More different capsize questions

Merrily

Merrily

Administrator
Another thread has got me to thinking about two questions.

1. If the clew somehow comes undone when you are out on the water and high winds make it impossible to to reattach it, is there a technique to reattach it after capsizing the boat? I tried to do that last summer but the weight of the water on the sail prevented me from lifting it. Girly arms, or bad technique?

2. Is there a way to capsize the boat without falling in? Say you want to capsize due to lightning and lie on the gunwale. Is there a technique for dousing the boat without falling in?
 
Merrily said:
Another thread has got me to thinking about two questions.

1. If the clew somehow comes undone when you are out on the water and high winds make it impossible to to reattach it, is there a technique to reattach it after capsizing the boat? I tried to do that last summer but the weight of the water on the sail prevented me from lifting it. Girly arms, or bad technique?
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Did you dettach the vang ? Just easing it off is most likely not going to be enough throw to allow you to pull the boom and clew together (at least it shouldn't be if the stopper knot in the vang is in the correct position.

If it were me I would focus on the bigger issue of why the clew completely dettached in the first place. If you are using the Harken hook and tieing the clew tie down thru the hook and not the sail, either tape the hook closed (just run a little duct tape from the end of the hook back to the ring section of the hook) or consider switching over to a clew strap in combo with the hook. I understand the need for quick disconnect when reaching a dock, neither of those two methods add more then a couple of seconds to getting the clew off.


Merrily said:
2. Is there a way to capsize the boat without falling in? Say you want to capsize due to lightning and lie on the gunwale. Is there a technique for dousing the boat without falling in?
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I think you already know how, in another post you mentioned that you can right the boat without getting your feet wet. You just have to duplicate that on purpose. Getting the end of the boom to trip in the water is usually the fastest way to flip it without physically moving to leeward - go on a reach with a tight vang, start sheeting in and quickly head up with the tiller.

If the water is deep enough, I would turtle it and lay on the bottom. It's going to be a more stable platform and not subject to being blown around as much.
 
I had that problem last year too. What I ended up doing was putting the clew back on while the boat was capsized, while keeping the boat from turtling. I few times the harken clip wouldn't go back in the clew, so I just held on the the clew as hard as I could and sailed in holding the sail. That made tacks and gybes pretty interesting.
 
Hi Merrily,
Another thought is, did you also let off on the outhaul?. I'd release it also to give myself more slack to get the hook back into the clew.
Regards,
Fishingmickey
150087/181157
 
fishingmickey said:
Hi Merrily,
Another thought is, did you also let off on the outhaul?. I'd release it also to give myself more slack to get the hook back into the clew.
Regards,
Fishingmickey
150087/181157
Click to expand...

That is a thought. When I was still upright, I don't think I tried to rerig after an experienced person told me it was not possible to re-attach in higher wind. Maybe this assumption was wrong from the git-go?

Would it have worked to take the boom off the gooseneck to give lots of slack, re-rig, then use the whole body to torque the boom back onto the gooseneck? Of course you'd have to be in irons the whole time.
 
Merrily said:
That is a thought. When I was still upright, I don't think I tried to rerig after an experienced person told me it was not possible to re-attach in higher wind. Maybe this assumption was wrong from the git-go?

Would it have worked to take the boom off the gooseneck to give lots of slack, re-rig, then use the whole body to torque the boom back onto the gooseneck? Of course you'd have to be in irons the whole time.
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Unless you have a coach/crash boat that you can hold you more or less into the wind, re-rigging while upright is going to be impossible in higher winds. Even with a boat holding you, you need to have a fair amount of upper body strength.

I would not recommend taking the boom of the gooseneck, either in winds over 10 knots, again dealing with the strength issue. You might want to try dettaching the boom in 10 knots with a crash boat around just so you see what it would be like.

I can't emphasize enough though, get your control systems bullet proof so you don't have to worry about clew disconnects, and other breakdowns.
 
49208 said:
I can't emphasize enough though, get your control systems bullet proof so you don't have to worry about clew disconnects, and other breakdowns.
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Well, honestly, I don't think there is any such thing as bullet proof. I've tried various things, and they all fail for me in some way or another. Please describe "bullet proof."
 
1. Stop using the hook - Switch to a captive shackle instead. When coming in from sailing, unreeve the mainsheet and let the sail/boom swing around instead.

If you have to use the hook:
2.Tape the hook closed.
3. Tiedown or strap through the clew of the sail, not the hook.
4. Check out the pics I have posted in other threads about clew straps - I have never had the hook come out when setup the way it is in the pics. It may be that my clew strap is wider then yours which helps it sit on top of the hook, holding it down (my strap is 1" wide), but if it's really nuking out, I will tape the hook shut or change to a shackle instead for that extra insurance.

5. Replace the plastic fairlead at the end of the boom with an almag one. The plastic one will break eventually. Through bolt it as well.

6. In the control system line, use knots or splices that won't shake themselves loose over time. For even more piece of mind, throw some electrical tape over the knot, or a couple of hand stitches in the tail end to lock it in place.

I'm sure there are more tips out there too.


If you post a pic or two of your clew setup, we may be able to spot something I've missed.
 
Another thought -- although I've never tried it -- have a spare piece of line with you. Tie one end to the clew line that you already have around the boom which the clew hook was hooked to, and then run the other line out to the clew on the sail and through it. Then pull it in. The idea is that you're using the spare piece of rope to pull the clew back to where you want it.
 
My 2nd time out the clew hook came unhooked and based on an earlier suggetion I capsized the boat and after loosening the outhaul was able to get the clew reattached. In my case I took the hook off and just ran the outhaul through the clew and tied it off at the fairlead. BTW I have a wichard snaphook that I use now and its easy to disconnect but pretty close to impossible for it to come undone on the course.
I ended up putting the end of the boom in the V at the front of my life-jacket - that kept the mast from turtling.

I can attest to the virtual impossiblility of reattaching the hook upright with any sort of breeze blowing.

Mike
 
knot_moving said:
I can attest to the virtual impossiblility of reattaching the hook upright with any sort of breeze blowing.

Mike
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I managed to do it once, by taking the boom off the gooseneck (actually, it fell off the gooseneck as soon as the clew hook let go), and then letting the outhaul way out. But I was a good half mile downwind of where I started, before I had myself sorted out again.
In an attempt to keep the bow pointed into the wind while I worked, I tied everything I had (my water bottle and my tiller) to the bow line and threw it over board -- I'm not sure if that helped but it seemed like a good idea at the time to create a little drag up front.
 
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