I was just wondering if anyone else has had this happen righting a mossie [or any other cat].
We had a very windy day at Normanville yesterday which kept some regulars away but we did have 3 mossies [Mk1] 1 x Yvonne, 1 x Stingray, 3 x Windrush and a couple of Sabres. I capsized on the third lap at the gybe mark in a gust,swam to the inverted boat, uncleated the mainsheet, swam the boat into the breeze and pulled it up. I have a righting rope which runs to each side exiting through a fairlead below the front beam and above the jumper strap and is tensioned with a bungy cord.The righting rope runs through a tieball which you "clip" under your harness hook then use your body weight to right the boat. Attempting to climb back onto the tramp it became apparent that the tieball was jammed in the harness hook preventing me from climbing back on board, pinning me to the front beam on a rapidly accelerating boat [the tiller extension had gone underneath the port tiller arm locking the steering straight]The water pressure was trying to pull me under the boat.At the fourth attempt a got a hand to the port sidestay and was able to get back on the tramp where it still took a couple of attempts to free the righting rope from the harness and put the boat back under control.I have never had this issue before [ I have had my share of capsizes] but it was turning nasty quite quickly. I checked out the system today and everything runs freely but I shall definitely be putting larger tieballs onto the ends of the righting rope,
Cheers,
Roy,
If I had gone under the boat the next option would be to undo the harness.

Reads scarey Roy. I too have experienced the boat trying to sail over me,usually as I am trying to scale the main beam. I have a similar righting system but have a loop/bowline at each end of the righting rope. I hook my trap hook into the loop, as you do the ball. Never been a problem. Capsized three times several weeks ago and required assistance on the third total inversion. The extreme force on the system applied by the gunned power boat bent the pulleys at the corner of the tramp and main beam but the bowline did not pull through the pulley. Replace the balls with a loop and stopper knot.

or a couple od old trap rings maybe??? i used an old type double ring, cut the loops off each end and tied those to the righting rope. they work as the stopper and an easy to release ring.

Most of the time my boat comes up just by pulling on the dolphin striker strap, did you uncleat your main and traveller? Recently replaced my permanent system under the boat with a couple of saddles and a rope with a hook in my life jacket pocket, I dont wrap the rope around my trap hook, there is a couple of knots in the rope to hold on to.

Sounds like you had some wind at Normanville, better then the driftathon at Adelaide on Saturday.

Some of the the trap harnesses have knives built in, hooked blades for cutting rope and webbing, I think could be handy in these situations.

Darryn

thanks darryn,

i uncleat my main sheet but never to thought to uncleat the traveller,
i might do that next time

I carry a folding knife in the pocket of my PFD, even though I have the Magic Marine curved knife, mainly for anybody trapped under a tramp, it would instantly resolve a serious problem. I have a mate who's daughter surfaced after a long time trapped under the tramp and it scared the crap out of every one concerned. I definately uncleat the traveller, main and jib but also release the downhaul as that does make a difference. I've never been pulled on the 5.7 or 5.8 in a serious way

Guess that this is why the powers to be want releasable harnesses ..... not that I would be in a hurry to release mine (don't know how to reset it) but better than drowning.

David
Salpicon de Resplandor 1744

Thanks for the advice Darryn. I capsized in 15knots with 20 knot gusts on Saturday. I swam the boat down wind of the rig and uncleated the main and traveller. I climbed onto the hull and remembering your post above simply pulled the dolphin striker stap and she came straight up. At right angles to the wind I had to hold on tight to stop the boat tipping straight back over.
In all, I lost less than 4 minutes and came 3rd out of 19 boats which is good for me in a club race (although I should note we had 10 boats DNF )