Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 4:43 pm
Yes, a preventer is the only way to go in small or large boats.
Let's not always be quick to blame the helmsperson. Even the best of sailors (ask Paul Cayard or Dennis Conner) can be caught unawares with certain conditions. Long downwind runs like a typical TransPac to HI will often find very experienced skippers on boats getting tossed sideways with a quartering or crossing wave at night.
I've experienced no serious accidental gybes but have had minor ones under these conditons with a 10 knot or more wind:
Passing by a headland at close range, being passed by a very large motor vessel, and in a completely unexpected 60 mph local downburst from a thurnderstorm that was more than 20 miles away. Wakes from passing vessels and large sea swells can cause a gybe too if there isn't much wind.
I hadn't thought before about the safety factor of having a low bimini forcing crew to stay low. I made mine high to go over the boom when anchored, by sliding forward. I"ll have to consider that when I make a new one.
Head traum can be more than a headache. We have a local friend whose wife was hit by their boom. She awoke from the coma with no memory. Had to start from scratch, potty training, ABCs, etc. After four years she is back to functioning as an adult about 80%, but is a different person than before. The new person has no interest in boating and can't figure out why she used to....
Let's not always be quick to blame the helmsperson. Even the best of sailors (ask Paul Cayard or Dennis Conner) can be caught unawares with certain conditions. Long downwind runs like a typical TransPac to HI will often find very experienced skippers on boats getting tossed sideways with a quartering or crossing wave at night.
I've experienced no serious accidental gybes but have had minor ones under these conditons with a 10 knot or more wind:
Passing by a headland at close range, being passed by a very large motor vessel, and in a completely unexpected 60 mph local downburst from a thurnderstorm that was more than 20 miles away. Wakes from passing vessels and large sea swells can cause a gybe too if there isn't much wind.
I hadn't thought before about the safety factor of having a low bimini forcing crew to stay low. I made mine high to go over the boom when anchored, by sliding forward. I"ll have to consider that when I make a new one.
Head traum can be more than a headache. We have a local friend whose wife was hit by their boom. She awoke from the coma with no memory. Had to start from scratch, potty training, ABCs, etc. After four years she is back to functioning as an adult about 80%, but is a different person than before. The new person has no interest in boating and can't figure out why she used to....
