PRACTICE beats PANIC!!

Zrtsixx

Member
PRACTICE beats PANIC!!

With the season right around the corner, when the wind picks-up, I have started to get antsy to get out on the water. This last Sunday we had mid 70’s temp here in mid TN, with a wind out of the southwest around 12-15 mph. The lake surface temp is 52, which didn’t really scare me (In years past I was on the lake on my stand-up jet ski with ice on the lake!). I wore a short wetsuit and life jacket and went out and had a blast! I had been out over an hour when I made a turn and a gust took me just about over! I recovered, and kept sailing. Within 5 minutes, another gust caught me and I capsized. As I was going in to the water, I kept telling myself “Oh $#^&!! This is going to be cold!” As soon as I came up, I was headed to the boat to right it. Before I had the dagger board fully extended, it turned turtle! I righted it pretty fast… the sail was on the side the wind was coming from and it helped me right it. I was back up on the boat pretty quickly! I’m not sure how long I was in the water, but I think it was less than a minute... Needless to say I went straight in! I didn’t really feel cold until I got home.

When I bought the boat a year and a half ago I read all I could about it…. One was a brochure about learning to sail…. http://www.avonsailboats.com/pdf_files/learn3days.pdf It recommended taking the boat out on a calm day and capsizing it. I did it twice last year intentionally. I am really happy that I did!! I think I would have been able to right it without doing it before. Having practiced it before, I didn’t panic because I knew what to do and that it would work!

If you are new to sailing, I strongly suggest that you take your boat out on the water (when the water is WARM!) and capsize it. If you have been sailing a while and never capsized, practice it anyways!

Expect the unexpected!
 
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Good Point Zrtsixx.

In the words of Capt'n Ron "The best way to find out Kitty is to get her out on the ocean. If anything is going to happen , it's going to happen out there!"
 
I agree, it's good to be prepared, but you should also be aware of your surroundings. I sometime sail on a small lake near my house. I avoid it when the wind is 10+ because it's a damned up spot in the river with very high banks on both sides. The wind can be very shifty and you can't always see the puffs coming. I usually keep two to three wraps of mainsheet around my hand so I can quickly ease the sail.
I haven't capsized a boat since I was 12 and that was only because my cousin was with me and wanted to do it intentionally. I told him if he wanted to go swimming, just jump off the boat and maybe I'll swing back around and pick you up. :)
 

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