You are surfing down the mother of all waves with your beachcat, going dead downwind without spi, and you are about to hit the bottom. It's blowing a lot, 10-18m/s. You know you are likely to stuff the bows and pitchpole as you accelerate down the wave and hit the bottom.
What do you do? Go dead downwind and hope there is enough bouyancy in the bows, or head up to a reach and try riding it out?

Trap Off the rudder???? Heck if I know, I sail in a lake!! No big waves, except for the ones caused by Wake boats!!!

Rolf,

In this situation there are a number of options.

1, Don't get there in the first place, spot the "killer wave" and sail around it (as no spi this should be possible

2, If you really are stuck there, there are (IMO) a few options

a, Sheet in main really hard and stall out and try and survive, but ready to dump it all again if you change heading at all

b, Crew on the wire and stand on the back beam between the rudders

c, Head up and try and sail out of it, crew on the wire.


3, Jump off the back of the boat and watch it happen from a safe distance. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

4, make a note to buy T-foils......

Sorry, lake sailor, but this sounds like it might be fun!

Plot your exit strategy off the boat when it does pitchpole. Rounding up will cause you to flip because you'll be heeled that way anyway on the slope of the wave. Hold on really tight to the rear beam and hope- but try not to hurt ourself when it does pitchpole.

This actually did happen to me personally last weekend when I was singlehanding under a spinnaker in 12 m/s wind. Good force 6.

To be really honest, I remember thinking " #*%^@ what now !", but not how I survived it in any detail.

I did survive however and keep the pointy end up.

Also remember hooking my feet underneath the foot straps and thus preventing sliping off the boat while I s-curved violantly down the slope of the wave. At those speeds the boat was very sensitive to any rudder movement. I somehow managed to keep the speed difference between myself and the wave sufficiently small so that I didn't plunch into the back of the next wave.

I'n not kidding, I was looking down a wave slope that looked like it dropped 2 to 3 mtr in about twice that distance. It was steep ! it was fast ! and afterwards I was dizzy with adrenaline.

Wouter

We did not make it.. Violent pitchpole with the Tornado, during the nationals in Sweden this weekend. We tried going down with both bows for max buoyancy and hanging on to the aft beam for what we were worth. It went down so far that we ripped a mid-pole snuffer, snapped off the compression strut between spi-pole and bridle, cracked two strands of an 8 strand dyform forestay etc. etc. No point in hangin on to the boat anymore when the mast hits the water.. Ruined our day, so I am looking for options for the next time. If we could have slowed down we could have saved it, but how do you do that? Or if we had got the spi up and drove faster than the wave? (We were going for the spi after rounding the mark, but had not found the right spot for hoisting yet. Wanted to hoist while climbing a wave.)

I sailed in the same regatta as Rolf and the waves where big! I sailed in the Hobie 16 class and we had a great time in the waves. People where nocked off the boats, capsized and some boats even reefed the main but when we got to the shore after a day of racing it was smiles everywhere!

When you sail downwind with the Hobie 16 in high winds you should NEWER sail dead downwind, you are dead meat in that situation. You should always have the wind at 90 deg so you can depower. If you sail dead downwind you can't depower. When you release so much mainsheet that the mainsail hit the shrouds you are out of control.

We had several situation where we where surfing down the waves and started to stuff the bow but since we had the wind at 90 deg we could depower and control the situation.

/håkan

I sail on a lake usually so I have no experience with this at least on catamarans. So do you tack on the downwind leg? or wait to gybe at just the right moment while on the backside of a wave?

Do people ever carry a small sea anchor or something like that attached to the back of the tramp ready to deploy and slow you down if you get in trouble during these sorts of conditions?

If your going dead downwind already then hold the boom out and run by the lee, it will slow you down gradually and gain some distance to leeward, even if you go below the layline it is good as you can powerup to deal with the next wave. Must use this technique early, wont work as the bows go into the back of the wave. As you loose the aparent wind when you slow down main will want to gybe so steer up to keep sailing by the lee.
Darryn
Mozzie
1782

Two goals: First, aim dead downwind, two bows are always better than one. Second, slow the damn thing down.

1> Release the jib, now. This will pop out the bows a bit and disturb the flow on the back of the main
2> Main brakes: ram your rudders, those are good brakes when held a 90 degree of the transom. Keep control however
3> More brakes: Put a feet in the water if you are in a position to do so.
4> Stall the main by sheeting in your traveler (I'm assuming that the main sheet is already pretty tight), but if you are already in the hole, it is unlikely you will have enough time to stall it enough. If one of you has its hand on the downhaul it's probably a good idea to yank it in real tight as well
5> Move back! Hold on something!
6> Pray.

Been there, done that: I did not save it either. It was some seven or eight years ago and the memory of it is still vivid...

I suggest bringing a camera so we can all enjoy it.

I agree!! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Been there, done that with the spinnaker up; pitchpoled viciously...couldn't reach up at all due to the spin

Since then, I've learned there are times not to pull the spin and just surf the boat diagonally to stay on the face of the wave and avoid bashing into the back of the next wave. Trim sails to get the right speed to stay with one wave. It works well and can be fun in between the moments of terror.

Have in mind that when going down the wave, due to the speed you obtain very rapidly and the aparent wind you create, you are almost certainly on a reach and not dead downwind, so either sheeting out both sails or heading really down should depower you. However, 18m/s is about 35 knots and that is a lot. I don't think they would start a cat race over here with 35 knots.

1, would help
2, you'll be swimming in seconds if you do that.
3, Not allowed if racing
4, yep, that'll work too
5, yep
6, if that's your thing.#

On a T, if you slam the rudders over, you will turn, last thing you want in this situation is an out-of-control turn.

in my situation just moving the tiller arm a fraction was enough to turn the boat sharply to one side. I REALLY had to hook the footstraps to remain on the boat (I wasn't trapezing). It was just like big guy grabbed my shoulders and wanted to pull me off the boat.

At those speeds I would most certainly not jam my rudders over, certainly not when I have also a crew on board which you can not warn in time. Sure when the rudders are at 90 degrees but getting there is the real problem.

Funny enough I think the spinnaker saved me. I did hit the bottom at one point and the bow went in but were pulled out again without too much issues. Probably because by slowing down the spi acquired an attached flow again, loading it up, causing the bows to turn away from the wind and pulling it through the dive. But again I don't have any sharp recollection of the event. Spray was all over the place and I was trying to surive.

Now it is a great story to tell but I'm not standing in line to do it again.

Wouter

Really? I had an instructor telling me to use this trick to slow down when positioning myself for the start. And what if it is the crew butt in the water? Because if it is an offense I've done it quite a lot <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Can you give me a rule reference?

Prevention is worth an ounce of cure. See the wave before it eats your goat. When you know you are going to be in a vulnerable position with regards to wind and wave angle, look over your shoulder and make sure you aren't turning down the face of Everest. Instead, reach off as much as possible to keep yourself at an angle to the wave so you have options.

If you do find yourself going down the steep slope, fish your rudders hard side to side to put on the brakes (make sure your crew is hanging on) and make certain you are both held firm in your position on the boat. Ooching your rudders to slow down is a legal maneuver (sticking your appendages in the water is not). More often than not, if you can avoid going forward, you will stay pointy side up.

Rule 42