Dude, congrats on the Blade and welcome to the F16's !!! I've gotta keep my weight under 150lbs., only solo my Taipan and have had trouble righting the boat if the wind quits following capsize ( though less so since I resealed my mast). I saw some good capsize recovery advice on the Aussie Taipan site under "Tips" page. While on the subject and since i've been itching to tell this story... It was a Tuesday, San Francisco Bay , June of 2004.It was a warm day by S.F.Bay standards (maybe 65 deg. F ) and not too windy be standards of same (lets say 15 - 20kts.). I'm on the long , fast reach home to my launch at the south end of the bay ; zonked , cold and hungry from a day playing in the steep ebb of the greatest sailing venue on earth...I jibe into the lee of Treasure Island ( ja get that: Treasure Island...) , wiring with the kite and just on a WFO blast that i'll claim later was 20kts + ! Quick scan ahead to find the tide bouy's to Sam's and my dock - Wow , ahead are two big square rigged ships sailing abeam of each other and with lotsa room for an F16 to pass between 'em . I start to dive below the leeward most man -O -War (King Of Hawaii or something), when I notice lotsa people on deck (tourists ? ) and the're pointing at me , and waving and I look pretty damn cool and need lots of attention generally so...About midway BETWEEN the two ships, with the tourists full on fixated upon my brilliance - BOOM - I hear , no FEEL, the report of a cannon (I SWEEER !) !!! Hell ya i'm skeered at first but quickly realize i've sailed into( and am ruining) some sort of militeristic sea battle reenactment.In retrospect I probably shoulda just kept zooming between and away, but i'm embarassed and so I swing in and zip a quick jibe. Not positive about the sequence of events that follow , but think they went : A.) kneel on windward hull to unhook B.) Too long unhooking C.) windward hull becomes leeward hull D.) leeward hull torpedos into the bay as if dropped by aircraft during Battle Of Midway E.) Simultaneously, second big BOOM from abeam and white water pitchpole from USA # 300 with rag doll evacuation of narcissitic f16 pilot ! Guess it looked like i'd taken a cannonball broadside as tourists aboard leeward most ship are running from the rail with very authentic looks of terror on their faces ! can anyone beat that one... ?
