Solo righting a SC 17

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T Peterson
Professional
Posts: 69
Joined: October 14th, 2010, 4:00 am
Boat Make/Model: Supercat 17
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Solo righting a SC 17

Post by T Peterson »

Hi folks

I have tipped over and righted my Hobie 14, then my Hobie 16 and now my SC 17 more times than I can count. I am quite good at it, actually. But, today was a new experience.

In modest winds, just barely whitecaps , trapezing by myself, I got all crosswise and tipped over.

I first tried to right the boat alone but did not have enough wind, or weight - I weigh 180. Both sheets were loose. The wind dropped to less than whitecaps.

Then, since my boat is equipped with the shroud-lengthening system I climbed up on the mast and pulled the upper shroud pin and tried again. The hull came over center like it is supposed to but I still could not get the rig to come over. By the way, I have never done this before because every time I have tipped over I have had a crew. I had the righting line over the top hull for maximum leverage and had my body just out of the water for max leverage. I just could not get the rig over.

A helper jumped out of a nearby boat, swam over and after I re-pinned the shroud to the normal position, she and I easily got the boat to come over, just like it is supposed to.

I am wondering what I did wrong and/or what I should have done differently to right the boat alone.

I gave some thought to what I would have done without any help at all and I think I would have lowered the main sail and fastened it to the tramp to have less to lift.

All thoughts and comments welcome.
Mac M
Professional
Posts: 232
Joined: June 13th, 2012, 5:05 am
Boat Make/Model: SC17
Location: Lugoff, SC

Re: Solo righting a SC 17

Post by Mac M »

I had a similar experience a couple weeks ago, picked up a 17 last fall and sailed for the first time solo. I flipped leaving the cove of the sail club due to a dumb mistake, wind was 11 with gusts in the high teens. I too was solo and tried to right it without releasing the shrouds since there was ample wind, no luck. I quickly climbed and released the shrouds. I could get the mast just out of the water, but couldn’t get it past the needed point. I kept trying but eventually but was being blown back towards land. When the water got shallow enough I had to jump off and hold it. No boat traffic so I was stuck. Eventually I walked it to shore, waded to the top of the mast and walked it over until I righted it in someone’s yard..... I weigh 160

I found my problem once it was righted. Apparently I didn’t do as good a job as I thought sealing the mast. Water was shooting out of an old river hole at the mast base. I bedded one of the foam plugs in the mast tip that Tom sells with 3m 5200 as he specifys, guess its coming in around the hounds.

We flipped my old SC20 one time with the wind blowing in the high teens. I climbed it and released the shrouds and jumped off. My buddy was pulling in the righting line and he righted it by himself with next to no effort. He weighed close to 200 I’d guess.
T Peterson
Professional
Posts: 69
Joined: October 14th, 2010, 4:00 am
Boat Make/Model: Supercat 17
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Re: Solo righting a SC 17

Post by T Peterson »

My mast is well sealed and does not take on water - but it was a good suggestion.

I just did an amazing thing - I went into the other room and read the SuperCat manual !!

The manual recommends rolling up the jib (I did not do that).

The manual also recommends the mainsail be cleated with 4 to 6 ft of slack. I did not do that either.

I normally do not like to have the mainsail cleated because I have had the boat blow right back over on a very windy day and once or twice it tried to sail away - unsuccessfully - since my cardinal rule of capsizing and righting is to make sure I have a death grip on something at all times.

But, yesterday it was not that windy so I could have/should have cleated the main as directed.

If I get a chance and feel like tipping the boat over for no reason on a medium wind day, I'll try this again and follow these directions. Until then, any advice is still welcome.
Mac M
Professional
Posts: 232
Joined: June 13th, 2012, 5:05 am
Boat Make/Model: SC17
Location: Lugoff, SC

Re: Solo righting a SC 17

Post by Mac M »

Found this in an old thread, posted by Bill. Think I’ve heard it called power righting. I guess it would work on the smaller cats? Maybe we can get some clarification....


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.
Bill Roberts
Expert
Posts: 515
Joined: November 17th, 2003, 9:13 pm
Location: Stuart, Florida

Re: Solo righting a SC 17

Post by Bill Roberts »

I read these descriptions of trying to use the righting system on any SC and I don't hear anyone say they !. opened the shroud lever and 2. pulled the pin that extends the shroud. Then and only then can one person right the boat. Opening the shroud lever does nothing to help the geometry of righting a beach cat. Opening the shroud lever takes the tension out of the rig so that the shroud extension pin can be pulled. This is the one that changes the overturned boat system geometry so that one can right the boat. You have got to pull TWO pins. Pulling the first pin and opening the lever just makes it possible to pull the second pin. Pulling the second pin, the shroud extension pin. this is the one that makes it possible to easily right the boat.

This righting system requires two important things about the condition of the boat relative to boat maintenance. 1. Some of these 20 to 30 year old boats need to have the mast top resealed. Sealant materials do dry out with age. 2. The shroud extension wire must be the correct length. Some of these wires on old boats were replaced by a previous owners when they replaced the shrouds. If this wire is too short, the righting system won't work.
Check with the factory for the correct length shroud extension wire and how to install it .
T Peterson
Professional
Posts: 69
Joined: October 14th, 2010, 4:00 am
Boat Make/Model: Supercat 17
Contact:

Re: Solo righting a SC 17

Post by T Peterson »

Hi Bill

Thanks for your response and suggestions. I did release the Hayfield lever and then did pull the shroud extender pin. The upper hull then came over center as it is supposed to. I just could not get the mast to come up.

The mast is water tight.

As to the length of the shroud extender - now we will never know. A month or so later, one shroud snapped at the compression fitting and I got new standing rigging from Tom Haberman. ( I called Tom, talked over my options, and had a full set of standing rigging in my mailbox two days later! )

On my list of things to do next summer is to go out with a pal on a warm day with some wind and try a couple experiments to figure it out. As I mentioned earlier, I did not roll up the jib. And, a previous post here suggests I try power righting which I also could do.

On a side note - after your post on Nacras I Googled some stuff and ended up on YouTube (of course) and found some video of recent races.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pehYM0RfyyU

We used to see some Nacras when we raced in the old days but I don't see them much anymore. We always thought the boats were too fussy and the skippers were snobs. So much for getting along with others...
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