Backwards Capsize

J

JacksonAUS

New Member
When I first started laser sailing about a year ago I would capsize backwards(to winward) quite often on a run, or while jybing. I thought I had all of that under control until last weekend when it was blowing about 20 knots onshore with big rolling waves. After the race was abandoned and I headed for sure with the wind behind me, as soon as I gained some speed and a wave came from behind i would capsize to windard almost immediately. There was no way that i could sail on a run without capsizing. After 3 capsizes I decided to sail in on several reaches. Is there any advice that you guys can give me to avoid capsizing backwards while sailing on a run?
 
It sounds like you are experiencing the fun and exciting "Death Roll". As you describe this is most likely in a blow, but can also happen when you get on the "edge" by sailing low, by the lee in moderate breeze. The best way to avoid this in a blow is to ease the vang just a bit and slightly overtrim the sail. Also, you have to be like a cat in the boat and adjust you body, very quickly, but not overreact, to any rolls in the boat. Additionally, you need to drive through, around the waves if you are not in conditions to plane over the tops of the waves. Drive up across the backs of the waves and down the fronts, (I think. This is very important, hopefully someone else will post to confirm). It's a fine groove and will take many hours of sailing to get it down, but that's why we love the lasers. It's the challenge!
 
Rob has pointed out some ideas - to expand on the vang and the boom position:

In wind 20kts and over
Vang: You want to ease the vang if you had it on tighter then two blocked on the mainsheet. You DON'T want to ease it all the way off! Typically I would suggest the vang would have no slack in it when the aft mainsheet blocks are 3" apart. The vang is controlling the twist in the leech, you want to try and keep the leech from being too open, where the top is able to allow reverse air flow (from luff to leech) when the lower section is stalled.

Boom position: As the boom approaches 90 degrees to the centerline the center of effort of the sail moves closer and closer to the centerline of the boat. In simple terms, you are reducing the amount of force counteracting against you sitting on the windward side. Beyond 90 degrees, or with an open leech, you will actually generate force that WANTS to heel the boat to windward.

Additionally
Daggerboard: You don't need the board up more then 9-12 inches - having it up further then this does not allow the boat enough resistance against sudden course or force changes (such as being tossed around by a wave or fast turns of the rudder) and instead of changing direction, the boat rolls sideways.

Course: Dead Downwind or by the lee will again effect the center of effort of the sail, making it hard to counteract with your body weight. Instead, as you are learning, you would head up 10-20 degrees from dead down, and sheet in accordingly (boom out around 70-80 degrees from centerline)

Going downwind is an area where huge gains can be made, but you will only make them after you have put the time in the boat.

There are additional internet resources that cover this in more detail - Rooster Sailing used to have a good video on downwind sailing, drLaser has material to read, and both Ben Ainsle and Ben Tan's Laser books cover this topic as well. Hopefully the info above will give you enough to allow you to go out and learn without spending the majority of the time in the water.
 
Hi,

Yee ha! We all love those "hanging on" conditions, but they do take some getting used to. Reaching a tiny bit is one of the answers, as you'll at least capsize the "easy" way, and maybe round up, which empties the sail for you, and gives you a chance to restart downwind.

I think you should have the board down a bit to give the rudder a bit of leverage, but remember that the rudder is very efficient when planing, so only the slightest bit of steering is allowed. Jerking the rudder is ok, to turn back down after a slight roundup. If you are heeled more than 10 degrees either way, the rudder becomes useless or worse.

You'll have to get in sync with the waves, turning down when on top to ride it. It will be a lot faster sometimes to reach enough to gain speed to stay with a wave. If it helps you to plane, the extra distance won't matter.

Of course, stay mobile and look for the puffs, so you react before they hit you. Keep the boat flat, so the hull isn't steering you. The only real cure for death rolls is PREVENTION!

As for survival gybing, well, tacking is always an option, but it won't get you style points. In extreme cases, I'll gybe fast, even overturn, so that I round up a bit, which empties the sail on the new side. Forget the sheet, just dive for the new high side. Then you can settle down, and turn back down. I don't even change tiller hands, til I'm settled, so I end up steering with the tiller behind my back for a sec.

Most importantly - Practice! Next time you see 20 kts and Waves, stay out there! And do 100 gybes, etc. Find some hot shot and watch him/her. Let your (practice) sail luff, so you can stop sailing and concentrate on watching how they do it. Make the practice fun, only venturing straight downwind as you feel confident.

Hike Harder!

Al Russell 66451
 
Steve Cockerill's (Rooster Sailing) article (with amazing video) is at:
http://www.roostersailing.com/articles/4TH DIM WEB ARTICLE.HTML

The drlaser "Boat Handling" has a number of other articles (including a link to the one above) on downwind boathandling.

A few I recommend:
...Roll Gybing a Laser
...Ideal Vang Tension Downwind
...Sailing by the Lee: Zig Zag Your Way from Top to Bottom
...4th Dimension - Downwind by the Lee

As an on-the-water drill, I recommend going out in medium (10-12kn) of steady wind and as few waves as possible and practice getting by-the-lee (BTL) and sailing that way for as long as necessary. Then practice going from BTL to a normal broad reach and back; this is the key to really taking advantage of waves downwind, as well as the core technique that Steve C. uses to drive out of a death-roll. After you're comfortable with sailing BTL in "normal" conditions, try it in increasing wind and waves. Expect to dump a lot... It's *way* worth the effort.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
145234
 
If its windy and wavy, try surfing the waves, the added speed will give the boat more stability and is also a blast. Also try not to move the rudder to much... i took my laser out once and got caught in a line squall going downwind (wind went up to around 30+ knots) and even a little rudder had huge effects (mind you there were no waves higher than about 2-3 inches)
 
There is no substitute for going fast in those conditions downwind. If you try to slow down, you'll just flip that much quicker. You just have to get out there and be on the edge the whole time. That makes it that much more fun, and even if you still flip, at least you make more distance before you do.
 
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