sailboats can injure and kill

[mikepmtl]

Has anyone tried one of the the Boom brakes? I keep thinking about purchasing one, but would love to see one in use.

[bobconnie]

Newt, Sorry to hear of your injury! All of us who have sailed anywhere offshore in the PNW know of what ya speak! I think all of us who sail have hurt ourselfs with or without help ! I know I have ! Never as badly as you are hurt, but bad enough to need stichts from the wife!( my rn lol) and shes set my fingers more times then I like to remember ! I hope the helms person learned from this! as you know what happend, and they should to, so the same thing wont happen again!! Get well fast as ya can cus spring sailin will be there before ya know it !! Hang In

[cfarrar]

Thanks for having to courage and humility to share your experience so that others may learn!

[sailorchic34]

OH Ouch. Though I bet it was more then a ouch at the time. Glad your on the mend.

Note to self: need to get another preventer.....

[Sabbatical II]

Originally Posted by mikepmtl

Has anyone tried one of the the Boom brakes? I keep thinking about purchasing one, but would love to see one in use.

My new boat has a Hutton Boom Brake. I've tested it once with a gybe in 15 knots of true wind with the boom right out. The boom moved about half a metre before the boom brake pulled it up and then the mainsheet went really slack. The brake is sheeted to a winch, so when I let a enough tension off the winch the boom gybed to the other side in a perfectly controlled manner. I don't feel like testing it in the higher wind ranges as it feels all wrong to gybe without first centering the boom. I can't deny that it worked well, at least at 15 kts and well enough so that those who claim to use it instead of a preventer may not be as crazy as I first thought.

[mikepmtl]

The one I keep seeing is the Gyb'Easy by Winchard. i like that it has no moving parts etc and seems to be easy set up.

Wichard Boom Brake Gyb'Easy - YouTube

I also just remembered a gybe accident I had many years ago that was kind of funny now looking back.

Luckily I was only in a laser, but the boom hit me hard enough right in the forehead to knock me out for a few seconds. I was hit hard enough that I ended up in the water. At least I was smart enough to be wearing a life jacket that put me in the right position to allow be to keep breathing.

This happen at a Club Med. That night I had a bump on my forehead the size of an orange. At dinner you are seated with other guests so you mingle more etc. There was a young child (6-7- years old) that asked his mother "Mom, look at that bump on that mans head, what is it!" LOL. The mother replied it was not polite to ask such questions. Ya it looked pretty bad I guess.

[carstenb]

Newt that's never happened to me (there but for the grace of god......). We generally never sail more than 30 degrees closer to an aft wind due tonjust what you described.. I guess i need to buy a gybe preventer

[terminalcitygrl]

Does this accident have anything to do with why you were asking about Portland brokers yesterday? Hope you heal quickly.

[s/v Beth]

Thank you my friends for your words of encouragement. What happened was with the increased wind the helmsman did and headed to the wind to decrease sail. I assumed he would keep it there. But with the fog he had no reference point, and he wasn't watching the compass. The Boat had so much inertia that it went up threw the wind and back down just about the time I finished rolling the jib. It literally gybed in less than a second. All of us were jack lined in or we would not be having this conversation.
Btw-the idea about running jibs only in this situation(following wind at night) is a good one. Wish I had thought about that 2 weeks ago.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

It's taking me a while to get to where I can talk about this. I am writing with one hand in the hunt 'n peck tradition so please excuse the punctuation.
2 weeks ago today I was sailing up the Straits of Juan de Fuca with a crew of three.All of them were in experienced ocean sailors, but that was behind us and we were coming up on Port Angeles, the beginning of inshore waters according to the USCG.
Fog settled in about 2 hours before as well as an adverse tide. We were still making better than 4 knot SOG however so we decided to hug the Way coast and continue. I was getting tired so I turned the helm over. A sudden gust caught my helmsman by surprise and he headed up into the wind,and I got the large jib in. Beth turned down wind just as I had taken down the preventer in prep to flake. The flying gybe took less than a second. If I had hit the boom I would be dead. Instead the main sheet picked me up and threw me against the radar arch, breaking my right humerus,left ribs left shoulder tear and numerous bruises on my face and trunk. My crew called the CG. And now I am sitting here on a month of forced inactivity...
As captain I take full responsibility. I am glad no one else was hurt. But this brought home to me that inexperience at the helm and bad weather is a dangerous combination, and that our wonderful little dream machines can injure or kill.

Oh my gracious please let us know how you're getting.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by carstenb

Newt that's never happened to me (there but for the grace of god......). We generally never sail more than 30 degrees closer to an aft wind due tonjust what you described.. I guess i need to buy a gybe preventer

And then the wind shifts ... suddenly ... at 40 mph ...

[conachair]

Big OUCH! Bad enough but glad it wasn't worse.

Gybes and booms scare the hell outta me

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

Thank you my friends for your words of encouragement. What happened was with the increased wind the helmsman did and headed to the wind to decrease sail. I assumed he would keep it there. But with the fog he had no reference point, and he wasn't watching the compass. The Boat had so much inertia that it went up threw the wind and back down just about the time I finished rolling the jib. It literally gybed in less than a second. All of us were jack lined in or we would not be having this conversation.
Btw-the idea about running jibs only in this situation(following wind at night) is a good one. Wish I had thought about that 2 weeks ago.

Well, you did the one big thing right -- you were clipped in . . . That's the important thing -- you're still with us, and not a floating corpse somewhere, thank God . . .

For the future -- preventer rigged anytime the wind is abaft the beam -- strict discipline.

And if MUCH abaft the beam, just get rid of that mainsail, which isn't doing anything anyway, besides blanketing the headsail . . .

And the helmsman always has an eye on the compass -- without which, no situational awareness . . .

[Bash]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

What happened was with the increased wind the helmsman did and headed to the wind to decrease sail. I assumed he would keep it there. But with the fog he had no reference point, and he wasn't watching the compass.

Ouch. This is exactly why I don't allow inexperienced sailors to touch the wheel when it's aft of the beam. Big-boat booms are too dangerous.

Glad to hear it wasn't any worse.

[atoll]

a lot to be said for backwinding the jib and heaving too if you have inexperinced crew on board,that way the helm can be left and the boat will stall beam on to the wind whilst you drop/reef the main..

hope you start feeling better soon,a friend just broke her leg badly after falling off her horse in a cross country event.....her comment....tramadol and codine......yay!