DaveM
Charlabud #623
My son and I had our 14.2 out on Lake Grapevine, TX yesterday (4/22). Winds were sustained at about 12 to 18 kts; which is about as much as I can handle, but we were doing fine – hiked out. Spray everywhere. Beautiful.
We were homeward bound running a broad reach close to the north shore as the winds kicked up to 24 kts sustained. We were running out of lake so I gybed the boat on to a starboard tack. The boom came across hard. It was touch-and-go for a few seconds while we struggled to get on the new course and get everything under control, then BANG! The mast was down. The starboard shroud had sheered away about six inches up from the pin. The step was a contorted mass still pinned to the foot of the mast. The port side teak was smashed and split in half where the mast crashed down. We got the sails off the floating wreckage and lashed the mast and boom along the center line of the boat when a passing motor boater offered to tow us in.
When I got a chance to check my GPS record I saw we were doing 8.26 kts when we lost the mast.
My boat is an older Mod I and I believe the stays are original. So maybe they were overdue for a failure (they look pretty ratty). However, it was really hairy wind and we had just done a hard gybe, so maybe I just broke the boat!
As a novice sailor, I’m not sure where the failure really was…hardware or skipper! Any advice on gybing, big wind, and repairing a demasted Capri 14.2 would be greatly appreciated.
We were homeward bound running a broad reach close to the north shore as the winds kicked up to 24 kts sustained. We were running out of lake so I gybed the boat on to a starboard tack. The boom came across hard. It was touch-and-go for a few seconds while we struggled to get on the new course and get everything under control, then BANG! The mast was down. The starboard shroud had sheered away about six inches up from the pin. The step was a contorted mass still pinned to the foot of the mast. The port side teak was smashed and split in half where the mast crashed down. We got the sails off the floating wreckage and lashed the mast and boom along the center line of the boat when a passing motor boater offered to tow us in.
When I got a chance to check my GPS record I saw we were doing 8.26 kts when we lost the mast.
My boat is an older Mod I and I believe the stays are original. So maybe they were overdue for a failure (they look pretty ratty). However, it was really hairy wind and we had just done a hard gybe, so maybe I just broke the boat!
As a novice sailor, I’m not sure where the failure really was…hardware or skipper! Any advice on gybing, big wind, and repairing a demasted Capri 14.2 would be greatly appreciated.