that will do it every time. That would also partially explain why you couldn't pull the boat back up.

Sounds like you were lucky no-one was hurt etc. Maybe your friend shouldn't go out in such strong winds till he's more experienced. Sailing dinghies is very different to sailing big boats, as I'm sure you both discovered.
 
laser2_9804 said:
TNT - you said a 420 doesn't normally roll over straight away, which I would agree with. Therefore, is it possible that the waves caused it to turtle? Otherwise, you didn't happen to have the mainsail cleated off did you? Cause that will do it every time. That would also partially explain why you couldn't pull the boat back up.
Click to expand...

The mainsail wasn't cleated, as far as I can remember. It was quite a hard crash into the water... I do think the roll-over had something to do with the tack we made by accident and the centrifugal forces following it...

laser2_9804 said:
Sounds like you were lucky no-one was hurt etc. Maybe your friend shouldn't go out in such strong winds till he's more experienced. Sailing dinghies is very different to sailing big boats, as I'm sure you both discovered.
Click to expand...

Yeah, well... I thought I could handle it, but he wanted me to get into the trapeze and steer himself. Next time with this much wind it's gonna be the other way around. He better learn in lesser wind.
 
were you sailing in salt or fresh water cause for obvious reasons i think a 420 turtles alot quicker in freshwater than salt or brakish water.
 
sailor327 said:
were you sailing in salt or fresh water cause for obvious reasons i think a 420 turtles alot quicker in freshwater than salt or brakish water.
Click to expand...

Interesting observation.

I think that could be argued both ways. For example in salt water when capsized, slightly more of the hull is out of the water, which should mean the hull is more unstable and wanting to turtle (or come back upright) - Also more of the hull is exposed to the wind which could be a factor.
 
sailor327 said:
were you sailing in salt or fresh water cause for obvious reasons i think a 420 turtles alot quicker in freshwater than salt or brakish water.
Click to expand...

We were sailing in fresh water... Indeed an interesting observation. Has anybody ever noticed differences in capsizing in fresh or salt water?
 
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