Mainsheet caught on Transom --> crash prevention

G

giraffe

New Member
Some advice from more experienced sailors please.

Last Saturday in planing conditions, sailing downwind, I gybed; the mainsheet got caught round the aft corner, a gust hit, and my boat screwed round seemingly uncontrollably onto a reach and straight into the side of another boat...

I know there's plenty been said about how to prevent the mainsheet getting caught like this, but what's the best thing to to do once it has happened? I know about hooking the tiller extension under the sheet to free it, but there was no time for that. Is it an uncontrollable situation?
 
to answer your question, no it is not uncontrollable. that happened to me awhile back... try pulling in the mainsheet more than you already do... or as the boom comes around, give it a quick tug to take the slack out so it doesn't do that
 
THis happens to everyone sometime. i recommend justgrabbing the mainsheet at the back and yanking it into a gd position. however if your about to crash into someone you should just go head to wind.
If these are all hard to do you can pull on the mainsheet(from behind the pulley) in one tuff pull and it shouldcome around.

But it is usually best not to let this happen be simply pulling the mainsheet when the luff of the sail starts to curl in a gybe
 
Guys, the poster is not asking how to avoid the mainsheet getting caught. He is asking what to do after it is caught to avoid going out of control.

The only thing I know to do is get back there right away and get the line off, but he got a gust immediately that rounded him up. I'm thinking a hard roll might be your only hope, but you probably were already on the high side, so don't know.
 
Merrily said:
Guys, the poster is not asking how to avoid the mainsheet getting caught. He is asking what to do after it is caught to avoid going out of control.
Click to expand...

Once you've started to round up I can't think of anything definitive that will help. The fastest way I know to undo the problem is simple: gybe back to the old tack.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
Like Geoff said you could gybe back. You could go back there and undo it with your hand. Or you could unhook it by pushing the tiller extension to move the rope off. Sometimes I just grab the boom and yank really hard and it will undo it also.
 
If u were heading straight towards another boat, your best option would be to allow the boat to slew up to windward, or just capsize it on purpose
 
Hey,

In my experience there are 2 possible scenarios here.

1) If BOTH the 'sides' of the mainsheet are caught under the back corner, the I think that the only thing to do is to scooch back quickly, grab both sides and yank it off.

2) If ONLY one 'side' of the mainsheet is caught, I find that it is almost always possible to free it by giving the main a good yank. This has always worked for me.

Other than that, if you are in danger of hitting someone, I think you have 2 choices and not a lot of time to figure out which to do. You can either head up as fast as possible and likely throw yourself into a tack in doing so which will in most cases end up with you in the drink. OR - you can just let the boat tip. In my opinion, this will be more controlled and you are likely to be able to get it up faster if you have control over it.

All in all, it is an unfortunate situation, but it does happen and honestly, your choices are limited. As with most things - prevention is key and as smokey says - "only you can prevent forest fires"
 
If its a run, then the best way is just to get the boat headed straight downwind, so there is no significant sideways force, then get to the back and just flick it off with your hand. Because the mainsheet is effectively pulled in quite a bit (well, 4 feet further than normal, or however wide these things really are at the back!) you will slow down so the chances of running into a boat in front are quite slim.

Obviously, if the boat has started to broach, this isnt possible, so maybe going up into wind would work best. The only trouble is that the top of the mast has a lot of kinetic energy, so wants to keep going its original direction, so by turning up quickly, you'll probably get very wet!

the best thing to do, unless its around a mark, is to gybe with the boat going as near to straight downwind as possible, so it doesnt get a chance to round up in the first place, even if the sheet gets caught.
 
I have been getting the main caught on the transom less and less over the years, but I still occasionally get it wrapped and find myself heeling to capsize. Usually I grab the sheet under the forward boom block and avoid any problem, but as soon as I can sense that it's caught (a quick glance, or that feeling that the sheet's not budging), I lean back as quickly as I can and pull the sheet loose from the corner (tiller in forward hand, yank-unwrap the sheet loose with the aft hand) and immediately move forward in the cockpit and heel the boat flat while adjusting the main. It's a split second decision between that option or the next best, to do as quick a dry-recovery as possible from the forward/mid part of the cockpit after the sheet's loose and the boat's past the point of no return capsizing. In light winds it's not an issue, as I can always free the sheet and then just adjust my trim. In heavy air, though, the decision's usually made for you and you'll have to dry recover, or, if you can't jump up and over the rail to stand on the board quickly enough, swim. If it's pretty windy, remember that recovering from the capsize bow to wind is easiest and pretty failsafe.
 
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