Capsize lessons

After two beautiful days of sailing around and camping, a very hard gust of wind knocked VANESSA down. Before I knew it her sails were in the water and I dropped in the water. 

 

It happened SE of the harbor have just sailed through the harbor channel. 

The life vest i was wearing inflated upon hitting the water and made maneuvering around harder. 

VANESSA lay horizontal so the centerboard was sticking out and i climbed on it. Holding in the rails i tried to right her. This worked and she started to right herself. 

But the strong wind and current had put us over the reef which is along the south west of the harbor channel. So the centerboard hit the bottom before VANESSA could right herself completely. 

The wind and current kept moving her further and further and after two more attempts I got out the anchor and let out chain and rode some and she stopped moving more to the SE. 

 

I happened to started my Garmin running watch to experiment how it would track the trip. The result is a good track over sea and the recording of the capsize. Where you see the little black pointer is where the capsize took place. First the drift, then the scrape over the reef and where the boat was locked in place by the anchor.

But still on the reef, I could walk around in chest high water, the handheld VHF which was strapped to the centerboard eye was used to call for assistance on channel 16 from the renaissance marina which was right opposite my position. No mayday or pan-pan, because there was no more physical emergency or sinking going on. I  just needed a tow. 

After about 5 minutes it seemed a small dinghy came over and we started to rig up a line to try and right hereafter i pulled up the centerboard partially. It took quite some pulling but she did right. 

With a list to starboard i entered and used the bucket to start bailing her. She was 3/4 filled with water but the centerboard pull up hole was out of the water as well as the rudder helm hole in the transom as well as the empty motor well, i do not sail with motor for a few years. 

While bailing the coast guard steel rib arrived and they could now take over the tow to shore with their much more powerful engine. I attached the towline to the mainmast and sat and bailed some more. It did not take as many buckets as i expected to empty most water. 

All the sails were a jumbled mess of lines and wraps flapping in the wind. I tried to tie up as much as possible during the tow to prevent any damage. 

Lowered the rudder and assisted with staying in line of the tow boat as very strong gusts could veer me of course and capsize me again.  

We reached Surfside and the guys tied me up to the floating pier there so i could manage things from there. I am very glad i pay my taxes and these are partially invested in these guys and their equipment. They were courteous and professional.  

The two guys who came out with their dinghy from the marina are the real heroes who helped when i was on the reef. The coast guard boat could not anything from where they were. The dinghy did have to handle the breakers around us while on the reef so they took risks by helping me.

This is what happened. But there is some things that led up to this event and a bunch of lessons to be learned.up

On the first sail away from Surfside after about 100 meters a strong gust leaned the boat over so much that the water container shifted hard and cracked, loosing half its content before i could salvage the remaining half. To prevent further effects of gusts i decided to go sit on the side deck and use the tiller extension... But the rubber joint of the tiller extension had corroded and broke off quickly. So no more hanging out for balancing...

Sailing without jib most of the time was necessary. The double reefed mainsail's surface area was about as much as the rolled out jib. Just mizzen and double reefed mainsail was enough to get upwind albeit not as fast. But safe.

The jib sheets run through eye leads back to single block and then the clam cleats. The clam cleats do not allow easy release of the jib sheets. The angle of the sheets into the clam cleats cause this. Especially when sheets are under large force by sail...

From behind cow all you see is a large ass. Dutch saying about hindsight wisdom. 

This event is rich in lessons. It provides good perspective on decisions and equipment.  So in hindsight we should "milk" it as much as possible. This is the reason of this write up. Any comments and feedback are welcome.

The following items are on the lessons learned list.

Stainless steel joint for tiller extension has been bought to be installed for a sturdy trustworthy tiller extension.

Tie down all items on board. I lost nearly everything because not much was tied down. People always mention this but i never actually planned for a knockdown. Until now. The only thing that stayed on the boat was the bucket (not tied down) and a caddy i use which i had set on the foot strap in the middle of the cockpit. It was not lashed or tied down but balanced nicely on the strap. Nothing fell out. Had i used the strap differently also the caddy and its contents would be lost. My wallet was in the caddy. Wet but i have it.I

If the boat would have turtled I would not be able to get to the radio. It needs to be on me, attached and secured. Always.

Jib sheet clam cleat situation will be severely improved such that with one simple easy pull sheet under tension is released easily. Cleats will probably find new home on backseats opposite helmsman. The forward eye will probably be improved by a small block instead. 

Some kind of inflatable flotation device to be hoisted in the mainmast top to prevent turtling. If this happened on open sea a quick recovery would only be possible if mast stays afloat.

The position of the jib roller furling line is right at the back of the port helmsman position. Not handy because with single sailing one needs to turn 180 degrees to cleat the line. In a emergency situation this is not optimal. Line should be run and cleated more forward and not positioned on side deck but somewhere inside. Line now is too thin making it hard and to pull when under tension. 

Not related to knockdown but a second anchor as backup is also necessary.

After haul out about 30 gallons of water were vacuumed out of the boats watertight areas. I suspect the round inspection covers for not being 100% watertight. These will all be replaced. Also the two on the fore deck. These are the only openings through which water could seep in. Either replace these with topside string latch down openings and seal up the round holes or replace them with heavy duty sealed round covers. I never use these areas for storage. It is not handy to duck all the way in to get stuff. 

Last but important point is the little voice in my head. I hear it but do not always act on it. It told me to take in the jib before coming out of the channel. It told me to go to shore before the harbor because of the storm clouds coming through and anchor a while. Just to let things cool down. It told me to fix the jib sheets many times.... 

Complacency and false sense of security.  I am grateful to have been served this lesson. 

As more things come back to me i will update this post.