I went out on a professor's 37.5 hunter legend this past weekend on the Rappahanock (sp) river in Virginia. It was blowing 10-15 all day, and we were giving her a shakedown before our weeklong trip around the bay (Baltimore, eastern shore [my home] etc). We decided to hit the bridge and back, about a 3 mile jaunt round trip.

We were on the way back, and just outside the harbor the wind picked up to about 20 so we decided to stay out and take advantage of the improved wind conditions despite the degrading rain conditions (washed the dust off the foulies). We were on a nice beam reach under mainsail alone when all of a sudden, the boat spun on its keel. The rail was in the water and we were grabbing life lines. When the boat settled out into the wind, back behind the bridge, a very visible water spout had formed. The captain and I were the only ones on board that knew what we were doing, so while I dropped the mainsail, capt got the engine started and we overheated the diesel getting back into the protected harbor.

So we didn't break anything luckily. The new sail held up as did the stick.

If I keep telling these stories you people are going to start thinking I've got a growing nose, but its all the truth, I promise.