Some wild shots as America's Cup: catamarans capsize during racing in strong winds off Plymouth

[Grateful11]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/picture...mouth.html

If you've never been on a catamaran and are healthy enough to try it sometime you should do it if you're
interested in sailing it all. I spent a fair amount time on my cousins 16' Hobie cat sailing in the Atlantic off
Oak Island, NC in the summer of '82, I lived there for 3 months because I couldn't find a summer job
around home. I was always the one hanging off the side in the trapeze, all 135lbs of me, but what a wild
ride it was. Sometimes the entire boat would come out of the water when you were out a mile or 2 off
shore when there was 8 to 10' swells. Good memories!

[cbelt3]

Whoa..... Duuuuude.
Those big cats are definitely toast after a capsize like that.

I remember capsizing a lightning at summer camp... we were running before a ginormous thunderstorm, and were caught by a gust of wind. The whole boat with all four of us just flipped... I recall flying through the air... felt like I was 20 feet up. One boy was trapped under the sail, but we got him out.

Yeah, you've always got to be ready to let go the main sheet when you're in weather like that.

[DP]

You know, it's silly to even go out in those winds... Especially when the boats are that expensive. I have an old 11' Hobie that I don't get out on often enough.

[rgG]

A friend and I bought a used 16' Prindle catamaran in the early 80's. We used to sail on a lake, but never took it to the ocean. I too had one of those "butt buckets" for "hanging out" over one of the pontoons. I was always exhilarated and terrified at the same time.

We saw a guy turtle his once, end over end, and he even managed to get the mast stuck in the mud at the bottom of the lake, since he was pretty close to shore. I think they had to get a boat to come right it.

[Winston]

I've flipped a Hobie 16 on several occasions. Kind of scary if you're flying one pontoon and bury the other in a wave. You can go from very fast to very slow rather quickly.

An end over end flip is called a "pitchpole". Never quite did one of those, but came close.

cbelt3 - did you go to Camp Sea Gull? (you're in NC, right?). I learned to sail in part on Lightnings on a mountain lake in western NC. These were very old wooden boats. All gone now as the camp reached a point where they couldn't maintain them.

A couple of years ago I was out with my two younger kids on a Rhodes 19 in the Virgin Islands. It was a very windy morning. We ended up sailing with a reef and no jib, and were still almost getting knocked down in the gusts. Glad we had a keel and were in a protected sound.


- Winston

[Winston]

rgG wrote:
We saw a guy turtle his once, end over end, and he even managed to get the mast stuck in the mud at the bottom of the lake, since he was pretty close to shore. I think they had to get a boat to come right it.

Thats why a lot of small catamarans have a float at the top of the mast. I've turtled a Sunfish, but managed not to do it so far on a cat. A turtled catamaran is no fun.


- W

[Winston]

The Oracle team cat cartwheeled in San Francisco bay last June.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/picture...o-Bay.html

(photos wouldn't link, but click on the arrow on the right of the group of photos to get a larger image)


- W

[OWC Jamie]

sunfishes come back up pretty easy if you don't lose the dagger board to stand on.
(sailing on lakes too close to shore you gotta be careful)

I've flipped a Hobie on too many occasions. They're fun, but I no longer like tramps. Unless it's a tri. They're still fast and don't go over any where as easy.

[Winston]

billb wrote:
sunfishes come back up pretty easy if you don't lose the dagger board to stand on.
(sailing on lakes too close to shore you gotta be careful)

Yep, especially with those extra long booms. I've seen them come up muddy, and worse, badly bent.

The old wooden Sunfish daggerboards had a spring to hold them in place. The new fiberglass ones don't have a spring, and don't float. Real important to have a safety strap on them. I've had to go under a turtled Sunfish to re-insert the daggerboard, but luckily not in a very long time.


- W

[OWC Jamie]

Over and back up all in one motion.
Don't give it a chance to pop out. :-)

Plus it looks like a stunt and planned. :-)


A brommel hook or a shock cord athwartships should keep the fiberglass board in.