Getting back on board is a big problem for short fat people. But, even for others the boat can some times pick up headway immediately after righting and in such cases it is easy to get overpowered and end up being dragged along behind the boat. With the sloops, the best crews can board the boat as it rights, hold the tiller up into the wind and help the other member aboard.
My capsize recovery technique solo:
- Place the boat with the wind coming in between the mast and the hulls (see "Cat sailing for the 90's")
- Pull on the righting line (tied to the mast base, gone over a hull)
- As soon as the mast pops out of the water, duck, grab the main beam and let go of the righting line
- Continue puling on the main beam
- As the hull come down roll over the main beam and the mast
- As the hull touches the water you are on the trampoline and the boat is facing the wind.
- Grab the tiller and the main sheet, get some speed up, jump on the trapeze, you're on your way again.
Aka I'm never in the water with my boat upright pulling me around. A variant of this technique was demonstrated to me by MarkP along time ago, and I've been practicing since then... I believe Mark ducks under the mast and climbs on by the lower side. I've tried that and got caught on the spi bag everytime.
