Not flipping works best

Posted By: Jenny, 5.2, Austin
Date: 10/22/07 7:37a.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Capsize Trouble!!! (dwait)

I use a righting line tied to the mast--I got a longer one this year and am hopeful, but haven't tried it out yet (noticed yesterday that it wasn't actually tied to the mast, right before we put the rail so far under water was coming into the cockpit all the way along the seat, but I finally got the mainsheet kicked out of the cleat). The theory is that the righting line is now long enough so I can stand on the gunwale, wrap it around my butt, and really put some weight on it. I do sometimes tie a PFD to the main halyard if I'm going out by myself when the water is cold, but I haven't flipped the boat with that up there so I don't know how much time it buys--one of my competitors turtled a Laser II this weekend with a milk jug at the masthead. I've flipped mine twice and been on one other that flipped, and I'd say turtling in under a minute is par for the course. Fortunately, the boat really isn't that easy to flip.