FAST PASSAGES

[Gringo]

ignore where the wind is in relation to sails. Ignore sails. Turn wheel hard towards windward side. During the turn, the sails will fill with wind from the wrong side, an you will also become hove to.

It is not kind to sails, rigging or mast, and thus is a move beloved by racing crews

What it does do is stop the boat very quickly and very close to the person in the water

Sounds very much like what we came up with during our ASA week in the BVI. I think with the Leopard it was tack into the wind , leave the jib backwinded and slack the main sheet. Something like that. It was the fastest thing we came up with.

But that was a two man crew. What is she going to do when totally rattled and suddenly on a boat moving away from you and she can't ask you for advice.

[therapy]

Sounds very much like what we came up with during our ASA week in the BVI. I think with the Leopard it was tack into the wind , leave the jib backwinded and slack the main sheet. Something like that. It was the fastest thing we came up with.

But that was a two man crew. What is she going to do when totally rattled and suddenly on a boat moving away from you and she can't ask you for advice.

She is going to lose you.

If she finds you and runs over you like you told her to.........she is going to lose you.

Stop whizzing over the side/stern

[pir8ped]

That's right - don't go over! Have a tether that is too short to allow you to go over the side. Clip it to jacklines so you can move fore and aft. I'm putting jackines on either side of the cabin that will allow me to go from the cockpit to the bow and not allow me over the side. If you had a setup like that, and a rule that no-one goes beyond the cockpit without being clipped on, you wouldn't have to consider manoeuvres and fancy electronics.

[georgetheleo]

Pee in a cup

[Peter]

On our boat, another big concern is the boarding ladder. These old Catalacs have a vertical transom, and the ladder that came with this one folds up, and I typically run a small piece of line around it to tie it in the folded up position..

Replace the string with a velcro tie (like a cable tie only made out of velcro). Strong enough to hold the ladder up but weak enough for someone in the water to pull it down.

[Gringo]

I'm not nearly as nervous being in the water near a boat as some might be. I've been in and under a lot of much larger boats in much nastier water than we'll be sailing in. I've freed cables from props, scraped barnacles off transducers at sea, I've been the designated rescue swimmer on some of the scientific cruises. That means the guy who goes in the water for any reason it becomes necessary for someone to jump in the water.

It's scary looking up at big boats floating and splashing water, but it's like being in swells crashing off the rocks... waves are not trying to smash you laterally into anything when you're immersed in them. you're moving up and down in the same water that is lifting the hull. It's a cyclic motion. Splashes are momentary. It's entirely manageable. I don't see swimming between the hulls as being dangerous. try it some time.

That's a great temp solution for the boarding ladder, thanks!

I still want to replace it, but in the meantime, velcro will do it. I was thinking of using bungee in a similar fashion wrapped near the hinge. A swimmer could pull it down. Might have to reload it each time.

[svquintana]

Good luck.
Paul.