Heeling over

[oldharry]

I think the issue is a bit more complex. I believe fear of heeling - and the maximum angle of tolerance before anxiety sets in - is a bit like seasickness. Things are moving in a way they should not so the sufferers brain responds accordingly. A similar thing happened to me when I got caught in a (minor) earthquake. Floors and walls which should be 'solid' were on the move, and I became briefly quite disoriented. Rational explanations about ballast ratios dont alter the fact that to the brain the environment is behaving oddly, so it pumps up the adrenalin output.

Coping with this is a process of familiarisation - the more sailing you do the greater the angle of tolerance to heeling will be. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

There are of course perfectly rational reasons too - old age means that climbing around a boat heeled at 30+degrees requires more effort than our old bones can cope with nowadays, so we need to shorten sail sooner than we used to!

 

[chrishelen]

Quite right,you hit the nail right on the head with your big hammer,the older we get the less we like holding on for grim death when the boat heels,we`ve all done it in our youth with the rails under mile after sea mile because it was exiting,but now more often than not theres a reef in my old eventides mainsail before i go out,just in case you understand,not that i could dip the gunnels under if i tried,and i have.

 

[westhinder]

Try the rational approach, explain about the weight of the keel, show what letting go of the sheets does, demonstrate the effect of luffing or letting go of the tiller altogether.
If all that doesn't work, as a last resort, try hypnosis. No joking, it works.