Quietly Making Noise will soon return to the beach. She has been going through repairs and maintenance after a nasty capsize last fall in a squall with 50 MPH winds and 6 foot waves. I was pointing into the wind with the sheets slack trying to ride the storm out. Within seconds the squall wind lifted the front of my G-Cat 5.7 meter cat and threw my boat backwards upside down in the turtle position. During the capsize I went through the main sail 20 feet up the mast, now 20 feet under with the torn sail wrapped around me I found myself starting to freak out. I collected my thoughts, freed myself, and popped to the surface. Now my Cat is taking off with the wind and seas in the turtle position. I had to swim to catch the boat. It was as if a propeller sprouted out of my backside, I did not know I could swim that fast.
Once I reached the side of the boat I was holding on with my fingertips in the lip formed by the hull and deck, the waves were beating me against the boat with the white tops breaking over me and the boat. I crawled up on the boat and rested several seconds until the wind and waves were trying to flip me back over. I am sure I would have been through a series of cartwheels until the boat came apart. Did I mention that it was a nice day before the squall so I was not wearing a life jacket? I pulled up 4’ of the main sheet and tied a big knot the size of a tennis ball so I could hold on and not get separated from the boat. After the storm subsided, about 45 minutes, I dove under the boat to untangle the life jacket from the trampoline and put one on. The boat was floating upside down and had taken on some water in the hulls and mast. I could not right it by myself. I was floating upside down thinking that it would be morning before they began the search for me. A wayward power boater, who lost his compass in the storm, found me after 5 hours of floating upside. He had a cell phone that worked (mine got drowned even in a zip lock baggie) and called Sea Tow with a GPS setting. Good to know somebody was coming out to get us.
The Sea Tow captain was not listening to what I was telling him about righting the boat. His statement was, “We are highly trained and able captains and we do this for a living now take a hold of the rope…….” I’ve righted many hobbie cats………not wanting to scare him off since my options were slim, I followed his orders and tied the tow rope to the shroud on the side of the hull. He was trying to flip me back over by pulling on the leeward hull about the third try I heard a loud crack. After dragging me around the ocean for about 20 minutes he was scratching his head. I suggested we try it my way, hook the rope to bows and pull the boat over end to end, and it worked. I was 8 miles out and 8 miles up from where I capsized with a boat half full of water and a shredded main sail. I accepted the tow. My wallet was thinner at the end of the evening. At first a visual inspection of the boat did not show any damage, later it started to take on water and I found damage to the beam / hull connections and the bottom of the hull where the rope came across.
I have pictures of how to put a new bottom on the hull and make internal repairs to hulls by cutting access holes then glassing the holes back up. I can post information on fiberglass repair if anybody is interested.
It could have been much worse several times I asked toward the sky is this how it is going to be, the end. I guess my time was not up. Now what have I learned? Look to the west on shore for squalls heading out to sea, always have a righting line rigged even if you have not capsized the boat for years, you should wear a life jacket, and make sure your waterproof bags actually are waterproof.
I am Looking forward get the boat finished and back on the beach are you out there Jeff and Craig?
