On Monday Feb. 1, while most of use were freezing our butts off walking to class or hiking to work in Madison, some HSC members were enjoying the balmy breezes--and warm water--of the Caribbean.
HSC Large-Keelboat instructors Mike Moninger and Dennis Kennedy and other experienced Hoofer Sailing Club members who should have known better were racing keelboats off Grenada when along came a big puff. Seconds later, they all found themselves in the water, their boat sinking. Now, anyone who has sailed a J-24 knows that it simply can't be sunk. It's a small yacht with 1200 lbs. of lead in the keel which prevents it from capsizing. Even if you do somehow manage to roll it, e.g. in big waves, the keel will flip it right back up. That is, unless you left your cabin hatch wide open! Well, it's a pain in the butt to have to keep opening and closing that hatch when the beer and liquor are below. But you can't keep it up in the cockpit – J-24's just don't have enough cup-holders! So, you tend to leave the hatch open. Problem is, this wasn't Lake Mendota. It was the ocean.
Here's the story in the local Grenada news with photos. Check out those big waves. They must be, what, 1 or 2 feet in height?
So you are saying, like, ten other J24's have been sunk in the past? Out of what, a few hundred thousand J24 races? Your point is okay but your math doesn't really supportit.
ReplyDeleteMath? Try logic. You said J/24's can't sink. I provided a bunch of links about J/24's sinking. Ergo, you fail. QED.
ReplyDeleteAny boat can be sunk with the right crew at the helm. But the fact is, most boats don't sink, ever. Sinking a keelboat, even a J24, is a pretty serious thing.
ReplyDeleteYes keelboats get sunk occasionally, that just means Hoofers don't have a monopoly on stupidity.
ReplyDeleteThe skipper was Canadian and not a Hoofer. We were in very high winds on a downwind spinnaker run under control. We were ready to douse when either the boat rounded up or the wind shifted at the point. We were knocked down. The front hatch did not function and could not be secured. The mast broke and water came in the hatch. There was no drinking on board. We were picked up by a photography boat. The lack of waves in the pictures is due to having drifted around a point into the lee of the land. J24's due sink as noted by the links provided by a previous writer.
ReplyDelete