Well, as a former WIDGEON owner, and now DS II owner, who sails out of Wareham on Buzzards Bay....I may be able to shed some words of wisdom.
First, you will thoroughly enjoy a WIDGEON! She is small, but thinks she is a big boat in many ways. However, one MUST still sail the Widgeon with the care and caution due in a 12' boat. ALWAYS keep the mainsheet in your hand, use the supplied camcleat to hold the tension, but ALWAYS keep that sheet in your hand! That allows a quick release if needed to spill the wind in a puff. I had one of the earlier Widgeons (1969 model) that did not have the forward deck and molded-in cockpit of the one you are looking at and I never had any problems (well, mostly!) on windy Buzzards Bay, I was careful and didn't go out far if it was windy (more than about 15 knots of wind, I stayed in our cove.. or at least didn't stray too far out). She will still handle more wind/waves that either you or I would be comfortable in! Also, on htose windy days I found great joy close-reaching back and forth across the Wareham River!
You could raise the cockpit sole in the Widgeon, but if you did, you would almost end up with the sole being level with the seats to really make her self-bailing. For a 12' boat, she will be pretty dry under sail, even on my boat I rarely needed more than an occaisional sponge wipe to take care of spray or any water that slopped over the lee rail. In 7 seasons of sailing my Widgeon, she capsized exactly 2 times...... once was when I was on hte mooring and after removing hte sails to go ashore, I noticed that the spreader was sagging a little......and made the mistake of standing on the seat next to the mast to reach up and fix it.......Well, my boat didn't like that and promptly rolled over tossing me into the drink! She filled about halfway with water and slowly righted herself. I swam ashore and, after gettign dry clothes on, went back out and bailed her out. The second capsize was in a sudden storm during the week when I was not there. We had a sudden downpour along with an Easterly blast of wind (producing a fetch of almost a mile for the waves), that apparently. together caused my boat along with 2 other 12' sailboats (Tech Dinghies) to roll over. One of my Neighbors righted the boats and bailed them out as soon as the storm passed, and a few hours before I could get there to check my boat.
So, I can't comment on how true O'DAY's claim of the Widgeon being "Self-rescuing" would be.... but after 7 years of sailing without capsizing..... I would say that it is not hard to avoid going over and having to test that theory.
Simple rules:
1) As mentioned above, ALWAYS keep the mainsheet in hand, that allows yo uto instantly release the sheet and spill the wind in a gust.
2) Don't be affraid to sail with just the mainsail, raise the CB a bit to compensate, and away you'll go!
3) get a tiller extension/hiking stick. Amazing how much more stable a Widgeo nis if you can sit on the side deck instead of the cockpit seat!
4) Boom Vang, helps flatten the sail on a windy day and also helps BIG TIME when sailing off the wind to keep the boom from rising up increasing the chance of an unplanned gybe.
5) Tighten the outhaul on windy days, that further helps to flatten the sail, reducing heeling.
Basically, sail her like the centerboard boat she is, and you most likely will sail her many years without actually capsizing. You may have a close-call or two (taking a gallon or so of water over the side), but sailed like a 12' sailboat should be sailed...... the Widgeon is a pretty safe boat, used by many yacht clubs for teaching kids (and adults) to sail safely. YES, they CAN capsize, I don't want to dispute that..... but sailed with just a bit of care......... I never went over.
I was 23 when I bought my Widgeon in 1988, after 18 years of sailing our family's CAL 21 (360# of lead at the bottom of a 4' keel!) and various small sailing dinghies. My Dad had experience with centerboard boats and cautioned me about keeping hte mainsheet in hand.....one near miss with my Sister at the helm convinced me of his wisdom! We didn't go over......and only took a couple of gallons of water over the side....... and as soon as I released the mainsheet, up we came! My Sister had 5 years experience sailing her 8' dinghy, where you hold the sheet in hand all the time (no place to tie it), but figured that if there was a cleat for the mainsheet....it was OK to cleat the sheet and let it lay in the cockpit (we did that on the CAL)...... she learned! I should add that I was preparing to set the spinnaker at the time.
Over the years that I sailed my Widgeon I ventured out along the Wareham/Marion shore to Wing's Cove, Bird Island (didn't go ashore though!), Stoney Point Dike (West end breakwater for the Canal), and even an occaisional sail out to Dry Ledge. A friend of mine used to live in Falmouth and says that he regularly sailed over to Oak Bluffs in his Widgeon. That's more than I'd want to do...... but he did it safely!
You could make a portable auto bilge pump to keep the cockpit dry on the mooring (I never did), an automatic pump and a small (DC-1 size) deep-cycle battery would work fine. Or use a boom tent. To keep your feet dry while sailing, you could fit floorboards in hte cockpit (I had one aft of the CB trunk on mine). As I say, in my experience.... the cockpit stays pretty dry while sailing.
Although I thought about it..... I never did set my mainsail up with a reef. I did do that on my DS II, but never really felt that I needed it on the Widgeon.
Feel free to ask any Widgeon questions that you want, I enjoy talking about my boats!
