Recently I had noticed that the metal rudder stop on the back of my boat was bent in the wrong direction, so I bent it back to it’s approximate position and promptly forgot about it.
After Monday’s races (I won 4 out of 5 – if anyone is interested), while waiting for the ramp to clear, I was beating back and forth in the stiffening breezes. It was a great afternoon and the winds were picking up nicely. At some point about mid way between the ramp and the far shore, the boat flipped. Without missing a beat, I was over the back side and onto the centerboard. As the boat came up, I noticed the rudder/tiller/extension assembly was off and wrapped around the traveler. Rather than swimming around and fixing the rudder, I went ahead and righted the boat. As the boat came up, I reached over, grabbed the extension and thought I was golden. That’s when I realized that the extension had separated from the rudder/tiller assembly (I have no idea how that happened.) It was a matter of seconds and the rudder was gone.
Of course the wind was blowing directly away from the ramp and it was very apparent that there was no way I was going to be able to sail in the direction of the ramp side shore.
A family on a pontoon boat, out for a joy ride, was watching from a short distance away. After I waved with my two hands over my head, they finally realized that I was in trouble, not just waving “hi” and motored over. They were happy to tow me back to the ramp (even took pictures from the back of their boat.)
Moral of the story: Check your equipment very carefully before every sail, and be very careful before you sail by yourself – it might be a long walk home.
After Monday’s races (I won 4 out of 5 – if anyone is interested), while waiting for the ramp to clear, I was beating back and forth in the stiffening breezes. It was a great afternoon and the winds were picking up nicely. At some point about mid way between the ramp and the far shore, the boat flipped. Without missing a beat, I was over the back side and onto the centerboard. As the boat came up, I noticed the rudder/tiller/extension assembly was off and wrapped around the traveler. Rather than swimming around and fixing the rudder, I went ahead and righted the boat. As the boat came up, I reached over, grabbed the extension and thought I was golden. That’s when I realized that the extension had separated from the rudder/tiller assembly (I have no idea how that happened.) It was a matter of seconds and the rudder was gone.
Of course the wind was blowing directly away from the ramp and it was very apparent that there was no way I was going to be able to sail in the direction of the ramp side shore.
A family on a pontoon boat, out for a joy ride, was watching from a short distance away. After I waved with my two hands over my head, they finally realized that I was in trouble, not just waving “hi” and motored over. They were happy to tow me back to the ramp (even took pictures from the back of their boat.)
Moral of the story: Check your equipment very carefully before every sail, and be very careful before you sail by yourself – it might be a long walk home.