I remember my first pitch pole very well. I had just started sailing the H16. At that time I was not aware of the cat forums and basically taught myself from reading books and experience. I didn't know what I did was a pitchpole until 2 years later after I started to sail with other cat sailors.

I was on a small lake in northern Indiana, a storm front was on the way so there was lots of wind. I was on a nice broad reach with the windward hull just skimming the water. I was enjoying the rush of the speed. The leward bow was getting close to burying in the wind driven waves, but I never felt that deceleration so I didn't do anything about it. I also just finihsed reading a book (I forgot which one) that said to keep the fore-aft balance as close to the center of the boat as possible for the most speed. So, I was hiked out about 1 foot behind the shroud. I was not in a trap harness so I had my glutes placed firmly on the side rail fo the tramp.

As with many lakes in Indiana, as soon as the wind starts to create chop the powerboats all rush back to the docks. One of them was crossing my bow at a decent speed. For some reason instead of maintaining that speed, they thought it would be helpful to slow down. In doing so they went from creating a very small wake to creating a huge wake.

I had seen pictures of Hobies ramping off of waves so I sheeted in to get mroe speed before hitting the wave... bad plan.

The leward bow started to press further down and as I hit the wake it submerged... and didn't come back up. Not expecting to pitchpole I did nothing. The next thing I knew I was in front of my boat. This also happend to be my first attempt at righting the boat. Once I figured out what happend I started to swim to the side of the capsized boat. I notice that my left side was really hurting. I thought I had just pulled a muscle. As I climed onto the bottom hull I learned that it was not just a muscle. I had broken a rib. Fortunately the power boat came back to offer assistance in righting. Without it I don't think I could have righted the boat on my own. I just couldn't hang on the righting line long enough to do anything.

fortunately that was near the end of the season so I didn't loose much time healing. I learned plenty that day and like Dave gained much confidence. I also started to really pay attention to that leward bow.

As my father says "It's not a sport if it can't kill you." That must be why cat sailing is so much fun.