Flipping out

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Cindy Duntley

I am not only the new owner of an O'day 222, but have not sailed for about 30 years. The other day we were out on the boat in about a 10-15 knot wind and had her a long way over. The rudder felt like it actually came out of the water, at which point the boat headed herself into the wind, thus leveling her out. My question...can this boat be turned over??
 
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Don Evans

Depends

Hi Cindy, its not likely to happen under the conditions you described. Its usually the result of a wave-train, out of sync (large rogue wave), that causes the boat to fall off the wave at the exact moment a massive gust of wind heels her over and a large boarding wave fills the cockpit, causing a shift in the centre of balance. In other words conditions that one should not be out in unless caught out by mistake. The righting moment of your boat is probably about 100 degrees, meaning the boat will right itself (theoretically) with the mast 100 degrees over from the vertical. Picture what that looks like in your mind and you may conclude you were a long way from that. Its more a feeling of pending doom that we all must learn to overcome. What you described with the rudder was the result of severe weatherhelm which caused the rudder to act more like a wing rather than a rudder, causing the boat to round-up into the wind. This is a good thing as it helps the boat recover from excess heeling. You may have had too much sail up, better to reduce sail and keep the boat on its feet. Sounds like you have rediscovered the fun of sailing, and in a good boat too. Have a blast. Don
 
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Cindy Duntley

Flipping fears

Don- I look forward to overcoming my feeling of impending doom! Thanks very much for taking the time to respond to my fears...it is a lot of fun though, isn't it?!
 
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Dan Wisnousky

Reef the Main

Cindy, Last night I was in a 18 mph wind with gust to 23. I was running a 110% jib and had the main reefed. I was only healing between 10 and 15%. With this I had little to no weahter helm. Hope this helps, Dan
 
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