Outta Control on a Death Roll

Finally some decent wind! I put work higher on my priority list than sailing today and was an hour late for practice. I should try not to do that again. Somebody needs to set an example for the team. I should show them how to rig faster too.

It was gusty tonight, but not too shifty. We tacked on the whistle for quite some time- Cameron, Dan, and I. I was gaining on them, especially Cameron. Kelsey said that it was because I was tacking smoothly. Dan certainly had me beat on boat speed. I was overpowered and he was wishing he had a full rig. What I need to work on here is remembering to sheet out a little to flatten the boat quickly. Also, when sheeting back in, I tend to want to reach into the boat to grab the sheet. This way I get a good pull in a position where my arms are strong. It is a very bad habit because the boat heels again when I reach in. Not fast. I must work on the overhead pull, maybe in lighter winds to gain strength first.

What goes up must come down.The wind seemed to pick up further for the downwind with some outrageous gusts. This time gybing on the whistle, which, to be honest, scared me. I did the first few successfully. I remembered to do an S turn and steer as the sail comes across. Then on one gybe things got violent. The mainsheet slipped out of my hand. The sheet was tied to the hiking strap but it was too long and the sail went in front of the mast. Fionnlagh rocked wildly, gunwale to gunwale, pitching forward. Death roll. I managed to grab the mainsheet between the cockpit block and the turning block on the boom. I hauled it in and Fionnlagh stopped the Death Roll. I was still wildly out of control. Dan was in front of me Somehow, he came out of his gybe on a reach, and was at about 90 degrees to me. Fionnlagh was surfing straight for Dan. I was trying to regain control but this all happened in a few seconds. After grabbing the mainsheet, the first thing I saw was the port side of Dan's transom and little hope of avoiding a nasty collision. But Fionnlagh came through for me, with his bow leaping into the air, over Dan's rudder. Yes, OVER the rudder. The timing was absolutely perfect. Dan's boat sailed out of the way just in time and his rudder never made contact with Fionnlagh's hull. "Oh my God!" Kelsey was freaking out in the coach boat about how close that was. I had other things to worry about.

You'd think I would learn. A few gybes later, I dropped the mainsheet again. Lucky for Dan he was aft this time. The nearest object was the barge. Wild rolling. At least I was well positioned in the cockpit with inside leg hooked under the hiking strap and outside leg forward with knee bent, facing the boom. Which by this point was waving all over the place. I grabbed the mainsheet and pulled. Wow. No capsize. GUST! Rock and roll. We are surfing! It felt highly unstable. Pull on the rudder. I didn't feel too comfortable heeling to windward to reduce the pull, but it didn't take much. It was very hard to hold. Fionnlagh tended to heel even farther in the gusts, carving through the water. We carried on like this and ran into the bay. I'm not sure I've ever gone that fast on a run. I probably did in Vic, but this felt much wilder.

Kelsey reminded me at the dock that I should take two big pulls going into the gybe and that might smooth things out a bit.