Capsize drill

[khiemtran]

Light winds on Sunday morning and the water was still warm, so it was a good time for Liem's first capsize drill...





The first rule about capsizing is, before you do anything else, you huddle and make sure everyone is okay.



Next you prepare the boat for righting. Here I'm throwing the paddle over the upturned hull, so its cord can be used as a righting line. We've also made sure we've uncleated the jib to make the boat easier to right.



Next we work our way around to the daggerboard, taking care to hang on to the boat.



Reaching up to grab the daggerboard. You can see the cord from the paddle in the background. If you can't reach the daggerboard, or can get a good grip on it, that cord will come in handy.



With your weight on the daggerboard, the boat will slowly right herself. As she heels towards you, now's the time to throw your weight onboard. As she rocks back, you'll get pulled back onboard.



After you're back onboard, make sure you assist your crew...



Everybody safe? Good! Now let's do it again...



This time the boat is heeling a bit more. If she goes over too far, she'll "turtle" and end up completely upside down.



The daggerboard is a bit harder to reach, but you can see the righting line (attached to the paddle) just on the other side.



Heave-ho and up she rises...



Looks like we're in for a bit of bailing after this.



The boat will heel a lot as you climb on, but as long as you can get your weight inboard quickly, she'll flatten out in no time.



Indulging in a spot of wake-boarding...



Coming home with a wet sail - time for a shower and a change of clothes...

Comments

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Not the best for learning how to deal with extreme situations, but I'd prefer to practice capsizing on a very warm, calm day.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Every bit of experience counts, I think. And I think doing it twice in a row helped as well. You could see he was a lot more calm the second time around. We were both getting a bit cold by then, so we headed back in pretty quickly.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Every bit of experience counts, I think.

Agreed!

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

That's amazing! I would never have thought it possible for a single person to be able to right a boat just by knowing where to apply his or her weight...

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

It all works well, until the daggerboard snaps...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Aughhh, don't say things like this!

(I know they really happen but....)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

A good part of this type of sailing is what they call "seamanship", which is a combination of special knowledge and real-time problem-solving. There are ways and means of righting a boat without a daggerboard, but there's also a special skill in being able to think calmly about a problem and come up with a practical solution.

A while ago, I had a situation where I had a rigging problem at the top of the mast, and I ended up getting a tow from another boat back to shore to fix it. I realised afterwards that the other solution would have been to capsize the boat and then float out to the end of the mast to fix the problem, but at the time I couldn't think of it. Bit by bit, as you build experience, you start to accrue more ways of solving problems and you find you're much calmer when it comes to solving them.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

It must really go against the grain to deliberately capsize the boat, but yes, I can see how that would get the top of the mast down to a place where you could fix the rigging--and if you've practiced righting a capsized boat, you feel more confident to take that step, I bet.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

That looks like a scary thing to do, deliberately capsizing the boat, but I know that it's essential to practice.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, there are lots of little things you can only really learn by doing. For example, learning to trust the life jacket to keep you afloat, or how to work your way past all the ropes and lines. Everything you can learn when it's calm will buy you just that little extra thinking time in the event of an accidental capsize.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to see Liem smiling--myself, just looking at the photos of the capsized boat make me anxious.

Were you using the Go-pro camera (Is that the brand you have? I mean the one that you can attach to your head)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was using the Go-Pro on a head-mount. It was great for the action shots because it left both my hands free, although I had it angled up slightly too high and I missed some things like how Liem climbing back aboard.