| |  Beaching in a Blow #176625
04/30/09 05:34 PM 04/30/09 05:34 PM |
Joined: Dec 2008
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Chicago, Illinois USA TEH  OP
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Chicago, Illinois USA | What is the strategy for coming in to the beach on a run with a pretty good breeze behind you? Especially if its a beach with rocks/sand combo?
Blade F16 USA 725
| | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: TEH]
#176626
04/30/09 05:43 PM 04/30/09 05:43 PM |
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 5,525 pgp
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 5,525
| My only suggestion would be to come head to wind well short of the beach, dismount, get control of the bridles and let the boat drift in. One sailor wrote that he routinely anchors his cat tracks just off the beach and loads/unloads the boat while it is still floating. How is it going? Sounds like you're having fun! 
Pete Pollard
Blade 702
'When you have a lot of things to do, it's best to get your nap out of the way first.
| | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: pgp]
#176629
04/30/09 05:58 PM 04/30/09 05:58 PM |
Joined: Dec 2008
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Chicago, Illinois USA TEH OP
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Chicago, Illinois USA | Having a great time, but I've come to the realization that I can't do d-day landings on the blade like I do on my hobie.
What happened last weekend is I let the main sheet out and tried to turn up, but the wind was still too much and flipped me right in. I didn't have much room to move as it was a pretty narrow harbor.
I'm thinking I could have centered the main to slow down and hopped in the water at the last minute holding on to boat and turned it head to wind.
Blade F16 USA 725
| | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: TEH]
#176631
04/30/09 06:10 PM 04/30/09 06:10 PM |
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 5,525 pgp
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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| Check your Pms.
Last edited by pgp; 04/30/09 06:26 PM.
Pete Pollard
Blade 702
'When you have a lot of things to do, it's best to get your nap out of the way first.
| | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: pgp]
#176664
05/01/09 02:44 AM 05/01/09 02:44 AM |
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,382
Essex, UK Jalani
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Essex, UK | You can't easily turn a boat head to wind with the main let out. With our prevailing SW I (and others) regularly have to make downwind landings. If it is less than about force 3, you simply round up just off the beach and drop in backwards. If it is blowing hard then you round up a good couple of hundred metres or more off the beach and uptide. You have to sail the boat up into the wind and only dump the mainsheet when fully head to wind. Now you need to QUICKLY get the main down. I found that I needed to slightly alter my halyard hook so that it worked every time and changed the outhaul and downhaul so that they could quick release. I then usually drop the main until the top two battens are still in the mast track and with my now heavily reefed sail, simply sail in as normal and round up just off the beach. It just needs a bit of thinking through and planning
John Alani
___________
Stealth F16s GBR527 and GBR538
| | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: Rolf_Nilsen]
#176675
05/01/09 06:22 AM 05/01/09 06:22 AM |
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 976
France pepin
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France | Turn upwind 50m or so from the beach, remove the daggerboards and raise the rudders. Uncleat all the sheets, release the downhaul. Then go stand at the extreme bow of one hull. If you have a crew get him/her on the other bow. With the transoms out of the water, the bows way down and nothing to trip the boat over you're going to glide down straight backward onto the beach. This method will work with any cat, in any condition as long as you can get the transoms out of the water. I've used it in Santa Cruz to get back to the beach in a swell with a hobie 16, surfing backward, I used it in Bandol where the harbour is narrow, long and right in the Mistral axis with a Hobie 14 and 18, and I used it two days ago to get back ashore with my Stealth at Datchet. Make sure you are really upwind of the place you want to go to, because with this method you don't control where you are going, the wind is... Also, if you are alone, you need to figure a way to make your wheels accessible in the front of the boat. A Datchet I leave them on the pontoon, but you can also leave them anchored for easy access.
Last edited by pepin; 05/01/09 06:45 AM.
| | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: pepin]
#176676
05/01/09 06:30 AM 05/01/09 06:30 AM |
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 5,525 pgp
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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| Damn! I forgot all about that.  That technique is very handy. I once lost my mast just outside the surfline at Daytona. Daytona is notorious for breaking up cats! At any rate, the crash boat came over and helped me get the mess lashed down. Then several of the guys jumped in, hung onto the bows, and the waves took us back into the surf line. With the bows down and the rudders up, it was as soft a landing as you could imagine. No drama, nor further damage. Thanks again to Louie Adiano and the rest of his crew!
Last edited by pgp; 05/01/09 06:41 AM.
Pete Pollard
Blade 702
'When you have a lot of things to do, it's best to get your nap out of the way first.
| | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: pepin]
#176678
05/01/09 06:33 AM 05/01/09 06:33 AM |
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 329
Chicago, Illinois USA TEH OP
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Chicago, Illinois USA | Thanks. Great suggestions for a variety of situations I will no doubt face.
Given the limited area I had to turn, what Rolf suggests makes the most sense for what I encountered last weekend.
Blade F16 USA 725
| | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: pgp]
#176679
05/01/09 06:37 AM 05/01/09 06:37 AM |
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 329
Chicago, Illinois USA TEH OP
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Chicago, Illinois USA | BTW, what Tornado_Alive jokingly suggests is closer to what I actually did. I didn't pop the kite, but I did go over. Very entertaining for those on shore.
Blade F16 USA 725
| | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: TEH]
#176697
05/01/09 08:28 AM 05/01/09 08:28 AM |
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 5,525 pgp
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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| http://www.juanaspagodas.com/RegattaNews.htmThis is a lot of fun if you can make it. Nice spot, very laid back. See you there maybe?
Pete Pollard
Blade 702
'When you have a lot of things to do, it's best to get your nap out of the way first.
| | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: pepin]
#176711
05/01/09 10:23 AM 05/01/09 10:23 AM |
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 3,528
Looking for a Job, I got credi... scooby_simon
Hull Flying, Snow Sliding.... |
Hull Flying, Snow Sliding....
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 3,528
Looking for a Job, I got credi... | Turn upwind 50m or so from the beach, remove the daggerboards and raise the rudders. Uncleat all the sheets, release the downhaul. Then go stand at the extreme bow of one hull. If you have a crew get him/her on the other bow. With the transoms out of the water, the bows way down and nothing to trip the boat over you're going to glide down straight backward onto the beach. This method will work with any cat, in any condition as long as you can get the transoms out of the water. I've used it in Santa Cruz to get back to the beach in a swell with a hobie 16, surfing backward, I used it in Bandol where the harbour is narrow, long and right in the Mistral axis with a Hobie 14 and 18, and I used it two days ago to get back ashore with my Stealth at Datchet. Make sure you are really upwind of the place you want to go to, because with this method you don't control where you are going, the wind is... Also, if you are alone, you need to figure a way to make your wheels accessible in the front of the boat. A Datchet I leave them on the pontoon, but you can also leave them anchored for easy access. I use this all the time and you can steer a BIT..... When forward, crouch down and drag a foot in the water, this slows down the hull you are standing on and the boat will trun a LITTLE around it. Boats with deep V hulls or little volume up front can be saild at around 155 to true wind angle in lighter winds and a "few" degrees of DDW in big stuff. THe stealth that is alwost flat all the way along the underside of the bow cannot be steered much as there is little grip up front as I cannot sink the hull much! It is enough to get around mooring bouys and not much more; I would NOT try it in surf as you want to stay Bows on to it. It is critical to get all foils out and the downhaul off so the mainsail does not create too much power. If you have a jib, you can take the jib sheets with you and hard back the Jib if strong enough - I've done 10kts backwards on a Hurricane 5.9 with this method.
F16 - GBR 553 - SOLD I also talk sport here | | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: Tornado_ALIVE]
#176713
05/01/09 11:12 AM 05/01/09 11:12 AM |
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 976
France pepin
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France | Just take your main down, pop the kite and snuff it just before you hit the beach...... (I am joking) All jokes aside (nice pic BTW!) never ever use the spin without a main or with a reefed main. The main is what supports the top of your mast. Without it the mast will invert under the spi pressure and you risk breaking it. So keep the mainsheet tight and keep you main up when using your spinnaker. | | | Re: Beaching in a Blow
[Re: TEH]
#176760
05/01/09 06:31 PM 05/01/09 06:31 PM |
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 502
Port Noarlunga, SA, Australia Darryn
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Port Noarlunga, SA, Australia | What is the strategy for coming in to the beach on a run with a pretty good breeze behind you? Especially if its a beach with rocks/sand combo? If your singlehanded you are going to need some sand to land the boat on while you get the rollers. I wait until a big set of waves have gone through, disconnect the tiller extension from the crossbar, fold the leeward rudder up until vertical then sail quickly towards the beach. When the water is waist deep I bring my windward rudder up to horizontal and when the water is 1 foot deep I grab the sidestay, jump off the boat and it rounds up. Float the boat onto some sand and drop the mainsail taking advantage of the larger waves that come through to float my boat up the beach, never dragging on the sand. In the time it takes to drop the main another set has usually come through and I am at the highest water mark, its now safe to get the rollers without the boat getting sucked back into the ocean by the waves. I have done it this way for the last 10 years with minimal damage to my boat. Darryn Mosquito 1782 | | |
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