We did our first pitchpole with our Tornado today. We have sailed T's since year 2000, and this is the first time..
There have been some close calls, but we have always seen them come and backed off a bit. Today, there was no warning, leeward bow just dove and there was no chance to grab anything before it was to late. Things happen fast when jib-reaching..
I wound up tangled around the mast while the crew was messing around in the jib. No damages to equipement, but some bruises and scratches..
Almost funny how fast i happened when the bow dug in!

We was out testing a new mainsail, and I attribute it to the new sail, as it surely can't have been a driver 'thing'

Righting was no problem, even with the "unsafe" but sealed alu mast. Crew on the bow to keep us pointing into the wind, and I righted it alone with the righting line.

The new main is quite a bit more powerful than our old 2000 Ullman main..


Now, one pitchpole in 5 years I can live with. How often do you others do the "emergency stop" routine?

Rolf, I've made the trip twice. Both times as crew with the same skipper! Hopefully I've fulfilled my lifetime quota!

I've pitchpoled my ARC 22 twice in 3 years. The first time was just plain high winds. We had just taken the spinnaker down (great insight on the skipper's and crew's part), because it was really starting blow and we were, well, nervous. Then a big puff hit and we did this slow motion end over end. I was hanging onto the rear crossbeam as we went over. The second time was really ugly and I take full responsibility for that one. We were rounding the windward mark, double trapped going about 14 knots upwind, as I started to bear off around the mark without easing off. You got it, double trapped right into a beam reach flying a hull, and both skipper and crew were catapulted off as we went from 18-20 knots to zero. The ugly part was that we were thrown so far from the boat that we couldn't catch it, before it sailed away on its side. Yes, we had on life jackets. We were then rescued by the chase boat and dropped back into the water downwind of the boat so we could get back on and right it.

Hey Rolf, Pitchpoled a Tornado? Like this?

http://community.webshots.com/mypho...mp;photoID=126648664&security=ttuagG

Bearing off without letting the main twist off, ouch!

I could not get the link to work, but if it's the one with Bundy og Gonzo doing the dive routine..

http://www.acay.com.au/%7Egonzo/Crash.jpg

I sure hope our's was not that violent, but I honestly dont know. I remember sliding/falling down on the mast, and then I was in tangled in the trapeze under the mast. Crew tried to bail out the back, but could not get out of his trapeeze ring fast enough.
Two PP's in three years does seem a bit over the norm (at least I hope so).

I'm to perfect to pitchpole

Stuffed plenty a bow, never pitched.

You guys arent sailing hard enough, I pitch pole everytime I go out! Just for the hell of it.

pitchpoling isn't fast.

It's slow and painful, I'd say it's overrated also (not as fun as it looks like). I still wonder what piece of equipment gave me the scratches on the photo attached..

If you do this every time you sail Toino, your wife must be soon be a very competent nurse!

Three times on one down-wind leg is my all time record. It was blowing over 20 knots and we had the chute up on our Tiger and were trying to drive hard in 4-5ft seas. The boat would accelerate like a rocket and skip over 2-3 waves before spearing the next one and coming to an abrupt halt. The two of us obeyed Newton's first law and carried on forward until making contact with stationary bits of rigging *ouch*

This taught us discretion is the better part of valor - it's better to keep the pointy end up by slowing it down just a little...

Chris.

Come on guys, surely there are (former?) Hobie 14 and Hobie 16 sailors still around that found that to "pitchpole" was the "norm" when "going for it" with the wind up, particularly on fierce broad reach's? (watch that tip of the leeward bow dip below the water surface and "that's all, she wrote")

I had just turned the windward mark on my 14 foot Maricat, eased everything, weight balanced in 5 to 12 knots when, Whammo, I was in the drink. I had no warning with absolutely no sign of any gust coming.

My 2nd time was when I was trying to head back to shore in rapidly rising winds. I got an enormous kick in the rear just after jibing and got spat off the tramp. I hit the shroud or something on the way because I couldn't breathe when I got my head out of the water and later found bruises from the right shoulder to the left hip.

It was blowing that hard I only just clambered onto the bow when the cat was blown upright. I sailed it right up the beach where half a dozen people turned it into the wind as I crawled off.

scared the crepe' out of me

Rolf,

Try this link for a Tornado pitchpole.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/114817040/126648664ttuagG

Probably about twice to three times a season. I realy don't know
why (Don't look at the pic attached ).

Loved pushing the T hard and loved surfing down waves.......

Eager to get the new boat (Capricorn) Should be about 6 weeks away
now.

What she blowin there 30 and are you single handing that thing. With the chute up?

"I still wonder what piece of equipment gave me the scratches on the photo attached.."
Rolf, try checking under your crewmember`s fingernails for traces of your skin - he mighta done that you you while trying to grab at something (ANYTHING !) while on his trajectory path.
In answer to someone else, I`m an ex-H16 crew, pitchpoling happened less often than you`d like to imagine, the crew is in charge on the H16, if you throw the jib away quickly enough you can save it. Having said that, I stopped counting at 13 big pitchpoles in one day of sailing ....
Was blowing 48 gusting to 55 .... knots. 3 boats went out sailing, 2 came back.

Stephen, I'd say the kite surfer was lucky you pitchpoled..

Steve, my wife had toughts along the same path, so it was good that she knew we had been out sailing.
I would be careful coming home from a regatta abroad with those marks..

PS: I was sitting in, with the trap hooked on, while crew was trapeezing at the rear beam. No way he was anywhere near me.. Must be something on the boat. Finding yourself still hooked in under the mast on a capsized boat sure is scary.

If we are to do 2-3 pitchpoles a year, like Stephen, I will reconsider the 'sailing helmet' and some protective clothing

I learned to sail on Lake Murray, SC on a Hobie 14. After I had developed some confidence with the boat, I started pushing the boat to see how fast it could go. I was rewarded with a nasty beam reach pitchpole about 400 yds from shore. I flew straight into the forestays (una rig) and got cut and scratched pretty badly. The boat turned turtle and took 4 people to right. I never pushed the Hobie very hard after that; it scared me because it happened so fast with so little warning and was violent like a car crash. Shortly after that I sold the Hobie and bought a Prindle 16

My next pitchpole was 10 years later on a Tornado that I borrowed from a sailing buddy on Rickenbacker Cswy down in Miami. We traded boats, his T for my P19 and we sailed off together. Upon reaching a landmark (Vizcaya, IIRC) we both tacked and headed downwind. It was blowing and I left the sail a little too hard and dove the lee bow pretty bad and went over diagonally. It was kind of a slow motion pitchpole though compard to the Hobie incident; no injuries or boat damage. I never did pitchpole any of my Prindles, though I came close on the P18 once while sailing in rough surf from Captiva to Sanibel down off SW Florida.

Jimbo

Granted I've only been out on my nacra 3 times (once with strong winds) - but pitchpoling just seems like less of a threat with this boat. The hulls stay well above water and seem buoyant enough that it would take some pretty big waves and a tight turn to sink one.

I think the lesson here is: don't tack too fast with a late 70's hobie 14 in strong winds and choppy water!

Depends on waves and wind. We get a lot of both so stuffing a hull happens a lot. I've rarely stuffed one hard enough that the boat cartwheeled. Maybe twice in 5 years. But for where we sail, wave action and wind... it is pretty common.