How to do a capsize drill

Submitted by chet.ensign on Thu, 02/07/2008 - 03:24

One of the activities our fleet is planning for this summer is a capsize drill. We have many members, experienced and novice, who would like to go through the process of righting the Scot in controlled conditions so they will be ready should the time come when they have to do it for real.

Have any of you ever done that and if so how did you do it?

My general idea is to work in waist-deep water with the Scot anchored bow & stern in a bit deeper water and with a line to the masthead. Couple of people sit in the Scot while several of us with the rope pull it over. That way, they can get the feel for when it is going past the point of no return, practice getting out on the centerboard, etc. One concern I have though is putting that sort of stress on the rig multiple times during an afternoon. Given our fleet size, we'll probably go through this at least a dozen times.

Any feedback or advice is much appreciated.

/chet ensign
fleet captain
fleet #184; Clinton, NJ

karafiath

Thu, 02/07/2008 - 07:28

Hello. Any capsize drill should be in deep water to avoid the mast getting stuck in the mud or the sails getting muddy in case for some reason the boat goes over all the way. Also, the sail should be on the boat and fully hoisted. The wet sails tend to scoop water and without a full release of the mainsail cleat I was not able to right the boat after my capsize. The thing that you can do without any capsizing of the boat is to train people to get aboard the upright boat from the water. As a result of my one and only capsize in over 30 years of Scot sailing I found that getting on board from the water was the hardest part. I have since installed a stern ladder. I would think hard about embarking on such a project. Doing a demonstration where others watch from a nearby boat or dock is one thing. Given the litigous nature of our society I would never have the individual students participate in the capsize drill. FS3512

sawyerspadre

Thu, 02/07/2008 - 17:05

Hey Chet,

Phil Scheetz here from NSC. I capsized last fall at Nockamixon, something I knew was coming someday. We were leading the race at the first mark and the wind was somewhat gusty and shifting about 45 degrees. We got cocky and decided to fly the spinnaker to extend our lead, when we knew that we might be a little high or close to the wind to fly my old spinnaker. The wind went left in a puff and we went for a swim.

The mast starts sinking pretty quickly, which may be a good reason to have the masthead float, and is also a good reason to get on the centerboard quickly.

I was very surprised by how quickly the boat came back up. I fell in the water initially. My crew and I were already wearing lifejackets, which is helpful. I swam between the boom and cockpit and stepped on the seat then the mast and over the high side to stand on the centerboard.

The boat comes up fast. I have the swim ladder, which saves a lot of grief.

Retrieve the crew, and wet spinnaker, and away you go. We had about 3 scoops to bail, mostly brought on board by wet crew and spinnaker.

I have used a line of the mast, secured at the hounds, to roll my boat over on shore. I would think that rolling it in the water would be less stressful on the rig. Just be sure you are in deep enough water to prevent the centerboard from hitting bottom as the boat comes up. This seems like it would stress the boat in a bad way.

Phil Scheetz
FS 4086

chet.ensign

Sun, 02/17/2008 - 04:23

Thanks Phil. I remember MIke writing about your adventure in his fleet report. We also had an incident early in the season. Windy and very gusty conditions and Gary, coming second around the windward mark, decided to fly his chute & roll over me. A gust hit just as it got up and his sheet jammed. He went right over.

In Gary's capsize, he had the mainsail flotation up but it failed. The foam had gone bad. It soaked up water and he turtled. His boat righted easily too - but he had to be towed back to shore.

I am happy to hear that an un-turtled Scot comes up easily. With all that freeboard, it was one of my concerns.

I will also share the link and comments with the fleet and see what people think. Thanks much for your feedback.

/chet ensign
fleet captain, #183

sawyerspadre

Sun, 02/17/2008 - 10:47

Chet:

I thought of a couple of factors that seem to have made it easier to recover:

1 Flat water, and moderate winds, probably around 15, with gusts higher. Waves would have made it more likely to swamp.

2 I had the centerboard down slightly and I was able to release the waco cleat and get the board down to lever the boat up.

3 I asked my crew to swim to the mast tip and see if he could keep it from sinking. He had a nice swim, but the mast tip was on its way back up before he got there. My sail had gone under, to about the numbers, which puts the mast tip about 4 or 5 feet under the surface, I would guess. As soon as I was on the board, the mast started surfacing as the boat started righting.

4 I highly recommend the swim ladder. The bow flotation bag and the transom port are required for racing soon and just a good idea. The mast flotation is used by many in our club, and doesn't seem to slow anybody down. I don't use one, but I don't really worry about capsizing all that much. I am a pretty strong swimmer and if it looks dicey, I tend to wear a PFD.

Have fun, be careful, and shoot video. It could be some very interesting Youtube content, that could be very useful to others learning this valuable skill.

Phil

Phil Scheetz
FS 4086

chet.ensign

Sun, 02/17/2008 - 12:09

I am definitely putting on the swim ladder this season. I had an interesting swim trip into Raritan Bay in October and the boat's swim ladder made it simple to get back aboard. I decided right then to put one on my Scot for this season. Thanks for the advice!

/chet

Andy Carrier

Thu, 04/17/2008 - 06:00

Chet,

Check out the video clip at the Flying Scot website www.flyingscot.com This clip shows a smooth and quick recovery of a predetermined capsize. Also the Deep Creek Sailing School has a series of photos on the capsize drill. Check it out at http://www.saildeepcreek.com/capsize_drill.htm

My wife and I took sailing lessons at Deep Creek Lake and the capaize drill was the first on water lesson. Each student took turns at the mast (to keep from turtleing) and walking the centerboard (to right the boat). This built a lot of confidence amoung the newbees. [^]

For safety an instructor was in the boat with us to help get the Scot to capsize and then to give us in water instructions. A safty boat with 2 aboard was also watching. The most difficult thing was getting the board walker back into the boat!

Andy
FS 4957