Winter Capsize

[simeoniii]

However I have always understood that as a last resort streaming the sail is the right thing to do. There are small questions like was the sheet free to run. But for me the larger question is how do we recover the sail once it is ahead of the boat. I have always assumed that I would round up so that the sail would rotate to a more recoverable position. In trying to visualize this event I realize that the boat may not be willing to do that.

Roger, I can't figure out how to post a pdf here. Follow the link to John Welsford's elegant treatise on the subject, titled "Handling a balanced lugsail when running off in extreme winds"

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sbam1fcsuo0xh ... s.pdf?dl=0

I've been practicing these two techniques just about every time I'm out on the water with Noddy. Stay safe...

[mrogers]

Thank you Simeon
Very powerful stuff. Everyone should download this document and put it in your manual. And practice it like Simeon does. I wish I had known about luffing the sail to depower it on several scary occasions.

[simeoniii]

Roger -

I got that document from John Welsford last summer after I wrote him an accounting of one of my solo outings in Noddy. He sent me that write up "Handling a Balanced Lugsail when Running off in Extreme Winds"
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sbam1fcsuo0xh ... s.pdf?dl=0
I believe it has also been published in one of the SCA issues earlier this year. Read it and heed well

Here's the story:

I had an exciting moment during a sail out of Boat Haven. Wind was NW probably 12-15 kts (gusting 20-25) at the time. I'd left the dock with a single reef, but soon tied the second one in during the sail.

I was fairly close ashore running at a high rate of speed toward the ferry dock on a starboard gybe with the sail out a bit over 90 degrees.

Not sure exactly what happened, maybe a combination of a header gust, bearing up a bit much, beginning of death roll, possible slippage of mainsheet out of my hand, lapse of concentration on the task at hand…

Biff-Bam-Boom!

The boom and double-reefed sail was flagged out 180 plus degrees (out over the bow), sheet fall wrapped tightly around the base of the mast, and downhaul blocks crammed into the mast. I still had the tail end of my long mainsheet in my hand. The sheet later measured out at 53'.

Perhaps I should have just let go the end of the sheet (no stopper knot) and let it run free through the mid-boom block but I doggedly held on. I don't think it would have made any difference.

I didn't have enough control to force the bow around enough to get the sail dynamics to clear the situation, and the sail forces precluded hauling it around. After fighting with it for a short bit, I cleated the tail of the sheet on the cabin top, dropped the sail and yard down with it all flagged forward, and manhandled the bundle around to the proper orientation. Situation under control!

I now sail downwind paying heed to not letting the yard get out near the 90 degree angle and do a bit more gybing

[pocketyacht]

Folks
Keith wrote:
I noticed that my outhaul wasn't tight enough for the breeze and reached out to tighten it. Giving it a yank released the cam cleat but I couldn't get it to engage. The wind took the boom out farther and out of my reach, leaving the sail with a big belly in it. I grabbed the mainsheet and pulled to power up and tack. The sail filled and.....nothing, no acceleration. I put the helm over to start the tack but we didn't turn. I straightened it out and focused on getting the sail properly positioned, thinking I had oversheeted. Still no forward progress. With the shore in front of me and the log boom off to starboard (upwind), my other option was to jibe. I put the helm over and we started turning away from the wind and as we did so the sail caught more and more of it. I let the sheet out to spill a little wind as we went, now out more than 90. Then the hull went past the point facing the current and that current whipped the bow farther through the jibe. At this point the gust held the sail forward of the mast and we started going over. I immediately lost helm control, looked down, and saw water cascading over the coaming. My only thought was a calm "we're going over", not even an expletive.

A few thoughts:

Anticipation and avoidance is everything in any small boat. If I see a situation coming or feel circumstances (tight spaces, gusty air, etc) might box me in I take steps to avoid complications before I am caught (reef early or change course, etc) or I stay on shore. I try to never set out unless fully set up, rigged and ready......................still it happens to me.

It seems Keith got boxed in because of the outhaul issue he faced. His sail shape was bagged out and therefore he was far over powered with little ability to steer out of it. Conjecture on my part.

Here is another take on the incident and I qualify it by the fact I was not there so what do I know.

I am also still curious about the wind speed because its not just high wind that can cause an issue when gybing any boat not just SCAMP.

I am also wondering if your water ballast was full and topped off since it was done underway?

The key factor involved here seems sail power (loosened outhaul) and not the current.
When a boat is in current it is in current and moving with the current unless it is anchored so current should not be a factor here. Again I wasn't there and current may have played a role if Keith was coming into it from behind something where it was blocked but this doesn't seem to be the case.

Keith says he had a very full sail, which did not allow him to trim effectively thus he elected to gybe, a gybe with an overly powerful-full sail, in essence a contributing factor to an uncontrolled or uncontrollable gybe. The yard and the boom in this situation will not flog and fill on the same plane, they can sort of oscillate, twist and if you get air behind the opposite side of the sail up high (yard backed) then this spells trouble.

The situation Keith faced was not so much SCAMP hull specific but perhaps more lug rig specific and such situations are a common concern for all lug sailors. SCAMP like any boat is a whole, hull and rig and they can't be separated. Still it is good to look at each separate from the other.

It should be noted here that some SCAMP sailors are in essence not learning so much how to sail "SCAMP the boat" but "Lug the rig." Many sailors are not used to lug rigs. Lug rigs offer more advantages than disadvantages and like any rig they must be understood or they can be a hand full.

SCAMP as the boat w/o rig is a stable platform and with the added weight and forces aloft from the rig she remains for her size and type stable.
If understood and sailed with appropriately timed reefing "the boat" will remain a very stable platform.

In addition the timing thing is key in any boat.

Keith put the helm down to gain laminar flow over his sail to be able to get lift then movement to be able to spin the boat up into a close hauled course while moving forward thus enabling a tack.

No or very little acceleration occurred because of low flow. This is a finesse/timing moment all sailors face. To go from a drifting full stop to power by hard trimming doesn't work very effectively on any boat (unless the sailor pumps the rig purposely and judiciously). All the sailor ends up doing is sort of digging a hole to leeward, the sail remains stalled and force is channeled to further heeling and leeward drift as opposed to meaningful forward movement.

This factor is even more acute when a sail is too full.

It appears Keith's situation was a classic cascading event that was possibly avoidable. I haven't sailed with Keith and can only speak for myself in saying I have learned most of the little knowledge I have the hard way;-), through experience. Good on ya Keith. I reckon you earned this one and can notch up one toward being a better sailor, well done!

My best lessons have pretty much all been my doing, err my errors.

There is an answer to situations like this one. Not being there I can only say if the room to maneuver was so tight and I was out of control with a full belly main and a cascading event at hand I may have made a super fast toss over the side of the lunch hook.

This deployment meant to stop the show and allow me to gather myself and to get the outhaul issue sorted out. A light weight on the ready anchor can be an important tool in tight spots.

I carry both a very small Bruce type and a folding fisherman anchor as lunch hooks and for emergency deployment or if I know I am needing to slow to get onto a beach, take a break, etc.

Here is of photo of SCAMP #2's anchor inventory.

SCAMP #2 anchors.jpg

Northill 13
Northill 6
Bruce
Folding Fisherman

Apologies for the long post and sounding so full of myself, I don't mean to do so. I am hoping some of this might help someone if even just a little.

Back to driving.

[pocketyacht]

With respect to all I feel compelled to post this.

There are a few sayings about small boats that ring true to me.

1. If you want to go fast, get a motorcycle.
2. Sailboats by their nature tip, if you want stability plant a rock garden.
3. Like my pal Dave Scobie says...................wear a life jacket!
4. Learning to sail is like painting a house, 99% preparation, 1% painting/sailing. Prepare, practice and enjoy.

Sailing is by its nature a stability affair. This is part of the essence of what we love as heeling is a "tingling with excitement" thing, an expression of the magic and the power of wind and water.

We live in a world full of sailboats large and small and all of them heel at one time or another. They are by their very nature as wind machines, unstable. Yes, all of them but unstable by degree, some more than others. Instability needs to be embraced, understood, managed, used and not feared.

This oft misunderstood "hint of danger" heeling thing is one of the reasons some folks don't like sailing or fear it.

In the small boat category this heeling thing becomes a bigger deal because it happens so quickly. I am grateful that I get to sail so many small boats and
SCAMP is bar none the most stable small centerboard/daggerboard/leeboard type boat (lets say under 16 feet) I have sailed to date. Size for size and proportion for proportion she stacks up well.

SCAMP exhibits excellent initial and secondary stability characteristics and dare I say she offers a third level of stability if the sailor understands her.

I suggest learning to sail in light air and then gradually moving up in wind speed. Practice all maneuvers in lighter air, not ghosting light air but enough air to sail.

If sailing stability is a big issue because it cannot be understood, embraced, managed and enjoyed then gardening, bingo or bowling may be the best;-)

Thanks for reading.

[willpower]

After reading JW's advice (referenced in Simeon's post) on handling gybes (jibes) in high wind with a balanced lug, the "chicken jibe" maneuver is sounding better and better to me. Round up, tack with bow across the wind and fall off on new tack. The rounding up part must be done carefully, and can be a bit wet, but is not as unforgiving of mistakes as the maneuver John describes. Not as fast, but fairly safe. Simeon and Howard, would you guys agree or have I got that wrong? --Will

[Bcbimmer]

Keith et al,

It's always great to learn from these things when everyone comes out alright. Good for you for posting this so we can all benefit. I have spend a fair amount of time in the water in my rowing shell days, including San Francisco Bay many years ago. That water was warmer than the stuff around Vancouver Island. I would agree that keeping calm and getting out of the water quickly are huge. If you thing getting in to a Scamp is fun, try a 1 foot wide rowing shell. Spent many years out with Scouts in kayaks and every trip somebody would do something dumb and go over. I can recall at least a couple of occasions when the youngsters insisted they were not cold, in spite of shivering. They felt they were just a bit tired but were obviously confused and often had to be talking into stopping for warm clothing and drinks.

I must confess to feeling just a bit apprehensive reading this type of post. If guys with years of experience can get into situations like this, what's an almost 60 yr old guy like me with no experience thinking? Now that I have been out on Scamp a few times I have at least a bit of an understanding of all these terms but the need to come up with the right response in a split second really needs to be second nature. Will be looking for some seasoned old salts for sailing buddies at the start. Perhaps I will maintain the life insurance for a few more years.

Cheers,

Dan

[Friends with SCAMPS]

Hey Dan, please don't get worried. They tell these stories so we can learn from their mistakes and know how to be more prepared. You'll be fine starting on less windy days and learning your rig and boat as you go. Fair Winds, Dana

[knasman]

All,

The most frustrating thing for me in this is not having a clear understanding of what happened....and I WAS there. As for what to do differently, there is preparation and action in the event.

Prep:
- While that outhaul is a cool piece of tech, it was too far out on the boom. It will be moved forward so I can work it properly. As Howard said, with the lack of proper outhaul, the sail was WAY too powerful.
- I clearly boxed myself in, in changing conditions. Call it bravado, athough I didn't feel that at the time, but I know how quickly I can pull off manouvers having played "chicken" with a dock with a cross current repeatedly just for fun. Anyone can get too comfortable and caught, I think we can all "man up" to that one.
- Sailing in company? Radios ON and monitoring the agreed channel. It would have put Bruce and Bill's eyes on me and my condition whether or not I felt effected or not. Dale and I cruised the Port Townsend area for 5 days and always had our radios on. It made sense since we were traveling distances and could keep in touch. For me radios ON is now every time. Think about it, even if you are "dinking" around right at the ramp are you always in voice range?

In the event:
- Clearly, the overpowered condition, right in the middle of my gybe caused me to react poorly. My immediate thought should have been to get that boom OVER, not spill wind. Normally, when I gybe in a strong breeze I'm traveling relatively straight and I sheet in the boom till it is at least within the boat and then put the helm over to bring the boom over on the new tack.

Howard mentioned the trickiness of getting forward momentum going. I have noticed this in the past and although I understand the mechanics of the sail, this is clearly an aspect that I wish to learn more on, if only to understand that I'm doing the best one can.

[pocketyacht]

Hi Will
Tacking around as opposed to gybing is a good answer and a legitimate maneuver. However this said gybing a SCAMP is a very simple and safe maneuver in almost all conditions including higher winds. The unstayed lug is far better than boats with shrouds. Keith wasn't able to tack around so at times the chicken gybe doesn't work.

After reading JW's advice (referenced in Simeon's post) on handling gybes (jibes) in high wind with a balanced lug, the "chicken jibe" maneuver is sounding better and better to me. Round up, tack with bow across the wind and fall off on new tack. The rounding up part must be done carefully, and can be a bit wet, but is not as unforgiving of mistakes as the maneuver John describes. Not as fast, but fairly safe. Simeon and Howard, would you guys agree or have I got that wrong? --Will