V Twin

Graeme,
You do not want this thing to float on its side. As JimC says that will at some point result in you being very alone and feeling very small somewhere in the English Channel. The Vortex has a sealed mast - Kite runs external, and the main halyard inside the mast track. It doesn't stop it inverting - thankfully.
I've been seperated from the boat a few times, but can catch it once it inverts. Once however I got seperated but as it inverted quickly started to catch it. I was horrified however when the windage on the hull was enough for it to start to blow over onto its other side  (it was F6+). Putting a spurt on didnt help, as it was soon on its side and blowing away from me very quickly. Being a reservoir I was 'only' 250m from shore, but was only half way there when the rescue boat got to me - TBH I'm not 100% sure I would have made it before cold got to me as while I'm a decent swimmer, swimming in a drysuit is horrible as you're not properly in the water and so sort of flounder about.
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Back to the sealed mast - I never realised how much difference it made to rigting the boat until one day a mate capsized his Vortex. He was there ages and so after the race, I sailed over to see what was wrong (a rescue boat had been near all along). He just couldn't right it - but he was a flyweight and well knackered by then so I assumed that was the issue and jumped in to do it while he sailed my boat back. Now normally, I'd right it in no time. It took ages just to get to 90deg. Once there, no amount of hanging, leaning, rigging righting line, grunting or jumping about would do it. Eventually a 13 stone rescue guy jumped in and two of us had enough weight to do the job - Cue massive jets of water from small holes around the base of the mast. It was full of water - and being 'sealed' it took ages to drain. It later transpired that it wasn't properly sealed at the top, and had filled quite quickly. So in my opinion, sealed is hugely important - especially at the top.
Happy sailing.


Edited by Hector - 24 Apr 12 at 7:02pm

Originally posted by Hector The Xenons at one of the windy Endeavour trophies had foam pads at the top of the sail. Despite the sailors initial whinging about the shame of it, Topper insisted and actually they were hardly noticeable while sailing. I didnt capsize, but I never saw a mast with mud on it so I assume those that swam didn't invert quickly if at all. They were dayglo yellow and filled the space above the top batten on both sides. They were easy to fit or remove - just a couple of eyelets and a bit of velcro I recall.Please just remember as my post above, you only need enough to slow the inversion - not totally prevent it.

That is exactly what they are. Very simple but effective. With the right calculations you can work out how much you needed/ want and Bobs your uncle. Problem solved.

Fill the whole mast with ping-pong balls, very practical, cough. Just have no holes in it whatsoever, apart from one hole at the mast step so that it doesnt have any chance of exploding/collapsing when going from being in hot sun to underwater. My shrouds are even attached to the base of the upper spreaders so dont even touch the mast, the caps are just put over a tang at the top, lowers and gooseneck bonded on, d1s are attached to base of bottom spreaders, I can guarantee no holes there...

If the top of the mast is open, it drains as the heel is higher than the waterline.

zippy, the fact that my crew couldnt right the boat before the mast was sealed and now can easily means that it does kinda make a difference. letting off the kicker can help too, and obviously uncleating the jib