Scott wrote:
And no pitch pole!
Yesterday (Aug 8, 2004), on southeast lake michigan, 3 foot waves, me and my 11 year old son on the wing, broad reach, 12-14 mph (gps), burried the
windward hull's bow in a wave, and the next thing we knew, we were swimming. I'd call that a pitch pole. How we didn't get hurt is amazing.
I've never righted a getaway before, but we were only 1/4 mile from shore so I was not in a panic. My son stayed in the water while I stood on the bow. The boat turned automatically, which was nice. I then pulled on the righting line and within seconds the boat rightied itself and flipped all the way over on its other side.
I then unhooked the main sheet from the sail and uncleated the jib sheet. I was going to furl it too, but the furler line was a tangled mess. I then repeated the procedure of standing on the bow, but nothing happened. I then got my son to stand on the front hull too. The whole hull went underwater, the stern lifted in the air and we both went swimming again. But, the boat was turned into the wind again. I climbed back on (third time) and pulled the righting line and we were upright again.
We have a line with a loop in it for climbing back on. That helped especially since we were tired by this point. After a brief nap on the tramp to get our breath back, we sailed a bit slower back to shore and enjoyed the sunshine, the sand, and the people we had been entertaining for the last 20 minutes.
In retrospect, if the boat had stayed up the first time, with the mainsheet and jib lines set hard, I think the boat would have sailed to Chicago without us.
My muscles are sore.
- John