wife doesn't like it when boat leans over!

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herdman

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wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

I know it sounds silly, but my wife really does not like it when our Westerly Oceanquest starts to lean over more than about 10 degrees... I am forced to reef so early that we end up motor sailing unless we are on a broad reach or a run! Its really getting quite serious! She likes the idea of sailing but as soon as we pick up a gust i get "that look"...has anyone else had this experience. I try to explain that its not like a dinghy and all about ballast , AVS etc etc.. but I get no where.. any ideas gratefully received! many thanks Giles Herdman
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

I shall watch with interest.
I'm not as badly afflicted as you, but all the boats I fancy are a bit more tender than the current one and that is a consideration. Of course in a sub-20 foot yacht the crew has a responsibility to trim the boat, but I usually get a scowl as the windward side is either shaded by the main or your back is to the sun.
I tried the reasoned approach, but telling your wife that moving from the lee side to the windward side is like placing an 18 stone weight to balance up the boat (lee minus 9 stone - windward plus 9 stone) generates the expected result.
We can manage about 20 degrees before grunting commences.
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

I get a big grin on my face when our boat gets a bit tippy- my boyfreind freaks out.
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

I LIKE YOUR SPUNK, YOUNG LADY!
(I'm assuming you're young of course, and I'm not making any rude innuendo with the spunk thing, and I'm not being mysogynistic with the young lady remark ----Oh bloody hell, I wish I'd not started)

Actually we are moving in the right direction on the issue. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

I remember it well, first time we went out, i took her to the caledonian on a charter boat, ( thinking that inland, no swell or waves to upset her), put the sails up and got the boat moving, and as she steadily started to build up speed she started to heel, thats when everything went quiet, and asked if everything was ok, 'no i'm petrified',she said, so headed into wind and had to take the sails down, during the week i could only get the main up if we sailed downwind..
when we got home , she thought she had spoiled the holiday and booked us on a day sail on the mersey with a sailing school(this was before we had our own boat), we got to the marina, and it was gusting 6's, and unsure if we would be going out, anyway we did, and she was put on the helm for a couple of hours, and she loved it, she realised that the boat was not going to fall over (so to speak), and the next year, she was back to the caledonian sailing a moody 34 as if she had been doing it for years, we have had our own boat for the last 5 years, and at times she does get seasick, but thats another story....

try and get her to go sailing with another yacht or sailing school, it might work but if not then it might have to be a motorboat ???????....
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

I am actually quite encouraged to discover that I am not alone in having a wife who does not like "tippy" boats. I have discovered that she actually likes sailing when there is no wind but then she also likes ski-ing when there are no hills.

I have a Sadler 26 and have learned that it is important to build up the angle of heel gently on each sail. She is now trained to tolerate 25 degrees without complaint and can cope with 30 degrees when other aspects of the day are good. Luckily she was not with me yesterday when I had a fabulous sail on the Blackwater, but it was blowing a bit!
Good luck.
Morgan
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

Leave her at home . She will soon get the idea when you go sailing every weekend and shes doing the gardening .
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

Neither my wife nor my daughter liked being heeled over, so I bought a Catamaran. Now I would not buy a monohull.

If you want to try your swmbo out on a cat give me a shout (Portsmouth area)
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

A thought- as Colvic 987 said, his wife discovered she was OK with heel when she was on the helm- I mean, you have actually let your women be on the helm, haven't you? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

It seems to be quite usual, I have found that my wife will accept a greater angle of heel when it is just the two of us on board (no children).

Watch out for "that look", it is followed by "stony silence", then "recriminations" after tying up. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I practice the "psychological reef" - having old style roller boom reefing I put one turn round the boom. Believing that there is a reef in does help.
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

What to do is to take your wife outside, at home, and show her something she already knows and understands -the car.
Then ask her if she would ( very kindly) lift the car.
She`ll look at you as if you`re wrong in the head and say "I can`t, its too heavy !) Then you say "exactly." and point out that the boat has the equivalent of SEVERAL cars hanging underneath it. So she`ll say " So What?" - still looking at you in a funny way. Then you explain that - the wind, by blowing on the sails is trying to lift all these cars weight, and it can`t -it can try, but it won`t,- "because its too HEAVY !"
In all deference to female logic , all this will probably make no difference at all, but you`ll know you`ve planted the seed when she asks "how many cars like Mrs.So&So`s along the street is that weight equal to ? !!!!
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

You obviously havent had the boat flat in the water on a huge squally gust then...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

My good lady now realises that it aint necessarily a bad thing, but as she rightly points out, more than about 15 degrees on our Jeanneau, and we are actually going slower. She is also getting much more confident on the helm on a gusty day, and was gobsmacked to see her helmed track on the chartplotter after an hours' broad reach in aft quarter sea lifting and surfing. So much so she forgot to get concerned. Grin,grin,grin.
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

just another point, my missus always says she is happier when she is 'in control' of things. so when your out sailing, try getting her to be 'in control' and see if it works, (as we know they won't be in total control, as most of the time they will not really know whats going on, but with encouragement from yourself, you could be in for a lot more sailing next year, if the encouragement works...

good luck

(p.s) make sure she doesn't see this/or it won't work...
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

Well, either trade in the wife for one that likes sailing OR trade in the boat for a Gaffer. You could always try the third option of trading the boat in for a Cat, but that's a bit extreme.
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

I sought a non-patronising way of illustrating the physics involved to aid understanding of why the boat won't be "blown over".

Get an ordinary hammer and drill a hole though the handle in line with the hammer head about an inch away from the head. Put a thick bit of wire through the hole so that the hammer can pivot on the newly drilled hole.

Explain that the hammer head represents the keel and that the hammer shaft represents the mast. Get her to press on the top of the handle as though it was wind and notice that that weight of the head counterbalances the wind pressure. Explain that as the angle of heel iincreases the area of sail for the wind to press on decreases so the keel will always win the battle of forces.

Okay, so it might be a little "Blue Peter" but it worked for my SWMBO and she's never been concerned since she "got her head around it" with the hammer model.

Give it a go!

rob
 
Re: wife doesn\'t like it when boat leans over!

Any girl that gets on my boat and complains about the angle of heel can swim ashore. That is final.

There are still loads more fish in the ocean.
 
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