Hello all, As Mike was so honest and forth right as to air the bad luck that he encountered a few weeks ago, I guess it is time for me to go public with the STUPID things that I did yesterday and the lessons learned. I view this as a “Sailing Catharsis” and I shall be set free of the feeling of embarassment that accompanies and lingers following a day of sheer foolishness! If that is not the case, you all can laugh at my expense. Anyway, early afternoon yesterday, I received a call from our neighbor at our cabin. He informed me that he had just looked out his window and my 170, Rushing Winds, was tipped over about 50 feet from shore and 150 feet from its lift. How this happened will be unknown, but that is just details. Upon investigation, the lift was still in the raised position, but not anywhere near the full upright position. Had a good storm yesterday morning…it is possible that I did not crank it all the way up, and waves from the storm or water skiers pulled it out. How it got out and why it tipped is questionable…but just details. Any way, when I arrived to rescue the boat, sure enough all you could see from shore was her bottom. She did not full turtle as her mast jammed into the mud and prevented this, but we had a “situation”. Being the true sailor that I like to “think” I am, out to the boat I went. My daughter took me out on the Sea Doo and we looked her over from all sides. What we were looking for, I do not know, but we did it from all sides (waving at the water skiers who were buzzing us…just trying to be friendly). Upon deciding on the proper course of action, I jumped in the water with two ropes in one hand, and a few boat bumpers in the other (please remember this point). The first thing to do is lower (or raise if the boat is upside down) the centerboard. Lesson #1 It is impossible to raise/lower…we shall say extend out the centerboard… when the boat is upside down. As our boat was in the lift, the board was up (when the boat was upright). When sailing, use the bungee and lock the board extended! As I was working (swimming) on and around the boat, we were continuously buzzed by speedboats and skiers. Now I like their sort, but speedboats make big waves and while you are concentrating on doing something while swimming around a partially overturned sailboat, the waves really catch you off guard. Lesson #2 Wear your PFD while trying to upright the craft. I sucked in many mouth fulls of water (while wearing my PFD) simply because I was not expecting each wave that came crashing towards the craft. Now I weigh 270 and have plenty of extra floatation, but wear the PFD. With this idea not working, in comes PLAN B! I figured that we could lift the mast from the murky depths with help from above. By the way, the boat was not fully turtled, its mast was extending down at about a 45-degree angle into about 10-15 feet of water. Another “Oh by the way”, I failed to mention that when I jumped into the water, with both hands full, the instant that I hit the water, off went my glasses. There is a lesson here but I am not sure what it is!!! Now I am just about blind without them, so this is all being done in a foggy haze…waving at the passersby. Well, our PLAN B worked marvelously. I unhooked the main halyards and swam out to above the end of the mast. My daughter drove the Sea Doo over to me. I flung one arm over the foot well on the Sea Doo and lifted with both ends of the halyard in the other. Up she came! After removing the mud and weeds from the end of the mast we were almost home free. I held the mast in one hand, Sea Doo in the other as we slowly drifted into water where I could touch the bottom. When we got back to 5 foot or so of water, I cleared the two swimmers who came in close to watch, waved at the passing water skiers, made some small talk with some of our newest friends on the lake who came in close to see what was going on (at least is sounded like them), gagged on the wakes from the speed boats and then threw the mast in the air. Up she went. It had to be beautiful, really couldn’t tell, couldn’t see it, but got a rousing ovation from the onlookers!!!!!! Took one step toward the boat, which is now 24 feet from me and stepped out of my sandals that are now stuck in the mud. What are you gonna do…reach down and collect your sandals out of the 5 foot of water, stuck in the mud or swim to the newly up righted boat? I swam, and waved to the (passerby skiers). Following this, all worked out well. No damage except to the Davis wind vane. It is gone! Oh yeah, wife had to travel about an hour to bring me my spare pair of glasses. I hope you all enjoy this, as it truly was a learning experience…From my perspective I learned a lot, got a new pair of glasses ordered this morning and will pick up a new pair of Reebok sandals this evening! Good Sailing. Godspeed, Rusty