LOOSE FEET FLOAT SHIPS
from: Dan Witucki, Evelyn 32-2 "Rush"
Actually we didn't pitch
pole it, but it was about as close as you can
come.Our last boat Stewball (soverel 26) was real squirrely, and would round
up all the time. When we got the evelyn we were pleasently suprised how
stable it was. Until that Chicago race we had never rounded it up in the 5
years we've had it. We were surfing in 12 - 15 foot seas and it was blowing
between 24 - 30 knots. We had our full main up and our 1.5 oz chute. It had
been builing all day. Our first sign of trouble was when we snapped our guy
at the pole ( 3/8 kevlar). We replaced it with another identical one and
that lasted another hour before it snapped also. Then we put on the big one.
Like I said we were surfing down the waves doing 15's quite regularly when
a huge roller came along. We surfed down the wave and buried the nose in the
wave in front of it, putting the nose down and about a foot of water came
rolling across the deck all the way to the cockpit. When this happened, the
wave we had just outrun, picked up the stern of the boat and just dumped us.
At about the same time the sheet line for the chute became entangled
on the
winch with the winch handle; so we fired the halyard. When we got dumped, the
boat was knocked down on the port side. We had the mast in the water,
the main was covered in water and the chute, now with the halyard all the
way out to the knot, 35 feet from the boat was still full. Also for added
exitement the spinnaker pole had somehow detached from the mast, was still
attached to the guy and was flailing around the foredeck.
Did I mention, I'm supposed to take medication for a racing heartbeat?
The deck of the boat sunk down in the water until it was about 2 inches from the companionway. The speedo on the left of the companionway was under water; and our hatchboards were safe and dry down below along with our life raft. This all taking place 30 miles from shore and no other boats within several miles.
We finally managed to fire the guy and bring the chute in by the sheet.
The boat still
did not right itself !! Luckily we had a loose footed main, and as we
brought the main sheet in, the water dumped out the foot of the sail and the
boat righted itself.
We were on our side with the keel out of the water for 2 -3 minutes but it felt considerably longer. In all the excitement the only casualty was a guy that shook off the spinnaker and the windex. ( and a few years off my heart). We had been in first place when we had our mishap. Most of us were a little reluctant to go back to the chute right away so we put up the #3 and did a steady 12. We did this for about 3 hours until we got our nerve back ( and my medication kicked in ), then went back to the chute.
Later that evening was the BIG storm, 70 -80 knot winds and lightning.
But
we were prepared, and my heart skipped along at pleasant pace. We now keep
the liferaft in the cockpit and the hatchboards in place if it's iffy.
