Photos by Dave Lawson
My Potter 15, Sarah Anne, has a bright yellow hull. She was ordered that way so she would be easy to find if upside down. Planning pays. A friend and I had been saiing several hours, pottering around the Oakland Estuary. The last hour and a half he had been handling the tiller. Whenever there was a gust I assisted him and helped him head up a little. We were about 75 yards from the dock and had just tacked because there was a boat ahead of us. As we came through the tack several things happened. He was at the tiller and now on the lee side. I was on the windward side but leaning toward the mast reaching to uncleat the jib halyard prior to sailing to the dock.
The gust heeled the boat, and he froze on the tiller, which increased the heel. This threw him over onto the lee rail. I fell forward and leaned on the boom . . . and over she went! I did not have the hatch door on so lots of water rapidly flowed into the cabin. Earlier in the day a bottle top had jammed the centerboard in its trunk, so the board was down only a third of the way and not tied down. Now we were both in the water, which fortunately was relatively warm. We were both wearing PFDs.
The boat was upside down. There was air trapped in the cabin and the hull bottom was well out of the water. The centerboard was out about 6 inches, but when I grabbed it it fell back into the trunk. We tried holding the gunwale and leaning back, but she wouldn't budge. Dave Lawson was Pottering nearby, so we tied on a bridal, but his 2 horsepower Honda couldn't right Sarah Anne either.
After 20 minutes or so, a small Coast Guard boat arrived, followed by a large Oakland fireboat. Our capsize had been reported. They said finding the brightly colored boat was easy.
After the USCG made sure we were OK, they left. The fireboat crew, including a diver, put some more lines on Sarah Anne and very carefully pulled her up. She just floated, with her gunwales at water level, and was very unstable. The top foot of the mast was covered with mud, but the mast was not bent. The fireboat gently moved her to a nearby dock. They rigged their pump and quickly sucked her dry enough to tow to the launch ramp. Winching her onto my tilt trailer Sarah Anne was still very heavy, so we unscrewed the bilge plug, and water poured out for several minutes.
The rest of the derigging went well. After getting the boat home, it took about four hours to empty the boat and get every thing washed off with fresh water. The only things I know were lost were my gas can and a set of screwdrivers.
Lessons:
1.Do not let a new sailer control the boat unless you are ready
to assist instantly.
2.Do not get careless just because you are
near the dock.
3.Remember if your centerboard is not fully down
you are losing a lot of stability.
4.There is a good reason for
securing the centerboard down. If it is sticking out of the hull it
is a good handhold. It also provides good leverage when trying to
right the boat.
5.If the hatch door had been in place and water
kept out of the cabin, we might have recovered.
6. Always wear a
PFD.
Finally three cheers for the Oakland fireboat crew.
