Adventure In Sailing

The story about this past weekend's sailing adventure is starting to get out so I figured I might as well post my reflections on what happened.

This past Saturday, me, Allison, and Mike took Alex, Jina, and Eric out sailing down at Long Beach. They were our first real non-sailing guests we've taken out on the water. When we arrived at Leeway we were told to be careful out on the water because the conditions were pretty tough being there were intermittent winds with strong gusts. Honestly, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the warning. The three of us sailors decided I would take Jina & Alex; Mike & Allison would take Eric in our respective boats. We shoved off of the dock and were off. Everything was going just fine until about 10 minutes into the sail.

We were on a port tack (wind coming over the left side of the boat) on a closed reach (about 60 degrees off from heading directly into the wind). We sailed past our mark (a buoy) I wanted to tack (turn through the wind) around. The three of us were all sitting on the port side when we began the tack. I think I had just come underneath the boom when all of a sudden I felt the boat heel hard over to the port side and the next thing I knew I was standing up on the inside part of the boat's bench. I yelled for everyone to get their weight up and over the starboard side of the boat that was coming more and more out of the water but by then the wind, I think, was pushing the boat over. I couldn't keep my grip and fell into the water, Alex immediately followed. Jina, not knowing how to swim but wearing a lifevest, clung to the starboard side of the boat now passing 90 degrees to the surface of the water. Because of her weight on the boat, the boat continued to turn until she was completely in the water and the boat now turtled (the boat was completely inverted with the mast in the water).


With the boat turtled and all of us in the water, I turned my attention to Jina whom I knew could not swim. I found her clinging to the boat for dear life and told her to keep hanging on. I quickly eyeballed the situation and then told Alex we may have to try and overturn the boat ourselves, while secretly hoping someone from the Leeway staff would come out to help us. As I turned my head towards the dock, I thankfully saw two staff, Bernadette and Mark coming out to help us. They arrived on the scene in less than a minute.

They pulled alongside us and we got Jina and Alex into the boat and from there Mark and I began trying to get the boat uprighted. A minute or so later Carol, another staff person arrived and began coaching us on how to get it upright. We ended up getting over two more lines from underneath and over the side of the boat to use as pulleys for getting the mast dislodged out of the mud. After a few minutes of rocking we got the boat over! Except the boat continued to go over until it was turtled again almost falling on top of Alex taking it with him. We went through the motions again and got it free a few more minutes later. The staff tied the boat up to the boat they took out to get us and brought us back to the dock.

We all made it. No one suffered any injuries. We just got very wet and cold. Thankfully, we had brought a change of clothes and towels in case such a thing happened. The boat escaped damage except for the mast being covered with mud. Surprisingly, Jina said she'd come out and try sailing with us again. And why not? She's now seen the worst a capsize can get.

Looking back on the incident I think there a few things that happened that caused the capsize. 1) I didn't think to get myself and the crew fast enough from the port to starboard side to counteract the shifting heel of the boat because our side, the high side, in a few seconds became the low side through the turn. 2) Possible wind gust and shift from the starboard side could have pushed the boat over even faster. 3) Jina's hanging onto the starboard side bringing it down into the water causing the turtling. I do not blame Jina for this as I believed her safety overrode my ordering her into the water because of her lack of knowledge of swimming. I wanted to try and keep her out of the water for as long as possible to lessen the chances of her possible drowning. A turtled boat versus a drowned friend? I'll take the turtled boat.

For me, I've learned a lot. 1) Three people in a boat on a windy day can be very difficult to manage especially when only one of them has some experience. Next time, the ratio should be two experienced sailors to one inexperienced sailor in a boat. 2) Weight positioning has a huge effect on sailing dynamics. 3) Always wear a lifevest, even if you know how to swim. 4) If I fall in the water, my boat shoes will stay on my feet and glasses with a neckstrap will stay on my face. 5) Always bring a change of clothes. 6) Pay attention to the weather.

I hope to get back out on the water sometime soon and to develop these skills I've learned. As scary as that experience was, I made it through and still don't want to give up sailing. Beware if I ever invite you to come sailing with me! I can at least guarantee it will be memorable.