Twister_Ken
Well-Known Member
Re: Lack of cats
Adding balance
Alright then, was doing a RTI in the mid-80's (actually may have been a year or two earlier) approaching St Cats on a fairly hairy run, slap bang into the overfalls. The passengers suddenly got very excited and called the attention of those of us actually sailing the beast to the fact that something nasty was going on just ahead of us. An X-99 had broached flat in the water, straight into the path of what we learned later was the wooden prototype of the first Starlight 39. It ploughed through the X like a destroyer through a surfaced U-boat, and the X sank within seconds. Bodies, fortunately alive, in the water. Bunch of boats attempting an emergency stop. As I recall, one yacht managed to recover one person, and a press launch managed to pick up another. The rest of us were zapping up and down so far and so fast in the overfalls that even approaching someone in the water would have put them at very serious risk. Fortunately a whirlybird picked the rest of them up.
I learned:
a) you can't throw a horseshoe lifebuoy upwind
b) it would be a good idea never to fall off a yacht
c) as soon as any goes in the drink, its a Mayday situation
d) had it been a cat, there's a good chance the wreckage would have stayed afloat until rescue got there.
Adding balance
Alright then, was doing a RTI in the mid-80's (actually may have been a year or two earlier) approaching St Cats on a fairly hairy run, slap bang into the overfalls. The passengers suddenly got very excited and called the attention of those of us actually sailing the beast to the fact that something nasty was going on just ahead of us. An X-99 had broached flat in the water, straight into the path of what we learned later was the wooden prototype of the first Starlight 39. It ploughed through the X like a destroyer through a surfaced U-boat, and the X sank within seconds. Bodies, fortunately alive, in the water. Bunch of boats attempting an emergency stop. As I recall, one yacht managed to recover one person, and a press launch managed to pick up another. The rest of us were zapping up and down so far and so fast in the overfalls that even approaching someone in the water would have put them at very serious risk. Fortunately a whirlybird picked the rest of them up.
I learned:
a) you can't throw a horseshoe lifebuoy upwind
b) it would be a good idea never to fall off a yacht
c) as soon as any goes in the drink, its a Mayday situation
d) had it been a cat, there's a good chance the wreckage would have stayed afloat until rescue got there.
