Daggerboard fell thru when I was turtled

P

pugwash

Member
I had a great sail yesterday - 15 to 20kts, just having a blast sailing and not racing for a change - after dumping 2-3 times the mast got full of water so the boat turtled quite fast - next time I dumped it turtled and the daggerboard slid nearly all the way thru. I got the boat back on its side by standing on the leeward gunwhales(sp?) with my fingers holding the daggerboard slot. Some 29ers from our race team were practicing and the crash boat came over and held the tip of my mast. Then I was able to quickly swim around, push the board thru and right as normal. The wind was offshore so the water was pretty flat.

I would not like to do this in any kind of seaway - I have a bunjee from the daggerboard to the bow - I snug it up enough to keep some tension in it but not enough to pull the board up when sailing in light airs - any tighter than it is now causes problems - I have also adjusted the daggerboard brake as tight as possible. Obviously this was not tight enough to stop the daggerboard sliding thru.

Anything alse I should do? The board seems quite loose in the trunk - quite a lot of water comes up the trunk when beating to windward in 10kts plus.

:confused:
 
attach your board bungee to the block deck plate near the mast.

or attach a vortex fin on the bottom of your board.
 
frontview.jpg
 
Chainsaw is just kidding about the vortex fin.

You should be able to keep the board in by increasing the tension on the bungee cord. The tension combined with the brake should be enough to hold your board in even while turtled.
 
Maybe use a piece of the now legal 'tape' inside the upper front corner of the case. This plus correct tension of the shockcord (with the shockcord running from the bow eye thru a small loop of line at the deck plate near the mast) should hold it in most conditions probided it is no more than half way up when you turtle. Gaffer cloth tape seems to stick, give a non slip 'grip' and is hard wearing if yo go easy on it and the front edge of the board doesnt have splinters/dings. The tape also helps make the leading edge of the board live longer between re-painting shifts as long as you get into the habit pulling slightly back and taking the tension of the shock cord before plunging the board down or reefing it up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top