1st Capsize

So I capsized my Hobie 16 this weekend, semi on purpose, and besides the yard sale left in our wake all was fine. My crew and I weigh about 325lbs and righting the boat was somewhat of a struggle. We first tried pointing the boat into the wind then changed to the top of the tramp and mast at about 45 degrees to the wind, which worked. It was blowing about 5-10 and it took about 15mins to get it back up. Question is, is that about right or should she pop right back up and is it easier if the wind is blowing harder?
I'm sure this won't be my last capsize, so any tips are welcome.

I also had my first capsize this weekend with my hobie 16. The hardest part was getting the mast out of the mud. Not sure how deep it was but it was angled about 45 degree down. The wind was really blowing. We angled it directly into the wind. It popped up right away and capsized in the other direction. The second time we angled it about 45 degrees to the wind and it still popped right up but stayed upright. We had about the same weight as you and if it pops up half as easy with lighter winds I'll be very happy. Hopefully I won't have the same problem as you.

I would say somewhere between 5-15 min. would be about normal to right the boat and get underway.

It is amazing how quickly a person gets tired. 10min. can seem like 30min.

Getting the boat sorted out and in the correct position to right is the most time consuming part. Actually righting the boat should go quickly. Get the bow such that the wind is blowing about 45 deg. between the bow and the mast. Make sure both sheets are uncleated. Make sure your righting line is the correct length (too short and you won't get good leverage, too long and the crew hits the water before the boat is up).

Getting good at righting takes a little practice. The more you do it, the faster . Field test the length of your righting line, crew at approx. 45 degrees to the water is about optimum. (Someone did a study of this years ago. It may have been in one of the old Hotlines?) Also, the sea state has more effect than the wind speed on righting ease, IMHO.

Thanks for the info. It sounds like my line was too short. Both my crew and I were standing alomost straight up. I'm going to move the line from the transom up to the rear pylon and see how that works.

My boat's name is Tumbleweed. It seems like we flip way too often. A couple of tricks I use to make righting easier: (1) After a quick crew check, I make my way around the boat and try to board the pontoon and do my best to keep it from going turtle. (2) I retrieve my righting line (3/8 inch 14 foot long), which I keep in the halyard pouch with one end tied to the dolphin striker. (3) I have a knot tied in the righting line, so I can hook it to my harness, and lean back standing on the keel. I have found that once the sails start coming up the boat will automatically turn into the wind, so I just wait for the boat to come around. (4) I get my crew to hold the line and lean back against me, which will add enough weight to bring the boat upright. (5) When the boat comes over, both you and your crew need to grab the dolphin striker, to keep your boat from flipping on over the other way.

I have a friend who carries two righting lines. It take the load off the skipper if the crew has a line to hook on to their harness. Gee, I should do this.

Good sailing,
David

I like the elastic shock cord for a righting line. It's immediately available when I need it, but out of the way when I don't. Righting methods are numerous and opinions abound. They're plenty of old threads on the subject.

The idea of an occasional intentional capsize is a good one. It's not just weight but technique that is most helpful in righting the boat. Just like anything else.. it takes practice. Make sure your mast is waterproof. If you can't, then use a bob.

Maybe I am the only one that does this, but I would venture to guess I tip over on purpose twice a year at least. I think it is fun to dump the boat and take a swim for a while.

If your mast is well sealed and you boat is stable, flip it and do some diving off the top hull for a while. It is fun! My crews always say "What if we flip". My rebuttle "Lets find out". More times than not they think it is fun and are no longer scared of the boat.

Add another first capsize to the list. We pitchpoled pretty dramatically (at least I thought so) on Saturday. I was surprised just how easy is was to right the boat with the elastic stretch cord. We were underway in minutes in spite of a couple of broken fingers and bruises.

Broken fingers?! OW!!

Ow is right. I think I got hung up on either a shroud or a bridle wire (?). Like I said, it was pretty dramatic and happened really fast. Positive learning experience...I guess. My friend had an interesting bruise on his waist. We tried to match it to a feature on the boat but to no avail.

Hehehe, I remember my first pitchpole. It was on my G-Cat 5.7M (Amazingly I never pitched the H-16!). We were on a very broach reach, hauling butt, and I saw the gust coming but waited 1/10th of a second too late to bear off. My crew couldn't get the jib to uncleat and the bows just dove for the bottom. Once that forward trampoline got into the water the boat just went verticle. My crew got ejected but I held onto a foot-loop. The boat went down all the way to the mast beam (and G-Cats have very high-volume hulls!) before I let go the loop and slid down into the sail. It settled onto it's side in the typical capsize position. The actuall pitchpole took about 1 second.

The best pitchpole I've ever witness was buy a fat guy soloing a H16. I was putting around with about 5 people on my G-Cat and watching him blast around the shallow bay. I kept seeing the bow stuff a bit and knew it was inevitable. He managed to do it in a pretty shallow spot, less than 3 feet deep. The leeward bow went down, struck bottom, and then the whole boat pivoted on the bow and came back down, still upright, facing into the wind The guy never neft his little corner of the trampoline the whole time. When it was over he just sheeted in and took off again, but didn't push the boat as hard for the rest of the day