Almost died today

Kelly Nowaczyk

New Member
hi guys

Today I had a near death experience while sailing today. Now I don't want to scare anybody I just don't want this to happen to you. So I was out sailing today and it's pretty windy out there so I was jibbing and some how I lost control and the sail came on top of me I was under for about 30 seconds trying to not be under the sail and finally I got out. Good thing I was wearing my life jacket because with out it I don't even know what would have happened so took a few breaths and turned to boat right side up I was so raddled by what just happened I had to go in as I was turning the boat over nice people on a jet ski came over and made sure I was ok. I learned my lesson and that's to bring a knife on board and how to swim out from under a sail. Be safe out there


- Kelly Nowaczyk
 
Had a similar experience, after not having capsized in many years:
My First Capsize in Years and Years... | SailingForums.com

Now I'm thinking that whatever swimwear I was wearing was too slippery, so a tack that should have been a fairly normal one—though in increasingly difficult winds—turned to grave concern. :(

BTW: Are you married, and do you have close-up photos of your boat? :)
 
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I always wear a PFD in my sunfish or single handing, and have a whistle and dive knife attached.
 
PFD, goes on first, comes off last. The main thing is to not panic, and think through the problem. Which you seem to have handled well. Glad your ok. And kudos to the jet ski guy.
 
+1 on always wearing a PFD. A technique taught by the space shuttle crew trainers to the astronauts in the event they parachuted into water and the chute covered them was to "climb" or "crawl" out from under the chute. The same technique should work with a sail; i.e., facing up, act like you're crawling along the underside of the sail until you're out from under it.
 
Glad you are ok Kelly. People who never live never have near death experiences. Time to get that boat wet again and hopefully you stay a bit more dry!! Thanks for the reminder and I'm another +1 for a quality PFD.
 
I am a PRO at capsizing :eek:

One thing to remember is that, as you sail, make sure your feet are not tangled up in the sheet. In other words, some housekeeping may be necessary by pushing the sheet towards the back (my preference) or the front with your feet.
 
Kelly, so glad you survived and are okay! I'm glad you told the story as well - I recently sailed a few times with my Sunfish and my 15-yr old on a Minifish out on the water as well. While I didn't capsize, he did tip over 3 or 4 times. He's taken sailing lessons and didn't seem to have any trouble flipping the boat back upright and climbing back in by himself, I should have a talk with him about situations like yours that could occur and how we can plan in advance for how to handle it.
 

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