Call me suicidal but please help!!!

Getting back to righting skiff type boats, perhaps my experience in the 4000 will help.

The big roach of the mainsail means you have to ease the kicker otherwise you are trying to scoop up tons of water.

The hull is unstable so its no good trying to get it head to wind.  Accept that you are going to have to right it with the mast pointing into the wind and hence it is likely to blow right over unless you use the RYA scoop method of righting where the crew is in the water and is scooped up and into the boat as the boat rights.

The helm must get into the boat as it rights, so that you can bear away onto a reach immediately - otherwise it will luff and then you are head-to-wind and very vulnerable to gust or just plain falling over anyway.

If the crew or helm are not in the boat after a righting then you have to continue to control the boat whilst they clamber aboard.  You can't put the boat head-to-wind.  They must come aboard on the windward side or windward side off the transom whilst the boat is inching forwards to maintain steerage and remember it is possible to heel the boat to windward to make this easier for them.

I hate to say it but "Call me suicidal ...." has a ring of truth about it now.  I could also point out that I said much earlier in this thread that these boats don't have stability - so its certainly not a good idea to try and get it head to wind.

I have met so many people who have sailed these sorts of boats in benign environments and then when the going gets tough just can't hack it.  Now that sounds like I'm gloating.  I'm not, its now that some people persevere and learn and some people drop out.  When I started I capsized and capsized but I'm glad I kept at it because now I can enjoy the high speeds these boats go.

Good luck Suicidal you have reached crunch time I hope you get through it.

I went through the learning curve and these are the tips that I picked up or learned to keep the mast away from its natural position - in the water

• You must always keep the boat moving this allows you to steer the boat out of trouble
• Do not go dead downwind unless you have no choice to to get back into a harbour etc etc
• The boat is significantly more stable with the spinnaker up.
• Steer deeper than you might think on hoists and douses - gives you a bit of margin for error
• Gybe the boom and cross the boat before gybing the spinnaker. This isn't the fastest in light conditions but makes gybing much easier when it is over 15 knots.
• Communicate very clearly with the crew whether you are in upwind or downwind steering mode.
• Before bearing off from closehauled crack the sheets about six inches and really get some speed this makes the bear away much easier.
• Over about 18 knots make sure you are either in upwind mode or downwind mode. Reaching in between these 2 modes is asking for trouble as you can't steer out of trouble.
• When you capsize get on the board fast to prevent an inversion and let the hull drift downwind of the rig. Make sure spinnaker is packed sheets are free and tiller isn't tangled. Get the crew in the scoop position between the boom and deck. Slowly get the mast out of the water until you can feel the wind is about to pick it up. Get crew ready to balance boat as it comes back up. Once up get crew to slightly heel the leeward rail towards you and roll back on board. Scramble like drowning rats to get the boat moving again to prevent another capsize. Get your sh*t together before going for another manouver

Good luck.

Cheers,

Steve

I sail a 59er and have plenty of capsize experience! The trick seems to be to get the boat moving again as quickly as possible. I help right the boat and then grab the tiller and sheet the jib in a little to get the boat sailing as my helm climbs in.

If you tie the ends of your spinni sheet together with a nice big knot then you can use this as a righting line.

Wouldn't you much rather have a boat where you don't have to mess around with all that silly trapezing nonsense