Finally joined the ranks of those who have capsized.

[jeadstx]

You can't see it in the picture, but I'm hanging on to the transom while it is under tow.

John

[K.C. Walker]

You can't see it in the picture, but I'm hanging on to the transom while it is under tow.

John

That's probably better than dancing around in the cockpit.

[Salty Dog]

I capsized my DSII with just me and my wife before we were married. I had some help from a kid who jumped in the water from another boat to help. We bailed it out and got it sailing and opened the scoop and it pulled the water out. We sailed it back to the dock. I don't know if it was a bad capsize or not but there was mud on my mast head.

I was not that familiar with my boat at the time but I was younger and in better shape than I am now, so I don't know if I could do it again. Also it was on a lake and not bad weather. If it had been on the ocean with big waves it would have been a different story I'm sure.

[Salty Dog]

What if you could rig a way to hoist floatation to the end of the mast after a capsize. Have it stored in the cuddy and have a halyard to attatch it to and hoist it to the end to keep it from going down or make it lighter to raise with the CB. It would have to be stream lined so not to hang on the rigging maybe like a fender with an eye and a line on both ends so you could pull it either way to work it to the end. that way you could have a way to get floatation to the end of the mast after the fact, but not have to sail with the added weight aloft.

[TIM WEBB]

That is *not* a bad idea Salty! Question is, would you have time to deploy it?

Oh, and if she still married you after all that, well, that one's gonna last!

[GreenLake]

This might work if it was something that you could raise to the spreader level alongside a shroud (and you could store it at the base of the shroud). At that location it would still be accessible without diving (a few inches below the water) when the boat has turtled and being offset it would give off-balance buoyancy to help turn the mast. Being limited to spreader level cuts down on the lever arm though, but you could compensate by using a bigger float (even a large fender, perhaps).

Any "after-the-fact" system would be unable to prevent the boat from turtling initially, which may not be an issue in deep water, but could become tricky where the mast can get stuck in mud.

There is also the issue of being able to pull the float below the water with enough force to get it to dive. Can imagine that to be awkward.

Alternative idea: take a light (dyneema) line and fix it at the spot where the stays connect to the mast. Run the line down to the deck and tape it lightly to the stay (or use clips, anything that gives under strong enough pull). After capsize and turtling, you can unfasten the line at the deck and use it (perhaps from a boat) to pull the mast back up to water level.

So much for armchair speculation

[GreenLake]

About the boat being awash. Really important to have a large enough bailer (5 gal bucket) for getting a large amount of water out initially. A fellow sailor swamped his small dinghy here a while back and had to be rescued. While the boat did not sink, and remained upright, he didn't have a bailer and was unable to get enough water out to get sailing again... he was effectively marooned in a floating bathtub only a few hundred feet from land. Luckily someone on an anchored sailboat spotted him, because unlike a capsized boat, there was nothing that looked "wrong" about him and his boat from a distance. The sailor did notice the lack of progress despite the nice wind that was blowing.

[jeadstx]

I have to agree, that having something to hoist to the mast head after a capsize sounds good, my experience is that it needs to be at the mast head when the boat goes over. It would probably be quicker to get a floating cushion under the mast head than try to get in the cuddy cabin where everything inside has shifted and try to find your float. I have a small float at the mast head while I'm sailing. In addition there is foam inside the upper two feet of the mast. I've heard you can get a flotation panel sewn into the head of the sail. I prefer something that is already at the mast head allowing time to get to the centerboard.

John

[Breakin Wind]

I recall jdoorly was working with a permanent sail mounted masthead float.
From his gallery...



Jay - did this ever work?

Thanks - Scott

[jdoorly]

Hi Scott, well I haven't capsized with or without it to know! However, I stopped using it when I thought it was causing wrinkles in the top 1/3 of the mainsail. After I took it off the wrinkles were still there. Turns out that when I modified the sail from rope luff to slides (so I could store the sail on the boom) the sail effectively moved aft 2 inches (ooops, make that only 1") and since the halyard didn't move aft too it pulls a wrinkle into the sail. I can fix it with a piece of batten tied to the top sail slide and to a grommet on the leech. I was planning on incorporating that into the mast float but I'm afraid I forgot to do it. It is still a good idea, I hope I remember to put the float back on but it seems to be a more than full time job keeping my toys maintained!!

[Breakin Wind]

Thanks Jay,
I was trying to find the original thread in which you'd posted mast head float pics. I know there was a fair amount of discussion on how much floatation (or little) it would really take at the tip of the mast to keep it afloat. I remember when I careened my boat that first year to check my centerboard and how little weight or down pressure it took to hold the mast tip to the ground. I assume (and I think I recall from the posts) that the same reverse weight (or floatation lift) was all that would be necessary to hold up the mast head up on the water too. Do you (or anyone else) remember what that subject was and/or maybe which topic it is under?

Thanks - Scott

[TIM WEBB]

I'm trying to remember what that thread was too, Scott. All I know is that I posted this (also as yet untested) sailhead float there: