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sabray · 26-11-2011, 15:05

That's about it. There is also the video of me singing I'm a lumber jack. Not sure why that's in the thread but it's like a bonus feature

docgav · 26-11-2011, 15:21

Hi fellow yachties,
I am a reader, rarely a writer on this forum as there is a fair bit of 'this is better' sort of stuff. The reality it we sail fragile craft in an unpredicatable medium. Mono or multi, carbon or concrete, we are all bums on the water at the whim of the weather doing what we hope is our best with what we have at hand (be it due to dollars, knowlege or circumstance).
That being said: I can add a bit about capsize. I just recently took the family for a cruise and race aboard our 50ft cat eDoc (aka TopGun) and flipped her.
At the last count I made 14 mistakes. The biggest one was complacency.
1. Rising wind and reef lines removed
2. Centreboards right down beating to windward at 14 knots
3. Mainsail oversheeted
4. headsail sheet in self tailing winch
5. winch handle still in winch
6. windward (free) sheet in self tailer also
7. mainsail sheet in self tailer
8. mainsail winch with winch handle in it.
9. Bearing away to find a mark and unaware of power/apparent wind increase.
10. Apparent wind rising to 30-35 knots as boatspeed exceeded 25
11. Leaving the helm to check the mark.
12. Crew preparing for spinnaker run and not on sheetlines.
13. When hull lifting rounded up instead of dumping main and bearing away
14. No releasing main traveller.

There are probably others. I stuffed up. eDoc capsized in 4m of water - so with a 24m stick she had a 'choc top' when hauled back over a couple of hours later. Only damage was to masthead instruments and lights and....my ego! My kids throught it was a great adventure. The nine year old wants to do it again...

**hummingway** · 26-11-2011, 16:07

Glad everyone is alright Gavin, including the boat. I'm surprised there was so little damage!

Dragon Lady · 26-11-2011, 16:19

Thanks for sharing, glad you're OK and the kids were not scared off sailing.
If you're familiar with the Swiss cheese theory about causes of accidents, you had a lot of holes lined up.

clockwork orange · 26-11-2011, 18:10

Great to see you on here Gavin, glad everyone is ok, i guess if someone with your experience can blow it anyone can.
Steve.

downunder · 26-11-2011, 22:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by docgav

Hi fellow yachties,

There are probably others. I stuffed up. eDoc capsized in 4m of water - so with a 24m stick she had a 'choc top' when hauled back over a couple of hours later. Only damage was to masthead instruments and lights and....my ego! My kids throught it was a great adventure. The nine year old wants to do it again...

Thanks for sharing the experience Gavin.

Could you please upload a photo for the benefit of those who are unaware of the type of cat CateDoc/TopGun was/is.

Factor · 26-11-2011, 22:48

Edoc/Top Gun, and for those unfamiliar with Gavin, he literraly wrote the book (well for me and a lot of others) on multihulls, along with Chris White

AussieGeoff · 26-11-2011, 23:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by docgav

At the last count I made 14 mistakes. The biggest one was complacency.

Classic cascade failure. Many accidents are a result of similar chains of events. It's relatively rare for one thing going wrong to lead to a disaster.
But a sequence of minor and seemingly unrelated events can create, in combination, a far more serious situation. It's a human nature thing, the individual events either pass unnoticed, or are too low to 'trip' our sense of 'wrongness'. Bit like the boiling frog. Put a frog in cold water and slowy heat it and it will boil to death before it realises there is a problem. Drop it in boiling water and it will leap straight out. Being immersed in situation with a bunch of minor things going on and we'll probably just put up with it and maybe not even notice most of them - til afterwards when we are picking up the pieces. Have something major happen and we probably react immediately and deal with it.

My experience is more in aviation, but I've seen this many, many times and it happens with boats a lot too.

AussieGeoff

David_Old_Jersey · 27-11-2011, 01:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by AussieGeoff

Bit like the boiling frog. Put a frog in cold water and slowy heat it and it will boil to death before it realises there is a problem. Drop it in boiling water and it will leap straight out.

Myth.

Boiling frog - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
snopes.com: Slow Boiled Frog

AussieGeoff · 27-11-2011, 02:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Myth.

Boiling frog - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
snopes.com: Slow Boiled Frog

Sorry, forgot to mention that it was 'mythical', I think everyone's heard it by now, it's a useful illustration, nothing more.

AussieGeoff

**Hud3** · 27-11-2011, 02:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by docgav

Hi fellow yachties,
I am a reader, rarely a writer on this forum as there is a fair bit of 'this is better' sort of stuff. The reality it we sail fragile craft in an unpredicatable medium. Mono or multi, carbon or concrete, we are all bums on the water at the whim of the weather doing what we hope is our best with what we have at hand (be it due to dollars, knowlege or circumstance).
That being said: I can add a bit about capsize. I just recently took the family for a cruise and race aboard our 50ft cat eDoc (aka TopGun) and flipped her.
At the last count I made 14 mistakes. The biggest one was complacency.
1. Rising wind and reef lines removed
2. Centreboards right down beating to windward at 14 knots
3. Mainsail oversheeted
4. headsail sheet in self tailing winch
5. winch handle still in winch
6. windward (free) sheet in self tailer also
7. mainsail sheet in self tailer
8. mainsail winch with winch handle in it.
9. Bearing away to find a mark and unaware of power/apparent wind increase.
10. Apparent wind rising to 30-35 knots as boatspeed exceeded 25
11. Leaving the helm to check the mark.
12. Crew preparing for spinnaker run and not on sheetlines.
13. When hull lifting rounded up instead of dumping main and bearing away
14. No releasing main traveller.

There are probably others. I stuffed up. eDoc capsized in 4m of water - so with a 24m stick she had a 'choc top' when hauled back over a couple of hours later. Only damage was to masthead instruments and lights and....my ego! My kids throught it was a great adventure. The nine year old wants to do it again...

Your No. 13 was the subject of quite a discussion here a while back, with some saying fall off and some saying round up. I'm in the "dump the main and fall off" camp, based on my Hobie 16 experience.

Thanks for posting your experience, Gavin!

Jimbo485 · 27-11-2011, 03:07

Hud3, I used to roundup, but have forced myself against decades of instinct to now bear away. Usually dump the mainsheet first. Would love read others' comments and experiences. What is the name of the thread?