capsizing

[Calvin]

Well, I've actually capsized my day sailer three times, in winds ranging from 5 knots to 25+. In all three cases we didn't turtle the boat (a completely new set of issues) and we had no problems getting the boat upright even with very light crews. Make sure you aim the boat into the wind, have the sails uncleated, and lean! My boats have usually had styrofoam blocks jammed up under the side coamings which I think really helped. The problem with my boats has always come in getting the water out. In my case the boat usually comes up almost awash. In a lake we can usually bail, but the one time we capsized in the ocean with a good sea running it took us a couple of tries before we could frantically bail enough between wave sets to get ahead of the water coming in. Capsizing in a day sailer isn't fun (I wouldn't want to try it just to practice it) but it doesn't have to be a disaster either.