## Capsizing 

## KathrynOlivia, SunCat wrote: 

oday I participated in a race sponsored by Claytor Lake Sailing Association. The forecast was for 15 knots of wind gusting to 25. Late afternoon could expect gusts above 30. Wisely, I did not take my girlfriend. Unwisely, I did not put in a reef before I left the dock. T 

The breeze was as forecast pre-race and moderated a little during the race. Immediately after the race we got all 30 + knots. I deployed a sea anchor to try to head the bow into the wind so I could start getting the sail down. When securing the line at the bow a very strong gust hit causing a broach. Before I could completely release the sheet the boat heeled all the way over, mast in the water and dumped me over the side. When I popped up I released the main and immediately swam around the boat and climbed up on the keel/daggerboard. To my absolute delight the boat righted in a matter of only a few seconds. I had taken on maybe 15 gallons of water, everything in the cabin was piled on the upper port side. 

The water probably entered through the cockpit locker. The motor is mounted on the port side - it was right at the water's surface when the boat was on it's side but was not submerged. When the boat righted it took off at fair speed. I was able to grab the ladder and scramble aboard and finish deploying the sea anchor. 

By the time help arrived I had the sail down and the motor running. The boats standing by retrieved the contents of my cockpit which had been dumped and they escorted me back to the dock. The boat is apparently completely intact. The only loss was a few bottles of tea, a couple of granola bars and 2 cheap hats. I have the euphoria of disaster averted and am deeply appreciative to the powers that be and fellow sailors. 

## Bill Dolan, Marshall18 wrote: 

athryn, My good friend Steve makes excellent reference to the technique of 'scandalizing' the gaff rigged catboat for better sail control in an emergency and he is absolutely correct. Many of us know of the technique but have never practiced it. But for catboat sailors, it can be a survival skill, for a catboat out of control is not a pretty thing. Additionally, that one big sail limits your options. K 

In the hey-day of the big working cats, scandalizing was a standard catboat sailing skill that has been almost totally forgotten today. This is unfortunate because scandalizing is a very handy, simple-to learn technique, and I'll bet there isn't a catboat sailor alive who couldn't have avoided some hair-raising heavy weather experience if he or she had know how to do it. So what are the techniques? 

Simply put, scandalizing is fast, easy way of temporarily reducing the working area of a gaff rigged sail by setting up the topping lift (a line rigged like a halyard to support the end of the boom and slacking away on the peak halyard to lower the gaff and upper half of the sail. The remaining triangular section of sail represents about half the original area, and the whole operation takes only a few seconds to accomplish. 

Luckily, tightening the topping lift can be omitted when scandalizing a catboat since the boom is adequately supported by the sail, and many cats aren't fitted with lifts anyway. 

The small "trisail" left with a scandalized rig is surprisingly efficient and, although this rig works best when sailing off the wind, the boat handles remarkably well on any point of sail. 

Scandalizing is, however, only a temporary measure and not a substitute for reefing. In fact, prolonged scandalizing will eventually ruin the shape of your sail. So, if you are going out for a sail on a blustery day, plan on reefing before you leave the mooring. If you are thinking of one reef, take two. On the other had, if you get caught in a sudden squall and want to make a quick run for shelter, scandalizing is just the thing that might save you bacon. 

As you know, the catboat is, for the most part, a good, stable, safe boat for almost anyone. However, those of us without upper body strength are also much more quickly overpowered by a cat as the wind starts to come up than they would be in 

