Another beginner's question.



My wife gets nervous when we start going fast, even though the windward hull is still in the water. She feels especially insecure when the windward hull lifts. The Catamaran Racing book indicates that a beam reach is one of the times that capsize is most likely, but I didn't manage to follow the cross-reference in it - I assume the danger is experiencing a puff when on a beam reach. Is this accurate?



If so, when is a puff on a beam reach likely to capsize a boat? Is this likely when the windward hull is still somewhat in the water? When it is just touching the water? How far tilted can we be without being vulnerable? I'm sure this depends on the boat, but even knowing rough guidelines would be helpful, and might allow me to sail faster without straining my marriage ;->



Jonathan

hey jw, fortunately for us, puffs are easy to notice on the nice calm lakes that we are accustomed to around NC, so it shouldn't be to difficult to see the puffs coming.



My girlfriend is also very nervous when she's sailing with me on the H17. She wont get on the wings, and she also gets nervous when the bows start digging in, yet like your wife, she's never been on the boat when its howling fast.



She told me yesterday "you need to break more stuff on your boat then replace it before I'm comfortable on it." Made me feel SOOO much better.

Here's a basic explanation: beam reaches are likely to capsize you when you treat them like upwind sailing - i.e. by heading up to depower. You need to head down in the puffs.

Also, you're more likely to pitchpole (go head-over-heels). Weight ballance (all the way back) is the way to avoid this. Anticipate the puffs, and bear of immediately.

What windspeeds were you concerned about?

Good luck

Michael c.

t4.9#32

Hmmmm....do you mean I should be watching the water to see the puffs coming? Will I see it on the water first, or does the puff hit the sail and the water at the same time?



Jonathan

Ah, this is helpful. When you say the weight should be "all the way back" I assume you mean aft, not back over the windward hull, right? On a Prindle 16, it's pretty easy to bury the stern, so I will adjust accordingly.



How do you anticipate puffs?



As for wind speeds - at what wind speeds should I start to worry about capsize? We start feeling nervous when the wind gets above 10 mph, and much more nervous when it gets above 15 mph, but we've only been out maybe 10 times so far, and we started out with a dramatic capsize in a surprise thunderstorm. I'm trying to get factual data to use in calming our emotions ;->



Jonathan

with two people, 10mph shouldn't be a problem unless theres a serious catastrophic event, or the skipper just isn't paying attention.



Describing how to anticipate puffs is kind of difficult over a message board, its much easier being on the water and saying..."you see the difference in water texture up ahead?..."

First Rule With Wimmen: No Yelling.



During your outings leave sweet treat on shore and go out by yourself for an hour or so to learn more. While you're out there build some confidence and skill by trying to get one hull out of the water a little. Don't cleat the mainsheet while you're learning to fly. Just hold it in position in your hand in case you need to let it got to depower in a hurry. Once you can keep a hull up try it with honeybunches.



Explain in a confident and friendly tone what will happen and what she needs to do before you fly. She needs to be on the windward side but not too far forward. Let her hang onto something for security: the tramp lacing, a shroud, a tramp strap, not your leg. Watch the bows so you don't dig. Then take it up out of the water ONLY A LITTLE HEIGHT (a foot or two) FOR A LITTLE WAYS and hold it there for a while. Put it back down, come up into the wind and smile. Repeat as needed until the screaming turns into a soft moan. Then go in for the day.



If you do happen to capsize just smile after you're both in the water, tell her to stay with the boat, and don't exude a sense of panic or urgency. Both of you should be able to hang on and right the sucker and have a laugh about it, later and for decades thereafter.



Get a little wilder each outing but don't rush her (the wife). Sadly, some wives are not made for being on a cat but that should become apparent if it's your case or not. If this is the case you can always simply take it easy while she's aboard and don't do anything too funky.



My best advice: After twenty-five years she will trust you and will go with you on just about anything that floats. To this day my wife simply ducks her head down when she becomes frightened and I usually tell her when it's OK to look up again. You have to build trust.



Good Luck

How to see a puff:



Find a high point overlooking your favorite body of water (eg Jordan lake?) observe the colors and textures of the water. In calm, windless condition, the surface will be glassy. As the wind picks up, tiny wavelets form a texture on the surface of the water. The more texture water has, the deeper blue it appears. So from your observation post you'll see lighter and darker areas of water--the darker areas have more texture to the surface, caused by more breeze in that spot. As the breeze increases further, waves begin to form. Waves have more texture than wavelets, so areas of waves look a shade darker still.



At any given time, a lake will have a baseline wind condition creating a baseline texture to the surface and a baseline color. Simply put, a puff is visible where the water looks a bit darker than the baseline because there's more texture in that spot.



After a little observation, you'll have that "ah-ha" moment.



When you're sailing, it's helpful to know which direction puffs are coming from. Look to windward to see'em coming. Actually, puffs descend from the sky and, on hitting the water, fan out in a, well, fan-shaped pattern. But the general flow is with the main wind direction. (Note that all bets are off sailing under big, black clouds, where the wind can suddenly change 180 degrees right before your sails.)



Bit long-winded, but hope it helps.



By the way, most of us start getting excited rather than nervous as the wind picks up to 10-15 mph. But it takes building up to. Like driving, you don't head out on the autobahn the first time. Consider capsizing intentionally with your wife in a "controlled" situation to help get more comfortable.

dude,

small boat, big water, yeah, it can be scary. my suggestion is to get real familiar with your vessel on a lake. dont go to the beach yet. the ocean will put fear and pain in the most experienced. you should do a practice capsize. the wife is probably scared of turning over because she (and you) will not know what to do. i do this at least once a year just to be sure i can right her myself. just throw a anchor near shore in a couple three feet of water. use a life jacket at the tip of the mast to keep it from plowing the bottom up. use those righting lines and lean out. show her how easy it is. or what great exercise it is! and on those hot days, this is your opportunity to get wet and cool off. capsizing is really not a big deal. and should be expexted. especially when pushing the limits of your boat.

Its not just women that play the "scared" card... on a demo sail I took out a guy that had supposedly been sailing cats for a few years. About half way through the ride he played the card. For whatever reason he became terribly concerned. When we got back to the beach he walked off shaking??? I asked him what was bothering him and he had no answer. It was blowing about 15mph tops so it wasn't the conditions nor were we flying alot either. So some people do have real problems with catsailing I guess.



On the other hand I have seen people that just don't want to be there [catsailing, sailing, being on the water, etc] going to please someone else. This can result in disaster/ divorce/ etc... So be very certain before some potential crew really wants to do the wildthing before you find out the hard way.



I have known several married couples that sail on different boats because they don't like taking orders from the spouse!



thom

I wholeheartedly agree with windbtch here. many newcomers just need to learn that capsizing is not the end of the world. I learned this while breaking in numerous crew in collegiate dinghy sailing. It got to the point where if someone was fidgety or hesitant or otherwise uptight, I'd intentionally capsize the boat.

It gets a little dicey when you start doing this with "significant others", but I still swear by it. do a few shallow-water capsize and recovery drills as described above, and then head out on the water for some fun. if she still looks like she's waiting for the world to end, stuff a bow and go over. recover, catch your breath, laugh it off, and continue. if a couple of those don't cure her, sell the boat. she's just not going to come around and it's not worth the marital strain.

(I know, I know... we're all trying hard to "grow the sport", but the fact is that this particular breed of boat just isn't for everyone.)

i can't begin to describe what happened when i took my X-wife up in a glider, but if i knew then what i know now, i would have gone back up as soon as i dropped her off on the ground.

let her steer whenever you can get her to, start with downwind and let her gain some confidence. you control the main .my teaching technique: hand her the tiller and say "please steer toward that landmark" while you go forward and "adjust something." if she needs help ask her to keep watching the landmark and move the tiller back and forth gently till she "gets" it. the more she feels in control the more fun she will have. my friend tena was flying the hull with me on the wire the last time we went out- awesome! this woman said she didnt like sailing when we met.

Hey Dave, Where & what are you flying?

I'm sel,ses and 1/2 way thru glider.I'd like to get either a Libelle or Ka6-e

You have my wife pegged - she *will* feel more secure when she feels in control, and can verify what it is that I'm doing. Good advice!



Jonathan

getting way off subject, but...



i was living in arizona at the time flying a schweitzer 2-33. it is a very low performance plane with very little penetration. perfect for learning. we towed up to 900 feet and i got into a wave. we were up at 7000 feet in about 3 minutes. the screaming and crying from the back seat was horrible. i had to bank it at about 65 degrees to get down (even more screaming). the spoilers were not effective that day. i have never flown the planes you are interested in, but the schleicher looks similar to a schweitzer 1-26. the l/d on these planes look pretty low. if you want to just fly then buy one of these. i would rent for a while so you can try a few different planes. if you have a low budget, try a 1-35 (single) or a blanik L13 (two place). both are metal and pretty low cost. glass ships are great. make sure you get a ship that has spoilers. flaps are nice, but they are much harder to use and can stall the plane if reduced too quickly (usually on landing). i have seen 4 glider crashes (no injuries), and 3 of them were flaps only ships.



if you want more info about the ships i have flown and my experiences, e-mail me directly at david.taylor@mech-solutions.com