Fear of water - am I daft?

Again had a Mirror for years as a kid and can't remember ever capsizing. In my university days had some spectacular capsizes in Larks from breaking toestraps and even cartwheeled one in front of t he clubhouse in an icy January. You will go into autopilot (and your mates will laugh at you) but you will right her.

Don't dwell on it. Why not capsize to 90 degrees in shallow water where the fear will be minimal,(make sure you don't let her roll 180. Maybe a helper. Then when you're happy, go deeper and capsize properly (with someone standing by.) by the time you've practised a few times the fear will have subsided.
 
Well I managed to capsize our Mirror. Launching off a lee shore in a force 4 plus with small (2ft waves coming beam on). I believe the boat is much more stable further back but for some reason I was up near the mast, probably dealing with the centre board being stuck down or not pulled up enough. Also had one of my young son's trying to learn so big mistake on my part. So when I read about the Mirror being stable as dinghies go it probably is, but it is light and small so quite easy to tip if you want to. Depends where you launch!!
And since I'm in a provocative mood, instead of practicing capsize drill after a little pootle about, why not for your first session get wet first then tip your boat over in the shallows on a gentle day and go straight into the capsize drill in 4ft of water. ie don't even sail the boat until you have righted it.
 
Some more good wisdom there folks. Thank you very much. I really appreciate the combined wisdom of the forum helping me out here.
Im still very apprehensive about it all, but know a local loch that is 3ft deep in a large area and may be worth a try. I know the Mirror I have was sailed there in recent years a few times. As someone said before though, maybe its the shallows and the "unknown things that touch" getting involved there too. It may also be helpful to add I also afraid of things "in" the water, as in living in the water! Maybe thats the root of the fear though. I wouldnt have an issue in the swimming pool. I must be proper strange....

Another question:-
It doesnt have toe-straps fitted yet. Will I be best advised to fit them?
Im 15 stone AUW. (and reducing) lol
 
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You can approach your fear so many ways!! I think being a big bloke you should have very little fear of capsize on flat water unless you weight is in the wrong place. So you can sail straight away...(absolutely)..... but being 15 stone getting in the boat from a capsize might be tricky so playing in deeper shallows with the boat on its side would be good. But one further extreme step. Leave the boat behind and go for a deep paddle in the loch with some solid shoes and get confidence about what is under the surface. Maybe play with a kayak.....
I'd leave the toe straps until you have moved past your fears (but I'm not a Mirror expert)
 
I would have though fear of drowning was perfectly natural and a built in self-preservation system, I was never confident in the water until I learn to dive now I'm happier under it than on it

I did my two day RYA course years ago in Feb in the fog, first task was to run off the end of the jetty into the water and swim back, instructor said we were the first group he'd taught for a while where we were all prepared to do this, we then spent a few weekends learning to sail all the types of dinghies that the club had

As mentioned above you will spend a lot of time doing capsize drills and climbing onto centreboards

I sailed an Enterprise single handed for a few years so spent almost as much time swimming as sailing so quickly went from wetsuit to drysuit, if you want to get really wet then crew on a cat and go racing
 
Even Chance said:
Some more good wisdom there folks. Thank you very much. I really appreciate the combined wisdom of the forum helping me out here.
Im still very apprehensive about it all, but know a local loch that is 3ft deep in a large area and may be worth a try. I know the Mirror I have was sailed there in recent years a few times. As someone said before though, maybe its the shallows and the "unknown things that touch" getting involved there too. It may also be helpful to add I also afraid of things "in" the water, as in living in the water! Maybe thats the root of the fear though. I wouldnt have an issue in the swimming pool. I must be proper strange....

Another question:-
It doesnt have toe-straps fitted yet. Will I be best advised to fit them?
Im 15 stone AUW. (and reducing) lol
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A nice sheltered strech of water and fine weather is what you need to learn on.

I/we learnt to sail our Mirror on the river Frome in Dorset with people calling out instructions initially from the bank.

Spent most of a spring bank holiday week sailing up and down a 2-3 mile stretch between Wareham and Poole Harbour.

By the end of the week we were confident enough to venture out into Poole harbour.


I have never bothered with toestraps. I either have the oars lashed either side of the CB case or my Seagull 40+ in the bottom of the boat.


One point to make about Mirrors capsizing I suppose is that they have a lot of built in buoyancy and a therefore float quite high when on their sides. This makes then rather inclined to turn turtle if you don't set about righting them quickly.

BTW I have the Building instructions and the Sailing Instructions if there is anything you need to know. Also an article from ??? on "go faster" bits and pieces
 
Even Chance said:
Hi folks.

I have a particular fear of falling into water. Either shallow or deep, it doesnt matter. I just have a fear of the unknown. Am I alone in this? Have anybody else felt like this and overcome their fear?
I sail my E-Boat and feel no fear.
Its prevented me from dinghy sailing, but Ive now bought a Mirror Dinghy and nearly have it ready for the summer.
I have a 3mm wetsuit and 50N bouyancy aid for the possible immersion.
Ive been sailing for 20+ years, and know the ropes, and my reaction times are very quick to respond when gusts hit etc. This means I hope I can keep the Mirror upright in the lighter winds speeds I plan on sailing it in.
Its just this niggling fear thats driving me nuts.

Help please......:(
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It's good to have a healthy respect for water. When I went dinghy sailing I always wore a buoyancy aid even though I was a good swimmer (national record holder).

I would be a greater risk to myself today because I probably have an inflated opinion of how I could get out of a problem by swimming, based on long ago performances.

Therefore virtually everybody more than a mile from the shore is in (or rather out of) the same boat.

As a dinghy sailor you will capsize at some time or another. Try then to rationalize. A body not having water in its lungs has a specific gravity less than an equivalent volume of water. Therefore you will float. Concentrate before taking a breath. Panic is the killer, people want to get as high as possible and shout. Your natural buoyancy will be augmented by your wetsuit and your LJ. You will not lose body heat either very quickly and so you will have time to think your way through the problem.

As others have suggested go out with a back-up boat and put your devils to rest by deliberately capsizing in controlled conditions. Then you will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Curing phobia is by confronting them in controlled conditions.


Ps I don't think capsizing in shallow water is a good idea. You won't learn anything by it. It needs to be realistic so that you know that you can cope when the time comes. Because of your weight you need to know that you can get back into your dinghy ( over the stern?) without capsizing it towards you.
 
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Thanks again for the help folks. I know I will struggle to get my head round my fear, but I simply have to. I love sailing and the sea far too much to give up now.
I have a book that I got from here:-

http://bookos.org/book/1056839

Its quite good. I will look out for the other book as you say.
Its a good book site as well by the way. Lots of free downloadable books on boats etc. Just search the common words- sail / boat etc...
No sign up required, just a good site!
 
Even Chance said:
Another question:-
It doesnt have toe-straps fitted yet. Will I be best advised to fit them?
Im 15 stone AUW. (and reducing) lol
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I am a similar size (just big boned) and have never felt the need for toe straps. On the odd occasion when I've felt the need to hike a bit, like when a big squall came my way after wiping out a fleet of Fevas upwind, I simply hook a foot under the thwart and that gives enough to lever off.

To be honest with our weight sat on the side of a Mirror (assuming yours is a similar vintage to mine), if it's so windy that's not enough to keep the boat upright, then the sort of loads being imposed on the windward shroud, mast and gaff may well result in a catastrophic failure of something pretty soon.

Obviously if the boat you have bought is absolutely tip top without a single loose screw or little patches of rot then you're missing half the fun of sailing a Mirror anyway!! ;)
 
emsworthy said:
I am a similar size (just big boned) and have never felt the need for toe straps. On the odd occasion when I've felt the need to hike a bit, like when a big squall came my way after wiping out a fleet of Fevas upwind, I simply hook a foot under the thwart and that gives enough to lever off.

To be honest with our weight sat on the side of a Mirror (assuming yours is a similar vintage to mine), if it's so windy that's not enough to keep the boat upright, then the sort of loads being imposed on the windward shroud, mast and gaff may well result in a catastrophic failure of something pretty soon.

Obviously if the boat you have bought is absolutely tip top without a single loose screw or little patches of rot then you're missing half the fun of sailing a Mirror anyway!! ;)
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What a cracking post emsworthy! Love it!

Im simply a big-boned young 36 year old numpty from the wilds of the North Highlands. Im going to make a rope strop or a cutout in the rudder to step on to help me get back into the Mirror from the stern. Im still quite fit, and I am getting better slowly. I gave up the cigs 6 years ago and put on 3 stone. Its now coming off again slowly.
The mirror is currently going through a full restoration programme. All wood that is suspect has been removed and repaired properly. The taped seams along the keel line have been replaced, and are now wider and stronger., both inside and out. The hull was in pretty good nick, and the rig is like new. She would have sailed great when I bought her, but Im a stickler for perfection, and frankly enjoy the work.
 
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