Turtle Soup

Dan Rickert (drickert@thegrid.net)
Mon, 07 Jun 1999 08:46:26 -0700


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Hi all,
Well on Sunday I decided to take out the little dinghy and have a nice
relaxing sail for a couple of hours. The sun was shining the wind was
blowing (more on that later) and all looked fine for a pleasant afternoon.
After running down wind for a half hour or so I started beating back to
windward, I was hiked out on the rail with the main in hand having a ball.
The little 14 footer gets up and planes real well in a stiff breeze. The
only problem was the wind would gust and then die off. On one such gust,
close hauled, I let out the mainsheet all the way and it still kept going
over! Boy what a spooky feeling. No problem I thought, I have practiced
righting the boat before. Wrong!! First the boat went completely over,
turtle. Then the daggerboard snapped off when I tried to right it. Well
there I was in the middle of a lake, upside down; no daggerboard and a
howling wind blowing. Notice how the breeze went from a nice sailing breeze
to a howling wind? It all depends on your perspective, soaking wet on top
of the bottom of your boat changes your whole outlook. I drifted with the
wind for an hour and a half or so, during which time I noticed several
skiers, but they didn't notice me jumping up and down and shouting, I also
noticed another small sailboat heading my way. Aha! I thought rescue, no
they didn't notice me either they had trouble of their own, seems the mast
on the Hobie wouldn't take the wind and snapped off. When I finally got
close enough to shore the mast started hitting bottom and I jumped in and
swam the last 150-ft. From there it was only a 100-yd. climb up a cliff to
the road and a couple mile walk back to the ramp. People sure don't like to
pick up soaking wet hitchhikers. After all this getting my dads power boat
and towing the sailboat back to the ramp and getting it home was just hard
work. A hot shower and a cold beer and all is well, except for a couple of
bruises. Lessons learned, (listen up) Never go out alone when the wind is
really howling, especially if it is gusty, Always wear your pfd, I was and
boy was I glad it was all I could do to swim 150 ft. in the cold water with
it on. Seal or foam fill the mast. I am sure that the weight of the water
filled mast is why I couldn't right the boat. And lastly pay attention to
other boats on the water someone else might need help. P.S. my wife says
this may be a good thing, I tend to get cocky about things until I screw up
and at least I wasn't hurt .

Dan Rickert First mate "THALES" wwp p-19 212 skipper Vagabond 14 dinghy #
316