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!!!!
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!!!!