Sunfish nose diving?

K

kegan

New Member
Hello everyone,
I've been a member since 2004, but haven't written for awhile. Last weekend a friend and I took my 78 alcort sunfish out on the local pond. It was blowing pretty hard (white caps) probably 18kts gusting to 23kts. It was wild.
The wind was blowing right at the boat ramp, so i was on the wind heading out into the lake. I looked up and saw that the gaff was bending, and there was so much weather helm that tiller fitting was bending. It was at this point, i decided that i didn't want to break my old boat and started to head back to the ramp.
So I was sailing straight downwind this time and we were cruising, not quite planing yet, because there was two pretty big guys (combined weight of probably 325lbs) But all of a sudden, the bow of my boat dove under water and the sail drove the boat deeper under water. The whole boat was submerged right up to the splash guard. At a certain point the boat would lose some speed and then pop back up. This "nose diving" happened 4 times I think on the way back to the ramp.
Anyone else experience this?
I thought there might have been water in the cavity of the hull, so I drained it when I got home...but only a cup or two came out.

Happy sailing everyone!!!!
 
Weight too far forward. Oooch aft in conditions like this and keep the bow higher. Also avoid sailing straight downwind in these conditions. A broad reach is faster and safer and you can always spill wind by easing the sail if overpowered - harder to do this on a run.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
This is not at all uncommon if you are sailing in big breeze with the wind coming over the stern. Even more so when you are running into the back of waves.
To counteract 'submarining', you want to be as far back as possible. Another way to circumvent the problem, used by top racers, is to broad reach and jibe as necessary.

Submarining/nosediving puts a lot of stress on the mast; be forewarned :eek:

PS: I see that Alan came up with similar advice 6 minutes ago....
 
thanks guys, it was a really wild experience. I had a feeling it had to do with both of us being on the boat.....probably would have been better to have taken a couple of tacks to get back to the ramp.
 
Regardless of where you sit, if you're running, a large wave can lif the stern and drive the bow under the water. Happened to me while sitting back and it was a strange sensation.

Fred
 
Had this happen to me on my old boat. The stern came so far up that the rudder was completely out of the water and the boat was at about a 30 degree angle. Standing on the front wall of the cockpit, I dove under the sail before the boat came down and the tiller extension went right through the sail. 3 Miles later I had abandoned the race and had only half a sail left.

As Alan said, a broad reach is safer and most of the time more fun!
 
I bought my boat 3 weeks ago and noticed the nose plowing thru the waves in 20+ knots of wind. I am 220 and was sitting in the front of the cockpit.

I figured I was too far forward and I had water in the boat.

Well I moved to the back of the boat and didn't notice the plowing anymore. When I got back to shore we tipped the boat while packing up and checked for water - none.

I'm liking this boat as it really teaches you whats going on with the boat. I have sailed Hobbie's (14's and 16's) alot but this boat is a better boat at teaching whats really going on with the hull, sail, balance.
 
I find that sailing the boat by the lee works well. When the nose starts to go under, heel more to weather and steer lower rather than higher. Do not let the sail out past 90 degrees though or you get unstable quickly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top