Nov 28 2009
Plan B Can Come in Handy When Sailing Too!
Plan B has been on everyone’s mind in one way or another these past dozen months or so. But as a sailor, I like to have a Plan B every moment I am on the water; when leaving the dock, out on the water and returning after a great day. All of these moments require a “what if” plan because even a sublime moment can turn into chaos, the next, when utilizing the miracles of Ma Nature.
Take this holiday weekend. Turkey day itself was 85 and a fairly moderate wind day. Friday dawned with a sky coated in “mares tails”. A sure sign that change was a thing we could believe in. I was on the docks early, releasing the Santa Ana wind spring lines (as they hold the boats hard against the “opposite” direction these winds come from). A breeze was coming up before it “normally” does. By the time I got back to my house it had picked up from wisps to a steady breeze. There were a lot of small boats enjoying a warm morning in the harbor and out on the ocean. A peppy little Catalina 22 with full sail blasted past an old salty ketch that was reefed down. The old salt looked incredulously at Peppy as it tore by. Within 15 minutes the ocean went from flat to a “pasture full of sheep” and the wind went from 10 to 20 knots.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Peppy Catalina 22 coming back very fast. “By the Lee”, they were careening and completely out of control. Apparently they had gotten the boat turned around somehow and were now drag racing deeply downwind, back into the harbor. Other boats were turning hard one way or another to get out of its way. All of a sudden the little sailboat blasted, full power, headlong into the jetty rocks.
It was only then that they decided to depower the sails by lowering them. A good plan B could have included releasing the main and jib sheets prior to running into the rocks. At the very least, they might have slowed down some before the crash! Perhaps the sheets became jammed in a tangled mess and they couldnt release them…that is exactly what that Plan B knife you always wear when sailing is for. Some times there isn’t any time to make your decision. If you have been thinking about that decision as a Plan B already it is easier to execute if needed. Its also very easy to critique this incident from the comfort of a couch!
Soon the cavalry had arrived and the crew of the little yacht had donned their life jackets. While I am not a freak about the wearing of PFD’s by other people, this is one of those times it might have made sense to already have them on…
In only a few minutes time the boat became fully engaged with the rocks…heaving violently with every surge of the swell. This action would break it up in an hour if it couldnt be retrieved.
After two unsuccessful attempts to free the boat with the Harbor Patrol Rib, the Coasties brought in the heavy equipment and had success on the second attempt.
Several Plan B’s would have come in handy on this day for that skipper. The only real lesson here is that developing an ongoing Plan B of what you will do if it all goes to heck can come in handy at any time.
[...] Plan B has been on everyone’s mind in one way or another these past dozen months or so. But as a sailor, I like to have a Plan B every moment I am on the water; when leaving the dock, out on the water and returning after a great day. All of these moments require [...] Direct Link [...]
That’s one scary story and some great photos that should give all of us Channel Islands sailors pause.
Chris article made me thing long and hard and eventual caused me to write PLAN ZERO. See that at http://www.sailchannelislands.com/california-sailing/
Hey Dan,
As you pointed out in your post – while releasing the jib sheets would depower the jib, releasing the mainsheet could in fact produce MORE power to the sail depending on how deep downwind the boat was. In an emergency my Plan B on the Catalina 22, anyway, would be to release the outhaul. In watching these folks they had less than 30 seconds and probably more like 10, to assemble any sort of plan to depower. The boat was completely out of control on them. Im sure the Skipper thought it was just another day at CI when he left. Especially if he didnt listen to the WX statement on the VHF. Like I said, it went from very light breezes to a hard wind in very short order – in about the time it took to run out the last part of the harbor entrance along the Jetty he would get to know so well only moments later. Interestingly, the day after (Sat) got so tenuous the harbor patrol went out to the entrance and turned small boats back in as it was breaking across both entrances!#%&