Stuffed bow vs Spinnaker = Dismasting (and man overboard)

[rbgarr]

http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/0708/

[John E Hardiman]

I bet if the main had been all the way up he wouldn't have lost the rig.

[Figment]

I'm not so sure of that. They appear to have been running fairly deep, the main was pretty well squared-off. I don't think it would have done much to absorb the load.

[rbgarr]

John,

Do you think it was a compression break of the mast at the spinnaker halyard?

[Noah]

It sure looks like the top of the mast is missing in picture #2. Do these boats have runners? (They must right?) If not it's pretty clear that the mast loaded up, and there was nothing to support the mast at the Spin. I actually wonder if the main being reefed helped things, not hurt them.

[rbgarr]

I bet they do have runners, and I imagine the sequence was:

-Bow stuff
-Backstay breaks
-Mast folds forward at spinnaker halyard
-Mast buckles at gooseneck?
-Mast collapses to windward on runner (man on foredeck falls overboard when windward shroud goes slack)

Kind of like watching a house of cards fall.

[Figment]

I'll take the other side of the bet.
No runners.
Backstay intact.
Mast snapped at the spinnaker hound.

Man overboard primarily because the boat stopped dead from 15kts.

These planing-monohull guys really need to spend some time on multihulls to get it down! ;)

[John E Hardiman]

Main (and more importantly vang tension) and backstay pulling aft.
Kite pulling forward in the middle of an un-supported section.

Classic out of column failure. Once the masthead bends, there is no more backstay and the whole rig goes forward over the bow as a unit.

The boats are DS 37's used for match racing and have no runners. Here is a photo that show the bow of the boat that trashed the rig.

http://www.sail-world.com/photos/med_MCS070703-102.jpg

[brian.cunningham]

These planing-monohull guys really need to spend some time on multihulls to get it down! ;)

LoL

[Tom Lathrop]

I'll take the other side of the bet.
No runners.
Backstay intact.
Mast snapped at the spinnaker hound.

;)

That is also my take on it.

[Nanoose]

I don't think of using a spinnaker in 40 knots of wind, but that's obviously just me :o :rolleyes:

[John B]

How inconvenient of that wave, to be there like that.

[Hwyl]

Someone has to say "they need jumper struts" and it's me.

[John B]

I think its a bit overpressed.

[Ian McColgin]

Sudden deceleration syndrome.

The camera flattens the look of the sea. The boats don't look too way overcanvassed to me, certainly not to weather and you can always carry more off the wind. In racing one takes a few extra risks anyway.

Usually a displacement hull will surf a bit but the sea is faster and you'll end up slowing on the back side of the wave. It would have been nice to have a shot or two a few seconds earlier to see just how this stuff happened. The one time it happened to me was on the face of a very steep wave where we plunged before I had time to set up a controlled broach to escape. That was in a surf dory and we carried off the rig as well as swamped.

That crew can dine out on this sequence for years.

[JimD]

I don't think of using a spinnaker in 40 knots of wind, but that's obviously just me :o :rolleyes:

It does look rather windy in the photos. :D

[Hwyl]

I think its a bit overpressed.

I don't think of using a spinnaker in 40 knots of wind, but that's obviously just me :o :rolleyes:

It does look rather windy in the photos. :D

Buncha wimps.

[Ian McColgin]

Now Gareth, not everyone can sail hard. As Dirty Harry said, "Man's gotta know his limits."

In displacement boats, unlike say a Finn that can plane as fast or faster than the waves, you're generally overtaken by the wave and don't plunge. But not always. Looks to me like that braod stern got picked up a bit and the high prismatic bow just submarined, perhaps faster than he could bear up, perhaps the bow got deeply enough that she was really crabbing. Risk of the sport.

And it is sport, not life and death seamanship. When I was learning to race a bug-eyed Sprite at Lime Rock lo these forty two years ago, I learned driving skills that while useful in a highway emergency are not for normal highway driving. Same too with small boat inshore racing. You do, you try and hard chargers break stuff. That's why sailmakers, riggers and spar builders love racers so.

[John B]

I don't like going out when its windy like that.
or raining. I just can't stand what it does to my hair.

[rbgarr]

John B-

Two words: Go Joe

[John B]

I get that whole plastered, comb over thing going on when it rains.So maybe you're right.

I don't sail at all anymore anyway. I think I've forgotten how to do it.

look.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid16/pb5b72e7d88958d3584d64d35555afec4/fdf3235.jpg
dreadful. I don't think my complexion has recovered .

[davidagage]

Here is the dismasting cought on tape...

SailTV (http://www.sail.tv/player?cid=447&scid=5&source=wmrt)