Pitch Poling

[WindHawk]

In the "A picture is worth plenty of experience catagory": a classic pitch pole (photo by Eric Simonson)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/WindHawk/crash.jpg

[Alan D. Hyde]

Did he drive his bow into, and trip on, a wave?

Alan

[WindHawk]

Details were sketchy. I assume that's what happened, but those are mighty small waves to be surfing off of. They may have just ridden the bow under.

On edit: look at the hull shape at the transom, she was built to surf. They're called 29er's or something to that effect, the bow looks like one of those flying saucers that kids ride down snow hills, low & shallow.

On second edit: also notice, no one is onboard any longer... :eek:

[ 07-11-2005, 02:40 PM: Message edited by: WindHawk ]

[Meerkat]

Good old SF Bay! :D

[John B]

an oldie but a goody. Beken photo.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid177/p7195e0e71a17a6adcf20a96f6c283600/f34dc55b.jpg

[Ken Hutchins]

"Watch this I can go faster than maximum hull speed just by surfing down a wave." :D

[brian.cunningham]

Rent WIND I love the race with the smaller boats.

[Figment]

Been there and done that innumerable times in my beachcat days. Riding the trap around the forestay is an experience not to be missed.

[John B]

The old cheese cutter manouvere eh. yup.

[Wild Wassa]

I haven't pitch polled ... but I've had a few CB stalls at speed. Three of them in 10 minutes once. I haven't had one in the last few years ... nore do I want to have another.

We pulled the CB which fixed further stalls when they happened. We were free running trying to get off the water during a mini cyclone which swept across Lake Eucumbene, up here in the mountains ... and then did a rudder stall. It wasn't a matter of feeling the high or low side of the stall, it was serious and we had little say in it.

For those who might not know what a CB stall at speed is like, it is like having a mongrel dog on a chain that runs full speed at a postman and the dog forgets that it is on a chain and the postman is just out of it's reach.

Warren.

[ 07-12-2005, 05:18 AM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]

[bamamick]

I actually did the 'around the forestay' thing while crewing on a 470 once. Man, what a mess. Got a nice little mark from the headstay as I recall.

The guy driving the 470 was a good friend of mine. We were really too heavy to sail together, but we did have a few good races. My friend gave up sailing when he became a Marine helicopter pilot. Haven't spoken to him in a long time. Good memories.

Does anyone remember the poster from (I think) Yachting magazine back in the '70's (yes, Yachting magazine used to care about something other than 1 million dollar motor yachts!)? The one with the guys on the 505 doing the gybe? We used to call it the 'Chinese fire drill' Lines everywhere. A huge mess. A friend of mine and I looked at that drawing closely and found that the guys were executing the gybe perfectly. There are just a whole bunch of lines on a racing dinghy, and sometimes they look messy even when they are doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing.

Mickey Lake

[skuthorp]

Pitch poled a Jolly boat dinghy in Port Phillip bay once trying to outrun a squall. 2 up, on trapeze. As I flew through the air pulling the harness pin I'll swear I saw the masthead clear of the water. Ripped out most of the deck fittings and the hull was sprung, but we salvaged all the rig later in the day.

[igatenby]

We pitch-poled the Tornado in Middle Harbour years back. My brother was at the helm and my (now) wife was also on board.

I was in the rear footstrap, on trapeze. We were in relatively flat water and approaching 30 knots. The lee bow tripped and I did the 50' circle - well, 20' forward 10' across and 20' back - swinging from a point 25' up. My wife hit the mast at speed and my brother hit her - she was a mess of bruises afterwards.

I had to unclip to avoid a capsize - and I nearly drowned. Di had my lifejacket on. I had a towelling-lined spray jacket with the trap jacket knotted on over the top. I was in the water about 90 seconds and was going down for good when my brother hauled me out. I never wore that jacket on the water again - it was like a weight belt.

I'd class myself as a good swimmer in those days too - and spent 90 minutes swimming in the Harbour one day after another learning experience with the Tornado.
:D

Ian

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Nosedived a 12 foot skiff years ago on the Harbour..going flat out, spinnaker up, both of us out on the trapeze.
Passed a ferry and we were seriously posing, took off on the bow wave and nosedived on the other side.
Lost the mast and rig, which wasn't the worse thing. Everyone on the ferry cheered as we flipped 180 degrees.

[wyndham]

If you really want a ride you need to bury the lee hull of a sixteen foot hobie cat while up on the traps, 18 knots hard on it......

[Alan D. Hyde]

:D

Alan

[JimD]

Originally posted by John B:
an oldie but a goody. Beken photo.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid177/p7195e0e71a17a6adcf20a96f6c283600/f34dc55b.jpgIs this the photo from a few years ago where there was actually a guy at the end of the bowsprit for some reason? Apparently when the bow came up he came back up with it, unharmed :D .

[John B]

Now that you mention it I recall something like that Jim. Although I don't think it had a prod. I remember a sequence of shots as it got the big wiggle on and then the dive klaxons started sounding.

Just talking to John G yesterday. he raced Iorangi in a shorthanded race on saturday. He was fine when it hit but the guys under kites got really beaten up with a 40 or 45 knot squall. 4 broken masts ,12 withdrawals, numerous misc sail damage etc.
He had 2 spectacular wipeouts right beside him.
One was a 9 metre long cat which was going past at about 18 or 20 knots when it stuck its bows in and came to a stop. The stern came up about 40 degrees up from the water. He said its mast collapsed in slo-mo and thats why she didn't go right over. A very near pitchpole .
The other was a totally spectacular broach where a Farr 38 got knocked down so its mast was in the water and the keel came completely out. The boat was held down by the kite. The helmswoman ended up hanging vertically from the lifelines across the cockpit as the boat lay on its side. :eek: It popped up after a minute or so, he said.

I was racing on sunday but we didn't get anything like that.

[ 07-14-2005, 06:20 PM: Message edited by: John B ]

[igatenby]

Passed a ferry and we were seriously posing We had a surprise birthday dinner for Barry last night and we got into a bit of a discussion about sailing and ferries.

Barry was in Auckland for the last America's Cup - sailing the vintage 18 footers that featured in last months WB mag. Between Barry and two of his mates, they had 10 world championships between them. Anyhow - it became a 18' skiff versus the Tornado discussion for a while - and there was some debate about speeds.

We used to overtake the Manly ferries on a beat - and I recalled that they run at 18 knots - Barry thought 14. Either way, the tourist flashbulbs would be popping every time you went past. :D

Ian

[Paul Fitzgerald]

We used to sail out of Greenwich, so the ferries were a bit smaller (slower), but in the late sixties the twelves were about the fastest boats on the harbour, as the sixteens and eighteens had crews of four or more. The biggest cats were quickcats.

[Wild Wassa]

"...and there was some debate about speeds."

68.5 vrs 69 VYC yardstick points, there isn't much room for discussion here ... but to help keep the discussion going, I won't say who has what.

Warren

[igatenby]

We agreed that each had its advantages on particular points - but IIRC, the Tornado used to win the annual Cock of the Harbour races.

Ian

[Andrew S/Y Rocquette]

Originally posted by JimD:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by John B:
an oldie but a goody. Beken photo.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid177/p7195e0e71a17a6adcf20a96f6c283600/f34dc55b.jpgIs this the photo from a few years ago where there was actually a guy at the end of the bowsprit for some reason? Apparently when the bow came up he came back up with it, unharmed :D .</font>[/QUOTE]Bowman was estimated to be 12 feet under, and they came up racing! No damage done, and the following day this yacht won the Britannia Cup, one of the Cowes Week "biggies" This is acually caught on video as well - you can buy it from Beken.

[ 07-15-2005, 04:59 AM: Message edited by: Andrew S/Y Rocquette ]