keel lock down
Bernard Johnson (slithytove@earthlink.net)
Sat, 10 Apr 1999 13:38:58 -0700
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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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I would like to add one thought prompted by my experience.
If, for whatever reason, I would have been overturned, at sea, with the
keel not locked down, it would be impossible to right the boat with one
person, and, I suspect, with two or more. Even with the hatch board in
place, there would be sufficient ingress of water to increase the
difficulty of righting it. One's only recourse, then, would be to dive
under the boat, remove the hatch board (in order to get at the keel
tackle),at which point water fills what hadn't been filled to this
point, and by application of sufficient strength (in an amount way
beyond my capacity), manhandle the keel out against the force of
gravity, and lash it down. This is not going to happen...!! If I had
overturned outside the breakwater (where I had been sailing earlier in
the day) with the keel not lashed down, I sincerely doubt I would be
alive to write this.
I have thought all along that it was prudent to have the keel locked
down, now I am convinced it is suicidal if you don't.
Bernie Johnson
#2357, "Humbug"
Santa Paula, CA.