Don't ever let a monohull guy tell you that cats are dangerous... let me just list the comedy of errors that led to great personal injury this weekend while racing the schock

1) We race a perfect race on saturday and not 5 seconds after we cross the line, it starts to downpour. We lower the jib, and putz around for a bit waiting for the fleet to finish. Rain lets up for a bit, however, everyone can see the oncoming squal. Committee says "we're going to wait 10 minutes and let you know if there will be another race" ...one second...two seconds....then the crackle of lightning over the radio and the loudest thunderclap I've heard in quite some time... "Ok, nevermind, everyone head in!" We lower start to lower the mainsail, and while helping the sail feed out of the track, I touch the Carbon fiber 59' mast that is connected to a 7'3" lead bulb keel.

Zap.

It was probably the static from the main coming off the track and the rain and 50mph winds. But its more fun to say that it was a little lightning bolt

Next day.

We must have used up our quota of luck on the first day, because nothing seemed to go right the second day. We pull ahead of the fleet, and then on the downwind leg, the wind completely dies. However, the wind fills in... from behind us, letting the whole fleet catch up to us. We approach the mark, along with 5 other boats, including one other boat in our class, two san juan 21's, a capri 23.5, and a keel cruiser in the C class. We're inside with an overlap, and call for room to round, alas, none was given because, well, we were stacked in there like sardines at the mark.

In the melee of protests flags and on-the-water rules arguments, I'm on the foredeck, just having hoisted the 120 jib, and holding on to the spin pole, readying to bring it in once they blow the chute.

Problem is, everyone in the pit was so concerned about hitting either another boat or the mark, they didn't notice that they had gybed the jib and it was now right in my face, pushing me and the spin pole against the lifelines. So now I can't pull the pole in, I crawl under the jib and help stuff the chute, this is when I feel my feet get wrapped by something and then I go for a trip. I got dragged across the deck, having my feet wrapped up in the jib sheets, pulling my ankles against the pullpit stantion support on the bow. I'm lucky to have made it out with only a limp for a day and a half, if the grinder had really winched in, I would have lost my left foot, and maybe my right as well.

I had a great time, despite the proclivity of mine for severe personal injury.

The moral of the story is, don't let anyone tell you that a cat is dangerous. Kindly remind them that while we deal with tipsy-turvey problems, the lead-haulers have a taste for disaster that is completely unique

(sorry for the long post, I had to tell someone about this weekend)

I was there too, sailing on the J/24 Bash.

On Day 1, we were coming in during the storm. I was on on the helm and everyone else was down below. I was reaching back to screw with the throttle on the outboard when a bolt hit close enough to get an arc either off the traverler bar or the primary winches. I decided that the motor didn't need to be messed with anymore

As far as your mark rounding...that was quite a cluster. We were right behind the mess. Racing 50 boat one-design fleets, you get used to a mess at mark roundings. It was pretty clear that the PHRF dudes are not so comfortable in those situations. The good part for us was that a boat from our class got pinched in the pack and had to eat gas for a while. We came in, rounded tight, tacked out and took him to school big time. It was fun to watch to say the least. Sorry to hear about your foot though....getting hurt or sinking boats is bad.

Jeff.

I met Bash24 while I was there. Nice guy

That mark rounding would have never been so fubar'd if the wind hadn't died on that leg. It allowed the whole fleet to catch up to us when it filled back in. We had rights at the mark, or so I'm told, I was to busy trying to get that huge jib out of my face/get the spin pole down/keep from being dismembered

mhhhh, that sounds a bell. I am catsailor, too. I sail a F18 Dart Hawk and we get quite wet from time to time , sometimes even a bit bashed. A couple of weeks ago, I was invited by a keen Mumm 36 racer of our club (in our club, the cat sailors actually talk to the monohull sailors) to join their crew for a couple of club sails. These guys are pretty serious you know. I simply couldn't turn down the offer. Man, what a awesome boat!!! On my second night out, we had a steady 25 knots gusting well over 30 and we (ten crew & helm!!) had great fun. Just after rounding the mark, the guy on the foredeck made a mistake while hoisting this monster of a spinnaker, the pole broke and we broached . We went over and eventually, the mast tip was about two feet over the water. I was stuck between the mast and the kicker and was literally standing on the shrouds. It felt like ages until we were back up again. Instinctively I knew that these kinds of boats just don't sink, but I still felt a bit uncomfortable. Interestingly, after sorting things out, we still did 14 knots downwind without the spi!!!

Phi - Edinburgh, Scotland