If my yacht goes belly up ...

[Lynx]

AdriftAtSea - I did not think about the life sling to get the person to the boat. IT is good for that.

I have a Portland Pudgy dinghy that weighs 128 pounds. I put it on deck for storage, at the dock. I tried to do this from the dock and the boat healed over to much to do it. I was able to do it next to the mast though. I do not think that the boat will heel over to much if the person stays close to the boat. If the person wouls swing out, It would be a problem. I will aslo have to beef up the boat to be able to handle the weight on the boom.

I do agree that you need a 6:1 tackle. The 4:1 that I am using to hoist the dinghy is hard to do and I am 6'4" and strong.

I do suggest that you try any system out before needed with all crew before setting out.

I don't know about the price of the BOB sling. I should make one up for an emergancy somehow.

[AdriftAtSea]

I do suggest that you try any system out before needed with all crew before setting out.

Amen to that...  Any system that hasn't been tried and tested is often worthless when push comes to shove.

[Ged]

Yes ... the AVS ratios are more of a curiousity than anything - especially for a smallish TS like mine. I knew the numbers would not be ideal for the sort of work I do, but there is something sweet about pulling into an anchorage and being surrounded by oceaning going yachts! I guess my philosophy is that I like to play out that tension between boat and weather. Often I cannot just simply sail home as the weather may have turned & I have to wait out until things calm down. I really believe that you can get a big boat cruising experience on a small trailable yacht if it is properly set up. You mention 32 knots & your 18 footer. I've never actually had all my canvas up in anything like that. I think it's more the angle that you sail in that type of weather that will determine your survival odds. I think the Hartley would just handle the wind OK - it's the quartering of the waves that would cause grief. 32 knots here would generate huge breaking swells. I've noticed my TS 16 handles large quartering seas on a beat, however, running in that sort of wind could be interesting. Do you have tactics for running or broad reaching in big wind and waves on a small trailer yacht??
And by the way .. the 1998 S to H was pure horror. I've just finished  re-reading "Fatal Storm" - the account of the race. The findings show that a number of the yachts because of their AVS numbers etc. should not have been in the race in the first place and there were issues with life rafts etc. However, as far as who got clobbered and who did not, it was just chance, fate, luck. The rouge killer waves all came out of no where and always from a different direction to the prevailing sea condition. Some of the maxi yachts were at the front of the storm and managed to outrun it, however, if they'd have been caught in it they too would have been toast. "Fatal Storm" is a great read. Best, Ged 

[BobW]

Not to be a stuck record, but  the book, A Speck on the Sea describes several small boat skippers in the 1800s using a line under their boat to help right it after a capsize.  None of the lines were rigged full time, the skippers dove under their boats to rig the line after the capsize.

[AdriftAtSea]

Ged-

Fastnet, Force 10, is also a fascinating read.  Both books have a lot to say about heavy weather sailing, and provide cautionary tales about weather planning.  Both also give strength to the idea that sailboats, especially smaller ones should not be sailing on a fixed schedule.  Races, due to their very nature, are fixed schedules of the worst sort, especially since many who do race are pushing their boats closer to the limits than is generally prudent.

[Lynx]

I have one of the sailing computer games. Set it up for a small fin keel boat with the bad weather of the gulf stream and then TRIED to sail into the wind. OOH MY!!! This was worth the $ 30 for the game. I latter had to sail into some small seas and used some of the stuff that I learned.

It was a good learning experience to wreck a boat on a computer than mine at sea.

[AdriftAtSea]

Some of the newer computer simulations are really quite good. ;)