> Hi all,
> Well on Sunday I decided to take out the little dinghy and have a nice
> relaxing sail for a couple of hours.
<snipped>
> 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.
<snipped>
>
> Dan Rickert First mate "THALES" wwp p-19 212 skipper Vagabond 14 dinghy #
> 316
>
Hi Dan,
You were sailing the 14-foot Vagabond, I take it.
This past weekend, Dave and I brought our Force 5 14-foot dinghies to the
Potters Yachters event at Woodward Reservoir, instead of our P19. The sails
are 91 square feet on 14 foot boat that weighs about 160 pounds.
We had two old sails with us, one was a class-legal light cloth sail, 25
years old and in terrible shape, all stretched out with a huge round belly.
The other was a custom made, heavier-cloth sail about 15 years old; it wasn't
half as stetched out, but still not in great shape (literally). On the
better sail, the draft was at least recognizably in the front 1/3 of the
sail, not in the middle.
On Saturday I rigged the blown out sail on my boat and David sailed the
better one. I had a very hard time controlling the boat, and I had to work
my butt off to keep her from capsizing. The winds were pretty light, I'd
guess from 8-10 knots max. I only weigh about 110 pounds soaking wet, and I
usually rig a smaller, (one year old and not blown out) sail over 10 knots.
Sunday, I commandeered the better of the two sails, the one that's not
stretched out with the huge belly. The winds were much higher, maybe 12
knots with gusts to 15. And what a difference a sail makes!!! Even though
the winds were much stronger, I had a much easier time of it, the gusts were
much less theatening. I didn't have to work half as hard and had an
exciting but still relaxing sail. I could control the heel of the boat much
better, there wasn't half as much weatherhelm, and I could point much higher.
We waiting to get two brand new heavy-cloth sails we ordered for the Force
5's in the next few weeks. It will be interesting to compare the performance
with a brand new sail. I suspect it will be like having a completely
different boat!!!
My conclusion from the week end: the sail condition makes all the difference
in the world when it comes to manageability and safety on a small boat. The
gusts just seem to melt away -- or translate into a burst of speed rather
than a capsize.
Maybe this is applicable to the P15's with really old sails that have been
sailed hard in high winds like our 25-year old Force 5's on San Francisco
Bay. The P15 is much more stable than a Force 5, but it's still a 15-foot
dinghy. Has anybody out there ever replaced the sails on his P14/15 and
noticed a real difference? I'd be curious to know.
Best,
Judy