Does anyone use a surf strap

W

WPB Sailor

New Member
Was wondering if anyone used anything to keep them tied to the boat - question arises from my experience the other day blasting downwind in a 25 knot puff - I was pretty close to wiping out (the puffs were coming with a 20 degree shift) and thought to myself if I go my boats going to end up aways down wind. Also worried about being outside in waves and current. Paddling after the boat in a life jacket sounds very slow...

Can't remember worrying about this when I sailed lasers back in my youth but my self preservation instincts are much improved these days:)
 
I think this comes under the realm of "very bad idea."

You really don't want anything holding you onto the underside of an inverted boat.

Every now and again in a wipeout I find myself tangled in a bit of mainsheet under the boat and it's always worrisome.

Once the boat's down in the water, it doesn't go fast. Sometimes it pivots itself around to a different orientation.
 
instead of tying the surf strap to yourself, you can try to tie it to a bag and let the bag sit in the cockpit. In the event of a capsize, the bag goes overboard and fills with water. That way, if the boat goes with the current, it will have to drag the bag through the water, making it slower. Also works if you flip the boat up and it tries to take off.

Once you're back in the boat, just empty the bag and put it back in the cockpit.
 
I've never ended up more then a couple of boat lengths from a good downwind wipeout. It helps to try and remember to take the mainsheet with you, especially if you wipe out to windward (but let go of the tiller - that doesn't do much good broken off in your hand ;) ), but even if you go over and have to swim, you shouldn't have too much problem covering two boat lengths. Try it sometime when you have a buddy around just to give yourself a little piece of mind.. I think you'll be surprised how quickly you get to the boat, especially when you know you have some toothy finned friends lurking (which I recall seeing when we were out practicing a couple years ago by the govt bouys about a mile or two offshore)
 
ddombrowski said:
instead of tying the surf strap to yourself, you can try to tie it to a bag and let the bag sit in the cockpit. In the event of a capsize, the bag goes overboard and fills with water. That way, if the boat goes with the current, it will have to drag the bag through the water, making it slower. Also works if you flip the boat up and it tries to take off.

---snip---
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When there is current, everything in the current will move the same speed and travel the same distance regardless.
 
49208 said:
I've never ended up more then a couple of boat lengths from a good downwind wipeout. It helps to try and remember to take the mainsheet with you, especially if you wipe out to windward (but let go of the tiller - that doesn't do much good broken off in your hand ;) ), but even if you go over and have to swim, you shouldn't have too much problem covering two boat lengths. Try it sometime when you have a buddy around just to give yourself a little piece of mind.. I think you'll be surprised how quickly you get to the boat, especially when you know you have some toothy finned friends lurking (which I recall seeing when we were out practicing a couple years ago by the govt bouys about a mile or two offshore)
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Yeah just last month they pulled a 14ft 1000# hammerhead out of there - I'm not thrilled about my toothy neighbors....
 
Do not forget that a Laser on it's side can drift faster than most people can swim. So as an earlier poster said: Hold on to your mainsheet.
 
I recommend tying 300ft of 1/4" bungee from the base of your mast to the most convenient pier post. That way even if you're thrown out of your boat you can wait for it to come past you on the spring back to the shore.
 
Chainsaw said:
I recommend tying 300ft of 1/4" bungee from the base of your mast to the most convenient pier post. That way even if you're thrown out of your boat you can wait for it to come past you on the spring back to the shore.
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300ft at 1/4, thats it? I would go for 1000ft at 1 inch, this stuff needs to be long, and super strong, God forbid there are big waves!


Yea, I would file that under bad idea. Become a stronger swimmer and better sailor. You can always do what I do when I think I'm about to eat it, ease the mainsheet!
 
Ross B said:
300ft at 1/4, thats it? I would go for 1000ft at 1 inch, this stuff needs to be long, and super strong, God forbid there are big waves!


Yea, I would file that under bad idea. Become a stronger swimmer and better sailor. You can always do what I do when I think I'm about to eat it, ease the mainsheet!
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I'm a very good sailor and a former AAU medlist - none of which will help in high winds and seas if you get separated from the boat. But thanks for your snarky input anyway. NOT
 
I think you are worried too much about this. The boats don't "Blow away" when capsized. You should have not problems getting back to it as long as you're not in 50 degree water, improperly dressed and go hypothermic. Tying yourself down to a capsized boat will not work with your ideas of self preservation.
 
Not worried - just asked the question (once). I'll be sailing in 4-6 seas with 20+ knots in a lot of current with big toothy predators and no reliable buddy. I'd like to minimize my swimming time. I've forgotten the drift characteristics of capzized laser (maybe they turtle in which case problem solved) which I will no doubt reaquint myself with, but I know you don't want to seperate with certain beach cats in similar conditions....

We can close this down now..

Got my answer...
 
WPB Sailor said:
Not worried - just asked the question (once). I'll be sailing in 4-6 seas with 20+ knots in a lot of current with big toothy predators and no reliable buddy. I'd like to minimize my swimming time. I've forgotten the drift characteristics of capzized laser (maybe they turtle in which case problem solved) which I will no doubt reaquint myself with, but I know you don't want to seperate with certain beach cats in similar conditions....

We can close this down now..

Got my answer...
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Beach cats have a much bigger profile with all the tramp area exposed to the breeze and the lower hull getting pushed by the swells. The only time the laser can really get away from you is if you capsize to weather and the boom stays out/exposeing the sail to the breeze. The way to prevent this is don't let go of the main sheet when you go over or fall out. If you think about it you should always have you hand on the sheet cause that's the only way to trim. You can pull yourself back to the boat really fast with the mainsheet.
 
Back in the mid 80's I death rolled the boat and it sailed away on its side with the boom straight up in the air. It sailed some 300-400 yards before the boat finally turned enough for the boom to drop and the boat to turtle. That was back in the days when most of us still wore foul weather gear instead of wet suits and while I had a life jacket on, it took better than 10 minutes to get back to the boat.

About a month ago we had a fellow fall out of his boat who needed to be picked up and taken back to his boat because it sailed off. The boat didn't flip so a bag in the cockpit would not have helped much.

I also know of someone who was sailing alone, lost his boat and was in the water some 6 hours before being rescued.

So it does happen and some kind of tether with a safety release is not such a bad idea when sailing alone.

Foxy
 
On the rooster downwind DVD there is footage of a bloke doing a deathroll in 25knots where the boat almost pitchpoles. He would probably have been doing about 12 - 15knots when it happened. He gots thrown out about 15m behind. In any case he says he had to swim to catch it, but catch it he did.

When my mast broke, I went flying backwards off the gunwale and the boat didn't capsize. It did a big arc and headed up into the wind. It took about 10 seconds to swim back to the boat.

If you can cleat the mainsheet the boat will hove to or capsize once you're swimming. If you don't it will capsize or hove to.

I still think the bungee cord is a good idea. Could be the makings of an extreme sport in that.
 
49208 said:
When there is current, everything in the current will move the same speed and travel the same distance regardless.
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Only if everything is completely in the water. If the boat is upright or on its side, the wind can push it faster than the current. I got the idea from going out on a fishing boat, they throw the bag overboard to slow their drift. It works too, because the boat will drift with the wind faster than the current alone.

Granted, a bag wont help in every case and it is something extra to worry about, I was just throwing out ideas.
 
About a month ago we had a fellow fall out of his boat who needed to be picked up and taken back to his boat because it sailed off. The boat didn't flip so a bag in the cockpit would not have helped much.

I also know of someone who was sailing alone, lost his boat and was in the water some 6 hours before being rescued.
Foxy[/QUOTE]

Were these Lasers? I can't imagine falling off a Laser and watching it sail into the sunset. Now a J24 on the other hand..............
 
I too know of a guy at my club who had the mainsheet cleated on his Laser, fell off, and the boat sailed away. He had to tread water for an hour. Yeah, he wasn't wearing a PFD. :eek:
 
Merrily said:
I too know of a guy at my club who had the mainsheet cleated on his Laser, fell off, and the boat sailed away. He had to tread water for an hour. Yeah, he wasn't wearing a PFD. :eek:
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I'm confused as to how this happens. Was it light air? If so, how did he fall out and in the process not get the boat off course enough that it went head to wind? If it was heavy how did the boat not capsize or round up? I just don't see how this can happen on a boat as weight sensitive as a Laser.
 
Rob B said:
I'm confused as to how this happens. Was it light air? If so, how did he fall out and in the process not get the boat off course enough that it went head to wind? If it was heavy how did the boat not capsize or round up? I just don't see how this can happen on a boat as weight sensitive as a Laser.
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The only way I can imagine this happening is in light air with a tight traveler that prevents the tiller from moving in response to weather helm and causing the boat to round up. This cannot have happened because there's no way someone who would cleat their mainsheet also knows enough to have their traveller tight.
 
I'm puzzled as to how it happened, as well. It was not light air, I expect, but puffy. The guy kept falling off the boat because he would hike out, the puff would die, and he wasn't nimble enough to get back in. He got out of Laser sailing after this. It happened before I joined my club.

One thing that might have happened--he added a layer of glass to the old hull, and maybe there was just enough weight to keep it upright. Obviously, it was not a legal boat.
 
I heard of a guy who kept hiking out too far and dunking his head. He later became a hairdresser and sadly was eaten by a shark in a local round the island regatta. Apparently he had been eating fish n chips the night before and wiped his hands in his hair which attracted the sharks. Ol' Dunky they called him. All back before I owned my first car.
 
Chainsaw said:
I heard of a guy who kept hiking out too far and dunking his head. He later became a hairdresser and sadly was eaten by a shark in a local round the island regatta. Apparently he had been eating fish n chips the night before and wiped his hands in his hair which attracted the sharks. Ol' Dunky they called him. All back before I owned my first car.
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This gets funnier every time I read it. Must stop. :p
 
I didn't know that Ross (besides being an Olympic Campaigner) was a Surfer also...

You guys want to use a leash in a Laser?? What's wrong with you guys.. why don't you switch to Nascar or something else...
 
Everyone knows you can't use a surf leash in nascar unless you first use two 29mm carbo's attached to the roll cage and only then in shallow water.
 
they switched it to the roll cage? I thought you had to dangle them fuzzy dice style from the rear view mirror...
 
Sailing beyond the gate (SF) in big swells and breeze, some people I know used to tie the tail of their mainsheet around their waist. If you capsize violently, you can definitely lose your grip on the sheet, and in a big swell and 25+ knots of wind, catching up to your boat is really really difficult. When you're a mile offshore in 50 degree water, that could be a problem. I have no idea how well it works... I always just hoped I'd have the presence of mind to hang on, and tried hard not to get thrown clear of the boat.
 
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