Single handed capsize recovery

[Alistair Edwards]

I like to do quite a bit of single handed sailing on the river. I have done a lot in my old Enterprise. However I am slightly anxious about venturing out in Catatonic in breezy conditions as I have seen how low an AC boat sits after a capsize.
 
I haven't had the pleasure of a N12 capsize yet as I have only sailed in light winds so far.

Would I be right in thinking that in a decent breeze I should be able to get the boat emptied reasonably quickly? I have read a previous thread about draining an AC boat and noted all the good advice. Without the weight of a crew will the boat empty even faster?

I guess it is worth carrying a large bucket in case I have to beach the boat if there isn't enough wind to power up enough on a reach to drain the water out? With the Enterprise I would just bail and sail, as the water level was usually below the top of the centreboard case.

I am probably going to don the drysuit and play in some decent wind at the weekend!

[johnk]

If you have a bow buoyancy tank and transom flaps, draining should be relatively straightforward. My experience from many years ago is that with suction bailers it is possible to drain a boat as long as you can keep it moving and the starting water level is below the top of the centreboard case. The bow tank is the greatest benefit.

You can of course check the capsized water level in your boat with a buoyancy test, but with just you on the boat.

[Alistair Edwards]

It will be interesting to see how effective the suction bailers are. On the river the bailers in my enterprise were useless because you could not get up enough speed  for them to work.

Should I put the bailers down with the boat swamped or wait until I have drained a lot of the water out through the transom flaps? If I am hanging off the transom it is going to be hard to reach forward to push the bailers down.

[tom lee]

You definitelly need to open the bailers first, you really dont want to got forward when the boat is swamped, this would cause a nose dive.
I found that my crusader empties faster when single handed

[angus]

 I have not had any problems recovering my crusader (except when I lost a bouancy bag), I do have a crew but there s only about 16 stone between the two of us (x14X1.1 if your under 25 or so to get kg) and any way I sit him in the middle on the back of the centre board case because things get a mite wobbly if we both try to balance the boat when its full of water. I sit on the transom open both bailers and flaps bare off onto a broad reach and concentrate more on keeping the boat flat than speed and water goes out pretty fast. When it is that windy I tend to leave the flaps open all the time, this is more a reflection on how badly I sail and the fact that like mark my glass tends to wards half empty (see Blaydon posts) rather than good technique. By the way previously I had a china doll that I never managed to get sailing after a capsize either single handed ot two up but this was probably because I didn't have enough practise! I did always manage to get home with the doll even if  it wass under jib only.

[johnk]

Angus; I hate to mention it but your conversion from stone to Kg is wrong. It should be times 14 divide by 2.2
or just times 6.356.

[angus]

I never could handle these metric conversions, thats maybe why we are so light. Anyway who won at the rugby.
The Welsh can hammer us
 the Irish can anilate us
The french ccan slaughter us
we,ll even let the Italians beat us
as long as we beat the English we don't care.

[theoneandonly (Guest)]

Hey, I sail single handed a lot and find that as long as the wind will drive the boat forward it is fine, however if there is not enough wind to get a bit of speed up you may as well give up and go to the shore!! Effectively it makes no difference whether or not your single handed , just be careful when ur tacking as water will move and you have to react quickly, esp with no crew!!!

[Alistair Edwards]

Well, I climbed into the drysuit this morning and had a couple of hours of fun out on the river. Unfortunately there was insufficient wind for a capsize although one or two gusts did result in quite an impressive waterfall effect over the leeward deck. I was fully hiked, but didnt have enough kicker on.

I need to experience a high winds capsize. Once I have done a successful recovery I will be less anxious about capsizing while out on my own.

Gradually mastering roll tacking single handed. Just need to get control of the jib earlier coming out of the tack.

I wish my drysuit did not make me overheat so much. It is supposed to be breathable but with a wicking base layer underneath it I always seem to end up drenched in sweat. I might try using it without the base layer but I suspect that this will feel a bit unpleasant against the skin initially.

[Tim L (Guest)]

For singlehanded tacking its worth tying the end of the jib sheets together in a way that results in a big heavy knot or loop of spare sheets.  Then as you cross the boat on the tack you can throw this over the new side and it should provide enough resistance to hold the loosely in on the new side as you roll the boat up.  Then once you're sorted with teh main and tiller you can get it in the cleat.
 
Cheers
Tim

[Alistair Edwards]

Thanks Tim. That   tip will really help me. Right now, I end up fishing around on the floor of the boat for the right bit of jib sheet loop when I should be concentrating on sheeting in the main and hiking out.

Next time I will tie a shorter loop and create a nice big throwing knot.

This forum is certainly helping to accelerate my N12 apprenticeship!

[MikeDay]

Even sailing together, Anne ties the jibsheets together on Flipside all the time - to make sure that she can always get hold of both ends whenever she wants.  And the knot that doesn't come undone is the fisherman's knot.
 
Mike D
N3496