Capsizing and Recovery: Learn Your Limits

via SportVid

It happens to all of us and it is not necessarily a bad thing.

Most Olympic sailors agree, “if you have never capsized in your life you don’t know what your limits are!” Obviously some boats are not made for capsizing, but most dinghies can be easily capsized without any damage. And even though you might not be interested in races and only sail for fun, it is still very useful to know the limits of your boat. This will increase the joy and safety of being on the water.

As the majority of our followers are sailing in Lasers or Optimists we will continue to focus on the one-person dinghy. For the one-person dinghy it is normally no problem to capsize. The most important thing is the reaction of the sailor. If you don’t panic and know what to do, you can easily bring the boat upright and keep on sailing.

Two options

In most situations your boat will capsize to leeward. If you’re sailing upwind and get hit by a strong gust, the boat can easily heel over or even capsize to leeward. The same goes for reaching. Especially if the kicker is too tight (laser sailing), your boom can easily hit the water and make the boat capsize.

To bring the boat upright again you need to use the centerboard. Make sure the centerboard is completely down. Then place your feet against the side of the boat and your arms around the centerboard. Keep this position until the boat slowly starts to come upright again. If necessary, you can climb on the centerboard to get the boat upright. Make sure you do not stand on the rear side of the centerboard. This part is very vulnerable and can easily be damaged.

When sailing downwind it is possible to capsize your boat to windward. The first time this happens can be a bit scary. It is usually unexpected and you almost always end up, head first, in the water. Remember, when you fall out of the boat, always hang on to your sheet! If you let go, the sail will remain full and you will end up swimming after your boat…

The steps to bring the boat upright again are the same:

    1. Swim around to the centerboard
    2. Bring the centerboard all the way down
    3. Place your feet to the side of the boat and your arms around the centerboard
    4. Hold this position until the boat comes upright
    5. Climb on the centerboard if necessary
    6. Get in your boat and enjoy sailing!

Advanced tip

Sometimes, when you’re fast enough, you can manage to climb onto the centerboard without getting wet! This of course saves a lot of time and energy, not having to swim and pull yourself up onto the centerboard. Pulling the boat upright again is a bit harder though. Most likely the boat is still heading downwind. And because the sheet was eased during the crash, the boom is out, and the sail full. If you pull the boat upright like that, you’ll end up sailing downwind right away, with a full sail and you sitting on the wrong side. Another crash guaranteed…

Before you start pulling the boat upright, grab the sheet on the back of the boat and pull it in so that the boom falls into the water. This stops the boat sailing downwind. You can now pull the boat upright, but watch out… most likely your boat has “gybed” during the capsize. So the top of the mast is heading towards the wind and when you pull the boat upright, you’re still on the wrong side. So when pulling the boat upright, try to feel when the mast is coming out of the water and the wind is pushing the mast up. At that point step into the boat, duck under the boom(!) and jump to the other side to prevent the boat from capsizing again.

SportVid is founded by Roelof Bouwmeester and Sietse-Jan Sietzema. Both have many years of experience as sailors at the highest level, coaching talented youth sailors and Olympic athletes, such as Roelof’s sister, Marit Bouwmeester, 2016 Olympic gold medalist in Rio!

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