I would suggest you rethink the mainsheet arrangement and fix it quickly. I was across the bay from you on the Chester River on Sunday and was having a ball. I was down to a reefed main and storm jib for a few hours. Even with that the mainsheet cleat got a good work out as the gusts were very strong with severe wind shifts.
I still have my mainsheet cleat on the bridge deck and it is a large harken swivel block with a cleat. It never fails to release, uses an upward motion to release and is always handy. It is in an inconvenient location for company but I love it for single handing and would not change it. At an anchorage with lots of cabin traffic, I remove the mainsheet from the cleat and re-route it back to the traveler via the loop in the bowline at the end of the boom. Whatever you do GET IT FIXED. It is highly dangerous. I have seen some other arrangements that are attached to the boom and they function poorly as you described. It does sound like Wild Guppy lived up to it's name :-) Thanks Doug Kelch M15 #310 "Seas the Day" --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I did have that thought, although late. I was a bit > paniced and all I could focus on was the mainsheet. > Maybe the next time I will steer more into the wind > to eliminate the crisis. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: [email protected] > Sent: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 3:08 PM > Subject: RE: M_Boats: Just how Stable?? > > > If sea room allows, you can also regain control by > steering into the wind to > spill some wind off of the mainsail when the > mainsheet is jammed. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 8:50 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: M_Boats: Just how Stable?? > > All, > > I was out sailing this past weekend and the wind was > a bit gusty and being > unpredictable. I was sailing in the Baltimore > Harbor and the wind shifts a > lot due to the buildings crowding the waters edge. > I was on a port tack > when a gust of wind hit the boat and healed us over. > I was having problems > releasing the main sheet. Every time I pulled up on > the jam cleat, the > cleat adjustment angle would move up one notch. The > harder I pulled up, the > higher the angle moved. The boat was healed over so > much that the starboard > gun wale was 6 inches under water and the cockpit > was filling up. By the > time we were able to release the main sheet we had > 6+ inches of water in the > cockpit. I was certain we were going swimming. > With the exception of our > shoes getting wet, everything else stayed dry. > > I can not believe how stable and well balanced this > boat is. I'm not sure > at what angle we were sailing (nearly tipping over), > but it is far greater > then what I am comfortable with, and still the boat > remained upright. > > When we got back to the dock and began stowing our > gear, I found the > starboard locker full of water. In the end I'm glad > this happened on the > starboard side, since the port locker was cut out by > a previous owner. > Which means the bilge would have been full. > > In the end, it's best to know the limits of the > boat. Now I have a better > idea of just how far I can heal over before I go > swimming. > > Fairwinds, > Skip > M-15 #201 '82 > Wild Guppy > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out > more about what's free from > AOL at AOL.com. > _______________________________________________ > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats > > > _______________________________________________ > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats > ________________________________________________________________________ > AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out > more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com. > _______________________________________________ > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
