Righting a Catamaran

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Bill Roberts
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Location: Stuart, Florida

Righting a Catamaran

Post by Bill Roberts »

Give me three ways to right a catamaran???
1.
2.
3.
Mac M
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by Mac M »

Hiking out using a righting line
Having a power boat pull you over (have had to do that from turtle with a mast that wasn't sealed)
Power righting?

Seems I've heard mention of power righting on here, something about stepping on your mainsheet and the boat righting? That doesn't sound right but that's what I seem to remember. Would live to hear about it as I'm nervous about having to right my SC20 weighing only 155lbs and my crew weighing about 120lbs.
havliii
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by havliii »

1. Use the Hyfield to extend the shroud, a Supercat can be righted solo in most any conditions via this method. (Been there, done that)
2. Use a righting bucket for additional weight and leverage. (commonly done solo round here)
3. Sail it upright, one crew in the water holds the bow head to wind, second crew uses righting line to get some air under the cleated main sail, and look out boys, up she sails! (again been there, done that) Once air gets under the main, the sail has lift and will literally sail herself vertical, this is exactly the same principle as a waterstart on a sailboard.
4. Use 2 crew members on the righting line, lean back, works if the crew has about 325+ in poundage.
Bill Roberts
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by Bill Roberts »

Hey Guys,
OK, I see two systems/methods mentioned so far.
One is using a counter weight to generate a torque slightly greater than and opposite the torque of the wet mast and sails to right the boat. The counter weight torque can be generated by the weight of people or people plus a large bag of water. you can hang from a righting line or hang from a pole or whatever you want to. They are all the same. The boat is righted sideways with a counter torque.

Another method mentioned was assist by power boat, righting the boat sideways as above with assist.

The second system I have used on the RC30 out in the ocean is to make the mainsail generate enough lift to right the boat. Step one is swim the bows into the wind. A drag chute on the bow will do this also.
With bows into the wind, one hull floating in the water and the other is 16 ft up in the air. (mast floats)
One person goes to the back of the boat,
Stand on the traveler car and push it down to the hull in the water.
Sheet in the mainsail.
The mainsail will inflate and raise the rig/right the boat.
AS the boat is coming up, rotating, at about 45 degrees or so, The person on the traveler car
should roll forward onto the tramp and get off and away from the traveler car and immediately uncleat the mainsheet.
Put the helm hard to leeward and stop the boat from moving. Slight intrim on the main is necessary to keep the bows slightly into the wind. Drag chute will stop/hold the boat.
The other crew members swim to the boat and climb on.


Now there is a third method used to right very large catamarans. What is it?
The boat comes up in perfect condition, no damage. The Oracle rescue team did not know this method.
The first Oracle boat was destroyed because they did not know how to right the boat. An example of people not knowing how to do their job and it cost millions of dollars.
Mac M
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by Mac M »

Guess I had to do some testing since we've been talking about righting. A friend and i went out on my 20 today in some higher winds (14-17 with gusts in the 20's) and pitch poleed the thing. My drag chute hasn't come in yet so I couldn't try the power righting so used the righting levers. When I pulled the final pin the thing basically righted itself with a yank from my crew on the righting line. I was standing in the spin pole trying to climb down so I just hung on!
Bill Roberts
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by Bill Roberts »

Good show, Mac M!
Let's put a little polish on righting with the shroud extension system.
You evidently had climbed up on the bean/spin pole and had extended the upper shroud. That's good.
Now evidently your crew immediately began pulling on the righting line before you were back in position standing on the in the water hull. He should wait until you are down. You go stand at the main beam facing aft. As the boat comes up, you slide your outside foot and leg over the hull and sit down on the hull as it rotates. Keep your upper body vertical. Now the boat is righted and you are sitting on top of the hull facing aft. Was that easy enough?
Now advice for the crew on the righting line. When the one crew person is back down from extending the shroud and is standing in position on the main beam facing aft, now it is time to begin pulling on the righting line. At first pull on the righting line gently. Then gradually increase the pull. You want the slack extended in the upper shroud to be pulled tight slowly and gently. Not with a big JERK, WHAM! It is possible to break something with the jerk. The jerk isn't necessary. The jerk might be possible to break the shroud or the extension. Now you are in a big mess and can't get home on your own. Treat the boat and rigging gently while righting. AND, don't head down wind with the shroud extended. Keep to bows slightly upwind with no load in the extended shroud; keep the helm down and a slight load in the mainsail leech. This will push the transoms downwind and keep the bows slightly upwind. Now the shroud extension can be reconnected and the lever closed with no load in them and the Avibank pins reinstalled.
Mac M
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by Mac M »

Noted.

What's the best way to drive the boat downwind when the wind is up like that? We weren't using the spinnaker, just main amd jib. I have a cat with a spin and it seems we are able to bear away when the gusts hit amd drive out of it. Yesterday the boat just seemed to bury the bows when the gust hit amd eventually it stood up on its nose. I had the traveler most of the way out I believe and the main was eased out pretty good. We had neglected to pull the boards up, maybe it was tripping over them some? Would sheeting the main in tighter help? Traveler too?

It was a good day, the old girl felt solid and was scooting along even though we were sailing pretty conservatively, pinching up wind. My crew hadn't been on a cat in several years. Next time we will let her run some and bring the spin!
phoeve
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by phoeve »

Hey Mac,

We pitchpoled our SC20 years ago. We were enjoying burying the hulls when a larger wave hit the front beam stopping the hulls but allowing the sails, rig, and 2 on the wire to continue, ending in a perfect pitchpole. It stood rudders up for a moment, before rolling on its side. The 2 folks on the wire flew forward when the brakes came on, adding to the forward (pitchpole) moment. I climbed up, released the Highfield lever and shroud extender, and righted the boat with 1 hand ! We sailed away with no damage whatsoever. These boats are Very well engineered and built.

I wonder if your front beam, spin rig, and forward tramp caught a wave and "tripped" the boat ?

We sail a ARC22 now. The extra 2 feet of buoyancy up front keeps the bows up when driving hard. In heavy air, the boat accelerates like a Viper. The lee hull seems to submerge more horizontally, instead of pitching forward and burying the bow, when the boat really powers up in heavy air.

Come on up to Lanier and try it out !

Peter
Mac M
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by Mac M »

I guess the forward tramp, spin pole, and beam could have hit a wave, it was really lumpy out there.

We come to Lanier sailing club fairly frequently and race A cats or our F16. I've never seen your boat there, assume you are across the way at Aqua Land (think that's the name of it)?
phoeve
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by phoeve »

Yep - we are at Aqualand.
SJBrit
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by SJBrit »

So, is method #3 the safe powerboat assist? Hulls upwind, roll the cat onto its back, bows pointing in the air, rudders down, mast pointing downwind. Get a line up on the forestay bridle and have a powerboat pull that line upwind carefully? That way you get the boat up with very little stress on the rigging. Seems like the Oracle crew ripped that boat apart because of the stress they put on everything trying to yank it up sideways.
Bill Roberts
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by Bill Roberts »

SJ,
The Oracle boat began being destroyed when the Oracle rescue team pulled it over on its side. The wing was not strong enough to support the torque caused by the weight of the upper hull. The wing began to break and the upper hull fell on the broken mast/wing parts. This knocked holes in the deck and the upper hull filled with water and sank. It was held to the other hull by the cross beams. This is the way the boat was towed back to the dock, slow and easy and a tangle of rigging and wing following behind. Obviously Oracle should have never been turned on its side in the first place. Oracle is not a beach cat.

Here's a way to right a trutled large catamaran. Tie a rope bridle to the main beam at the hulls. The bridle comes together well aft of the rear beam and becomes a single line to a power boat, Turn the boat/cat with transoms pointing into the wind if necessary. Begin towing the boat backwards very slowly. The rig underwater will cause much drag and the boat will began to rotate about the main beam, transoms go down and bows begin coming up. As a precaution, there can be lines from the cat's bows to power boats well out to the sides of the cat. The purpose of these two boats and support lines is to keep the cat hulls vertical as the process continues . I have seen it done without these support lines/boats. The main power boat continues pulling the cat into the wind backwards and the cat continues to rotate. The hulls go vertical and the mast/rig comes out of the water. The main power boat continues to pull. As the big cat rotates past vertical (side view) soon the bows will come down to the water on their own with a smooth and soft SWIIIISH. No jerks. During this process. It is important to keep things moving in a smooth continuous process. No stops and starts. No jerking. Keep it smooth and easy and the boat comes up with little or no damage.

Oracle could have been righted using this method with no hull damage. The wing mylar could have been replaced in a week or two and the boat could have been sailing again. Attempting to right Oracle like a beach cat was a multi million dollar mistake.
Last edited by Bill Roberts on July 30th, 2016, 11:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Bill Roberts
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Re: Righting a Catamaran

Post by Bill Roberts »

Mac M,
It sounds like you were sailing dead downwind, straight downwind, prior to the pitchpole. The main was way out against the shroud and the wind was straight behind you. Sailing downwind this way is slow and dangerous. You have no way to depower. You can't let the main out anymore or enough. That is the way you sail a monohull downwind and it is not the way you sail a performance catamaran downwind. To sail a fast cat downwind, first take off on a beam reach. The relative wind will go forward and make you bare off to keep the sails full. You may be able to let the main out slightly more but keep the relative wind slightly ahead of abeam. You won't sail straight downwind but you will get to a downwind point sailing the boat like this quicker than sailing dead downwind. Sailing with the relative wind abeam, you can always let the main out to prevent pitchpole. If you get close to pitchpole and the boat slows down, then you will have to head up slightly and re accelerate and bare off again to sail deep again. Sailing downwind in a fresh breeze is testing. You will sail a slight "S" shaped course downwind. Keep the speed up and keep the bows up and sail as low as you can. You will get downwind in a hurry.

This is an example of where catamaran sailing is more tactical and more challenging than monohull sailing and monohull sailors don't even know this is going on. If anything catamaran sailing is more tactical sailing downwind than sailing upwind. Sailing downwind we have to turn our hat around. If you get headed, that's good because it takes you closer to the downwind mark. If we get a lift, that's bad so jibe. The lift takes you away from the mark.
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