> I just bought a p15 and I'm curious about how to move about the cabintop
> and fordeck without holding onto something like the mast of shroud.
> Please explain. Thanks.
Hi, Dan, Thanks for asking!
I'm probably rekindling old flames by answering this question, but it is such
a common question and a perfectly good one. I will answer it anticipating
more comments from the peanut gallery, although I understand that the
gentleman who kept tipping his boat over and falling off is no longer
partaking of this list. If he is out there, I honestly do not wish to condemn
an individual. There is a difference between criticizing an individual and
an individual's sailing skills. Sailing skills can always be learned. I'm
afraid that we're stuck with the personalities our genes gave us, although
there's a few here who would like me to change my genes! Pun intended.
Now, how to move about a P-15:
It's pretty easy to move about the P-15 in the roughest of weather as long as
you stay low and stay as close to the centerline of the boat as practical.
The boat is quite stable as long as the center of gravity is low AND the
centerboard is down.
If the water is choppy, try to avoid going forward at all, but sometimes you
must, such as to drop anchor or free up a stuck jib that you're trying to
douse. If that's the case, first and foremost, before leaving the cockpit,
don your PFD. Then just crawl. Use the handholds on the cabin roof and the
mast (at the base), keep low and crawl. When forward, use the bow pulpit to
brace yourself. If you don't have a bow pulpit, you may want to consider
getting one as soon as possible. Stay low, stay on your knees, or better
yet, your butt, until you're back in the cockpit. Even in the cockpit,
although you can do it, try to avoid standing up as much as possible.
If you're low and in the center of the boat and the centerboard is down, I
don't think you could knock down a P-15 if you tried. If you are standing,
have the centerboard up and hanging on to a shroud--well, take a deep breath
and be prepared to hold that breath a few minutes--a la the skipper who kept
losing it.
One of the most difficult things I've found that arises occasionally, is when
giving boat rides to friends who have been on much larger boats, is to get
them to stay seated. People seem to want to stand up in a boat. Remember,
the P-15 is for all intents and purposes a sailing dinghy with a cabin. You
wouldn't stand in a dinghy, why would you stand in one with a sail?
I hope I've not started another you-know-who vs. Geoff debate.
Geoff
P-15 Lollipop
N. Lake Tahoe, NV