The not so good part of sailing

[ubuysa]

In case anyone thinks a life afloat is always a bed of roses this clip might change your mind. :sailor:

Granted it's a racing yacht that's involved, they are built to be strong enough to last the race and no more (otherwise you're carrying extra weight) it's also from 1995 when racing yacht design was undergoing a lot of changes. The problem was the crew tensioned the running backstays too tight, and that literately bent the hull. It's scary how fast she goes down too.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yau9A7XDHs

 

[steaky360]

That does not look fun!

 

[dogbot]

How can you sleep at night.:sleeping:

 

[Grimezy]

Did I see a Captain trying to go down with his ship and then chickening out at the last second?

Scary stuff though, I would hope that your Yacht is a bit sturdier than that!

 

[ubuysa]

Did I see a Captain trying to go down with his ship and then chickening out at the last second?

Scary stuff though, I would hope that your Yacht is a bit sturdier than that!

Mine is much studier thank you. That was a Formula 1 racing yacht from 1995, so it has about as much in common with my sturdy cruising yacht as a F1 car does with a Ford Mondeo.

 

[Androcles]

Basically it was a hollow and very thin fiberglass shell with a few light weight support struts and two huge sails carrying 8(?) people in rough seas, they were probably having trouble just keeping it upright at the time and with that little bit of mis-handling somethign bad was going to happen. If i remember rightly at one point in that race before this happened they almost called it off because the seas were getting close to being too rough for racing, i remember alot of questions being asked as to why it was allowed to continue, or am i think of another sinking incident in a race?

Despite that i've always wanted to sail in a small yacht, never really had the oportunity though.

 

[ubuysa]

Basically it was a hollow and very thin fiberglass shell with a few light weight support struts and two huge sails carrying 8(?) people in rough seas, they were probably having trouble just keeping it upright at the time and with that little bit of mis-handling somethign bad was going to happen. If i remember rightly at one point in that race before this happened they almost called it off because the seas were getting close to being too rough for racing, i remember alot of questions being asked as to why it was allowed to continue, or am i think of another sinking incident in a race?

Despite that i've always wanted to sail in a small yacht, never really had the oportunity though.

Yes, that's about the size of it, though backstay tension was almost certainly a factor. Changing backstay tension bends the mast and helps change the mainsail shape, over-tensioning tends to bend the boat though. That, and the choppy seas, were what did for her I think.

Find your nearest RYA training centre and do the Competent Crew course, it's a week long practical course on a small yacht. You'll learn how to be a useful and safe member of a crew. Once you have that ticket most skippers will be happy to take you on as crew for a weekend or day sail. Lots of skippers are looking for crew but obviously they want people who already know a bit. Comp Crew will give you that.

If you really want to experience fast, frantic and fun sailing, then find a dinghy sailing school. You'll learn much more about using the wind there than on a cruising boat. You'll get a lot wetter though.