gippygirl Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 Hi all, I have taken my Windrush 14 out a couple of times now - loving it! Only problem, yesterday I near took out a beach retaining wall after I came in to do a landing on the beach with the wind blowing on shore. On the previous, successful occasions, I gybed in the shallows and landed on the beach softly. On this, extremely unsuccessful occasion, there was not much beach left and when I gybed, we momentarily slowed and then gathered speed again. We sped parallel to the beach; I couldn't get the mainsail to release properly (was probably panicking a bit), did not have enough room to turn out to the deeper water and ending up turning inwards and rammed the wall to stop. No major damage thankfully, just gelocat. So, am I right in thinking that with an onshore breeze I should have come in on an angle and then gybed into the wind to stop? Also, any comments on how to stop the boat when you can't turn into the wind? Can you stop them?? Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madboutcats Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 G'day gippygirl if you have a jib you pull your jib on hard and let your main off and that rounds you up into the wind. With no jib your really tacking to turn back into the wind so you need your main on hard then suddenly turn up wind until you get into irons which should be quickly. If you end up going a bit deep the wind should be pushing you back to the beach just use your rudders in reverse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gippygirl Posted December 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2010 Thanks!! Will practise that. Cat rigged only at this stage. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knobblyoldjimbo Posted December 31, 2010 Report Share Posted December 31, 2010 something to try - recently one of the youngsters had a bit of trouble after a capsize, one of the oldsters helped. He went into the wind, pulled his main in tight and jumped over to assist. It took them both some time to get the cat up and during that tim the cat just sat head to wind, of course it went downwind but not very fast and there was enough searoom for the two to catch up and effect a crew transfer. I wouldn't gybe I don't think, there is a measure of chaos, as you describe. I tend to slow right down, having made sure the main is out as far as possible (and the rudders up but just in the water for steerage) then scallop down to the beach and jump out on the windward side to bring the bows into wind. You can also use yourself as a sort of sea anchor, just dangle the legs over the windward side. I think putting a gybe into the equation complicated the issue. Don't they accelerate quickly eh! Oh, one other method favoured by one of ourlocal Windy sailers (quite an old boat I'd have to say) is to sit on the back and just sail straight in. With the bows in the air he just sails up the beach, gets off and turns the bow into the wind! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TornadoSport260 Posted January 1, 2011 Report Share Posted January 1, 2011 I'm gonna say that sailing your boat up the beach is possible one of the worst ways of landing a boat. They aren't invincible and who knows what is lying just underneath the grass that could rip apart the hull... Seen it done before and believe me its worth the effort to stop it while it can float. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madboutcats Posted January 1, 2011 Report Share Posted January 1, 2011 I agree with TornadoSport if your going to do it reasonably often you should paint a sacrificial layer of something like Rustrid which is epoxy based so your just scraping extra paint off not sanding your hulls. Only 2 months ago I had to help a half sunk Windrush 12 to the beach and then after drying it out retape his seams where it had been dragged on the beach and suddenly let go while out sailing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornado Posted January 1, 2011 Report Share Posted January 1, 2011 On shore breeze, sail towards the beach, round up into the wind, lift both your rudders and move up to the front sitting on the bow. Center traveller and main in. Boat will keep head to wind and blow in backwards. Sitting on the bow and getting the transom out of the water (especialy with the main close to center) keep the boat sitting dead into the breeze. If the surf is big, then driving it straight up the beach can be the best option, or pop one rudder all the way up, the other released but still partly in the water and round up just before you hit the beach (if you have some flat water very close to the shore). This is not how to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gippygirl Posted January 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2011 Thanks all, lots of great ideas for me to try. I am sailing on the Gippsland Lakes at the moment, so no surf, only a few underwater logs etc to watch out for on Lake Wellington. Love the pics - speak a thousand words and all that! :-) I reckon the bottom one is Ti Tree Bay at Noosa? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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