DJE
Well-known member
A club race on Saturday in windy conditions. We were our normal family crew of 4 plus Kate. Kate is an enthusiastic beginner from our club with mainly dinghy sailing experience and keen to try bigger boats. We set off from Haslar at 08:30 for the 10:30 start at Hill Head We had a force 6 on the nose and settled down for a good thrash to windward with No.3 genoa and 2 reefs in the main. Boat going very well. None of this orderly beating though prepares you for the chaos of a windy start line.
About 2 minutes before the start we were broad reaching down the line on starboard with other boats all around us when I noticed one coming straight at us close hauled on port. There were 2 people on board and they obviously hadn't seen us. There was only one way to go so I shouted "Gybe. Now". Kate was on the port side of the cockpit and there was nobody near the mainsheet traveller on the starboard side so we should have been Ok but to be honest we didn't have time to prepare properly. Sue pulled the helm up sharply and the boat heeled to starboard as she bore away.
I think Kate's dinghy sailing instincts took over and she started climbing up the port cockpit coaming. I didn’t take up the slack in the mainsheet and the loose loop of rope caught her shoulder as it came across. She literally flew clear across the cockpit landing heavily on the starboard coaming with the top guardrail in the middle of her back. The boat rolled with the impact of the gybe and Kate's feet came up in the air. For one awful moment I thought she was going over the side; but she stayed in the cockpit.
Kate's fall was so heavy and landing on her lower back I was convinced that she must have been injured. But she insisted she was unhurt and we got on with the race. We later found that the genoa sheet cleat which she landed on had been bent by the impact and Kate had a spectacular bruise at the bottom of her back.
Apart from that it was a great race upwind to Hythe pier, a pleasant overnight at Marchwood Yacht Club and a great sail back with cruising chute from Marchwood to Hill head and then a change to poled-out genoa as the wind got up again. It makes you think though; my pre-start manoeuvres will probably be a little subdued for a while.
About 2 minutes before the start we were broad reaching down the line on starboard with other boats all around us when I noticed one coming straight at us close hauled on port. There were 2 people on board and they obviously hadn't seen us. There was only one way to go so I shouted "Gybe. Now". Kate was on the port side of the cockpit and there was nobody near the mainsheet traveller on the starboard side so we should have been Ok but to be honest we didn't have time to prepare properly. Sue pulled the helm up sharply and the boat heeled to starboard as she bore away.
I think Kate's dinghy sailing instincts took over and she started climbing up the port cockpit coaming. I didn’t take up the slack in the mainsheet and the loose loop of rope caught her shoulder as it came across. She literally flew clear across the cockpit landing heavily on the starboard coaming with the top guardrail in the middle of her back. The boat rolled with the impact of the gybe and Kate's feet came up in the air. For one awful moment I thought she was going over the side; but she stayed in the cockpit.
Kate's fall was so heavy and landing on her lower back I was convinced that she must have been injured. But she insisted she was unhurt and we got on with the race. We later found that the genoa sheet cleat which she landed on had been bent by the impact and Kate had a spectacular bruise at the bottom of her back.
Apart from that it was a great race upwind to Hythe pier, a pleasant overnight at Marchwood Yacht Club and a great sail back with cruising chute from Marchwood to Hill head and then a change to poled-out genoa as the wind got up again. It makes you think though; my pre-start manoeuvres will probably be a little subdued for a while.
