Oh Noooo! Not a Foot Plant on the Mainsail! $$$

The previous header photo was of a Flying Dutchman capsizing; the trapeze crew being flung off the gunwhale by the quickness of the capsize. Been there, done that many times. Experienced trapeze crews know the type of landing by this crew can be very expensive. A double-foot plant on the mainsail, so near the boom, is a recipe for a long tear in the mainsail and a trip to the local sailmaker. For those who are paying for the error of their helm, the recommended best effort and the least expensive method to execute a landing, after being unceremoniously catapulted, is to endeavor to make a belly flop higher up the mainsail. Not easy to execute but even a four point landing, elbows and knees, would avoid point loading the mainsail

That Pesky Lee Shore: Europa Moth Fail

From the February, 1971 issue of OD-OY.

Lee shores are always tricky, especially if the run-in is framed by rock jetties. I ran an International Canoe straight into the beach once, but that is another story. Sometimes the safest option is to lower the main when you can still get head-to-wind and scull your way to shore.  Or leave the main about 1/4 the way up and get gently blown to shore. (Lasers and other sleeve-luff classes excluded.)

I was scratching my name at the weirdness of this Europa Moth's chemical name, "Paradichlorobenzene" until I looked it up on the InterWebs.

"Paradichlorobenzene is used as a fumigant insecticide to control clothes moths... Mothballs containing paradichlorobenzene are solids that turn into toxic gas that kills moths."

Looks like this Moth was still in payback mode for the skipper's cheeky frivolity.

Dutch Skûtsje in a Bit of a Pickle

I came across this photo on the InterWebs of a Dutch working scow, a Skûtsje, doing what sailboats without keels are wont to do every once in a while; reward in-attention by coming close to capsizing. From the Earwigoagin archives, I've written before about the Dutch Skûtsje, here, and here.

All of my posts on Dutch sailboats.

Some crash and burn to close out 2019!

The first race of the 2019 U.K. Moth Championships featured big breeze and spectacular wipe-outs. (As a change of pace, at the 2:04 mark it is amusing to see a rather slow submerge to a slow endo.)

OOF! Massive squall hits the Bol d'Or mirabaud race.

A massive squall rolled through the Bol d'Or mirabaud race on Lake Geneva. This is a long distance race featuring a wide assortment of multihulls and keelboats. Luckily no fatalities in the race though a tourist died on a sightseeing boat.

Facebook has a short clip.

A view from the mast-base-cam of one of the competitors.

Header Photo: Laser blown over

I think this is the first time in my blogging history that I have put up some random header photo and it turned out that it presaged a momentous news announcement - in this case the International Laser Class Association announcing that Laser Performance Europe was in violation of contract and couldn't build any more class legal Lasers. The Laser class, after suffering several years of legal wrangling over who owned the class, now seems set for another round of lawsuits. A shame. If you can stomach online forums with their endless drivel (and occasional nugget of wisdom), click here to go to Sailing Anarchy's thread.

And from the Earwigoagin archives, here is the blogmeister in a bit of a pickle with his Maser, Starkers.

Permission to Fail Spectacularly: 1968 Yellow Duflos Moth

Dériveur classique Moth, Cannes 1968

These grim set of photos (recently popped up on FB) were taken in the aftermath of Race 3 of the 1968 Moth Worlds in Cannes, France. From the lead-in paragraph of the race report:

"This was the day the hard weather enthusiasts had been waiting for. The wind was screaming through the rigging as the boats were being readied on the beach. The lighter helmsmen were soon in trouble as the boats sailed out of the harbour and hit the full face of the wind. One of the first out, Jean Paul Ladermann (Swiss), in a brand-new, bright yellow Duflos, got caught in irons tacking to avoid a motorboat, and, before he could bear off, was hurled against the vast concrete boulders of the breakwater by mountainous waves. He managed to escape injury by scrambling up the rocks, but within seconds his brand new boat (uninsured) was broken into a hundred pieces. Our heart went out to him, and it certainly did nothing for the morale of the rest of the fleet as they tore out of the harbour past this grim witness of the power of the elements. Marie-Claude was also overpowered at the harbour entrance, but righted again and battled out to the start. After lengthy delays, to allow the battered fleet to get to the start line, the wind steadily increased from 20 to 30 knots and it rapidly became a battle for survival. Eventually only 24 out of the 47 entrants reached the start line in a fit state to continue."

Eleven would finish this race. Photos of some of the survivors returning past the infamous breakwater.

Australian Graeme Lillingston won the race. Graeme was using the higher aspect Aussie rig on a scow hull.

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American Bob Patterson (who was a teenager in 1968) has this recollection of the race:

"I remember it well. I sailed my Patterson Shelley 2720. No air tanks. Two Elvstrom bailers worked overtime to keep me floating but one kept closing as I would come to the top of a huge swell and the chop would hit the bottom hard. I had to kick it open. During one kick the handle came off and the chute was gone, leaving a rectangular hole [in the bailer]. I was reaching so I rode a wave all the way into a sandy beach. I scavenged an abandoned Moth hull for a replacement and got back in the race. Finished 10th."

The elder-Mothist, Bob Patterson, with his restored Shelley (built by his father, Carl) at the 2015 Brigantine regatta.

Sneekweek 2016

I've written before about the Dutch Sneekweek, a sailing regatta/dance party extravaganza. (Actually it's the other way round - a massive party featuring some sailboat racing.) The sailing classes attending feature an even balance between the plastic fantastic classes and the myriad, beautiful, vintage, Dutch wood classes. Here is a nice video wrap-up of the 2016 event which features a large number of Oops! moments.

Header Photo: National 12 on her side, circa 1960's

At least I think this is a clinker National 12. The sailing kit seems typical of English dinghy sailors of the 1960's; short shorts matched with a non-descript woolen sweater (and English sailing waters are generally not warm!).

The National 12 is one of two English development classes that have been around since pre-WWII (the other is the International 14). The National 12 is a two-man/woman hiking class without spinnaker. Around 1970 they dropped the clinker construction and now are round-bilged or single/multi chine in hull shape. They are flared wide for hiking power with a narrow waterline, somewhat similar to our Classic Moth Mistral design. (The Mistral is very much a Vee'd shape and the National 12's are not - both, however, are roly-poly.) The latest National 12 designs sport the Bieker rudder wings which fools the stern wave into thinking it has a longer hull going through (an expensive contraption as the rudder mount needs to pivot as well - all adjustable while sailing). The National 12 also appears to be the only class to retain transom sheeting (sheeting off the back of the boat rather than the middle).

A video from Tim Laws. (If anyone wonders what class of sailboat the small yawl that appears interspersed throughout the video, that is the Salcombe Yawl, a hot local racing class in it's own right.)


National 12 Salcombe Open - Race 1 from Tim Laws on Vimeo.

Europe Dinghy Fails - No. 4 in a Recent Series

Forgive me dear reader but as I struggle to get out of this winter, I'm persevering by watching videos featuring sailing fails. There being 3 recent (youngsters flopping over -and over, Lightweight Sharpies at the jibe mark, and the video of the best of sailing fails of 2015) - this fourth in the series is of a Europe dinghy skipper who has great fun blast reaching back and forth but also has an affinity for getting hit in the head with the boom and rolling his Europe dinghy into the drink at the most inopportune times.

Sailboat Racing Fails of 2015

An excellent compilation of some of the more memorable screw-ups of 2015, capturing a wide range of eff-ups. I especially like the ones where the skipper walks off boat, leaving the crew to fend for him/herself (49 seconds and 3.15 into the video), having done that myself several times on the International Canoe. (Alas, a singlehander, where I couldn't enjoy messing with the mind of a crew when he/she realized this bus is trucking down the road with no-one at the wheel - tiller.)

Lightweight Sharpie Fleet Turning the Corner

Great fun in videoland when the drone operator is an experienced dinghy sailor and knows the best footage in a breeze is always at the jibe mark.

The Australian Lightweight Sharpies are 19' (5.8 meters) long, crewed by three (one on a trapeze) with a symmetrical spinnaker. The Aussies used the hull from the 12 sq. m Sharpie but redid it in plywood in the 1960's, reducing the weight considerably. The rig was updated from a gunter to a modern full battened main with aluminum mast. One takeaway from the video is how impressive is the wake from a full-on planing dinghy.

TOH to Jim Champ who posted this video to the Yachts and Yachting forum.



Earwigoagin archives has another Lightweight Sharpie video.

From the comments, Mike Scott chimes in with his experiences crewing the Lightweight Sharpie;

"When I emigrated to the Antipodes as a "Ten pound Pom' in 1965, I sought out my local sailing club - Lake Heights Sailing Club. Classes sailed there were OK dinghies, Lightweight Sharpies, and sundry others. "As I had no money to buy a boat in them days, I volunteered my services as crew aboard a Sharpie. What an eye-opener that proved to be for a British kid used to sailing little dinghies on ponds and rivers!! I was sheet-hand (mainsheet trimmer, and spinnaker raiser/trimmer), and those boats could really fly. Faster than a Dutchman, 505, or Fireball, it was a blast, and the thing I most remember being how warm the water was! Very wet boats, one was completely drenched on a planing reach, as you can see from the video. Occasionally we'd be out in the middle of Lake Illawarra, where the club was located, on a hot sunny day, when the clouds would gather on the horizon, and a Southerly Buster would come screaming across the lake, flattening the fleet, and forcing a rapid and hair-raising ride back to the beach!

"I don't think they are the most popular trapeze dinghy in Oz - the skiffs probably have a bigger following 14ft 16ft and of course the 18ft-ers.

You Want Capsizes? - 12-Foot Skiff

Many knowledgeable pundits, especially those from the Antipodean region, consider the two man 12-foot skiff the most difficult dinghy to sail. I, never having seen one, will concur readily after seeing this video.

4th rig refers to the smallest racing rig for the heaviest air. The 12-foot skiff allows different rigs to be switched in and out depending on the wind strength.

(Those of the older generation might want to turn down the annoying, droning techno-beat sound track.)

Header Photo: Australian NS 14 Down the Mine

The previous header photo was the Australian, two-man, NS 14 dinghy "going down the mine" off of Anderson's Inlet, South Gippsland Yacht Club, Inverloch, Victoria.

The NS 14 is an indigenous Australian development class; a two person hiking, no spinnaker class. It is 4.27 meters (14') long and 1.8 meters (just under 6') wide. Those who have read Frank Bethwaite's High Performance Sailing know that Frank's first forays into dinghy design experimentation were in the NS 14 class and that his successful NS 14 designs were the basis for his one-design Tasar.

The 1960's NS 14 fleet.

Six older NS 14's were imported into the San Diego area around the new millennium and when that effort of fleet building stalled, one or two were brought east, specifically to the West River Sailing Club, with transplanted Aussie, Tony Arends owning one. Sadly I was never around the club when they showed up and missed the chance to take one out for a spin. West River SC already had a fleet of Jet 14's so the NS 14 was again a non-starter in the United States. I'm not sure what happened to the boats.

Some more photos culled from the Internet:

The somewhat smallish 9.3 sq. meter sail plans features the now de rigueur square-top (or nearly a square-top) main. The fleet uses a very deep over-rotating mast for more power.

The NS 14 has the modern, double bottom, full draining interior.

To save weight the reverse sheer profile is very "humpy", aggressively turning down at the stern.

Our impressive duo from the header photo, après pitchpoling.

End of 2015 Season: Blooper Highlight Reels

It's getting chilly in the Northern Hemisphere. Time to sit at the computer (or tablet, or smart phone for those more technically advanced than the blogmeister) and watch several videos of dinghy sailing fails from 2015.

The International 14 will humble anyone, anytime, talent or no talent.


A Dazzling Display of Talent: Pt. 1 from mothra64 on Vimeo.

Training in a singlehander when we are that one step behind all day. Glug! Glug! All good in the end.


AnotherDayAtTheOffice from #1710 on Vimeo.

I've seen lots of Opti videos but not one that shows them filling their ballast tanks (and then emptying them). Well this one does.



The baby 49'er, the 29'er, can be just as squirrely as its bigger brethren.


November Sailing from Samuel Bonin on Vimeo.

Other bloopers, fails, capsizes from Earwigoagin can be viewed here.

Down the Mine Twofer

We just got another dollop of snow this morning in the Mid-Atlantic (nothing close to what they are dealing with in the Northeast). To buck me up before I go out to shovel the driveway, a duo of sailing crash and burn videos.

First up, that old chestnut of dinghy disaster, the Olympic 49'er. This time the performers are a Canadian team (the acceleration once they get the assymetric trimmed is jaw-dropping - at about 2:04 into the video).

Click here for more 49'er shenanigans.


Splash's & Crash's from Ferguson Sailing on Vimeo.


Next up, a plucky and persistent junior team having their difficulties around the course in their RS Feva during the 2015 Bloody Mary. Good thing they are wearing matching dayglo-green knit caps.

2014 MASCF - The Rescue

After watching the start to the sailboat race for the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival sailboat race I had the option of being dropped off with the race committee at the corner of the Chesapeake Maritime Museum harbor to watch the finish or, stay with the CBMM workboat, Volunteer, and motor through the fleet as it beat toward the finish. I chose the latter but as soon as we poked our nose out of the harbor there was, dead ahead, a sail with no hull, a sight that brokered further investigation.

It turned out it was one of the racers that needed assistance and it was also someone I knew. Larry Haff, a canoe sailor, was racing his homebuilt Polynesian outrigger canoe and as we drew near, we could see his main hull awash, Larry sitting forlornly in what was now a bathtub with the outrigger bobbing alongside, completely detached. The outrigger attachment point had failed when Larry had hardened up to go upwind and he was now discovering that he didn't have enough buoyancy in the main hull to support his weight and the sloshing water. I wondered how difficult this rescue would be as we would have to maneuver this longish workboat alongside but Lad Mills did a great job. Thankfully, the aft freeboard on Volunteer is low, the aft deck wide so we were able to work efficiently to get the rig out of the canoe and onto Volunteer, the outrigger stowed onboard and then, with some tugging and grunting, roll Larry up onto Volunteer's deck.

On our initial approach, the crew on Volunteer viewing the half sunken canoe. From left to right, Tweezerman, Rick Scofield, Lad Mills with Larry Haff in the water. Photo lifted from the CBMM Facebook page.

Rig and outrigger secured on Volunteer, Rick watches closely that the canoe main hull, still with very little freeboard, doesn't veer off or dive under the water as we slowly tow her in.

Lad Mills at the helm. Larry Haff  adding another pair of eyes astern. Other than the outrigger attachment failure there didn't seem to be any other major damage.

Larry Haff's outrigger canoe, back on shore, loaded up for the journey back to Massachusetts and some engineering modifications over the winter.

Down to the Sea in Ships We Go!

Nuff said!



we'll meet again from Diedrik on Vimeo.

2014 International Canoe Worlds - Second Race

No blow-by-blow description of Race #2 from Fran DeFaymoreau but Fran does go into some of the damage meted out to the IC fleet by the San Francisco wind and chop:

"Dave Gilliland- broken spreader. Steve Clark - one dinged up daggerboard, One german boat [ed. note - actually English - see video below] got T-boned with a small hole in side. minor cracks on several seats. broken tiller plastic universal extension plus other broken tiller extensions.

"Today [ed. note - Second Race], Swede OLa Barthelson had a broken shroud. Dave Gilliland bent his rudder shaft (about 1/2" solid stainless) which was straightened using a hole in trailer frame and cheater pipe. Steve Clark USA 250 and Michael Costello USA 228 both broke their daggerboards. Of the many others I did not inquire, but the sailors were busy beavers throughout Richmond Y.C's dinghy park.

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From the Internet I pulled the following about Race #2; Mikey Radziejowski (USA) won his second race ahead of Chris Maas (USA) in breeze that had a little more weight than the first race - hanging around 20 knots.

Fran mentions the T-bone incident from race 1. In a situation somewhat similar to my previous photo from the 1993 Worlds, Chris Hampe (GBR) had a bad start and decided to bail out onto port tack. Unlike I, who got away cleanly, Chris, once on port, narrowly missed one starboard tacker but the second one hit him squarely in the side. To show how far technology has come in twenty plus years, Chris has a GoPro documenting his every move. even the dumb ones (thank goodness that technology wasn't available to install on the tiller of my IC in 1993 - today I'd have video that would still keep me wincing in disbelief.) Chris put his T-bone gaffe up on YouTube - he had Monkee repaired and out to do battle to a top-ten finish for race #2..



And from the Earwigoagin archive, more still shots grabbed from the famous VHS video shot at the 1993 Worlds in San Francisco.

Fredo Beers (GER) becomes disconnected from his IC in spectacular fashion. (Hey, this happens on an IC every so often, one moment you are sitting on the sliding seat, the next you aren't - don't ask why!)

John Kells (USA) in spreadeagled fashion, willing his IC upright (not going to happen).

2014 International Canoe Worlds - First Race

Report from Fran DeFaymoreau:

"Sunday September 7, 2014. Race one of the 2014 Canoe Worlds. San Francisco Bay. Wind was in a bit earlier than yesterday, but the usual direction, from 220 degrees -coming down from the Golden Gate -12 knots at the start which got off at 12:35 pm. Start line just north of Albany Hill, south of Brooks Island where it will likely be throughout this regatta [ed. note: One thing about SF Bay, the direction is consistent in the summer/early fall].The fleet (9 out of the fleet of 34 are the old Nethercott one-design, hefting a sizeable 83kilos around the course versus the new rules boats at 50 kilos) splits right and left out of the gate. It wasn't clear which side was favored but the fastest tended to go left. The course is triangle-windward-leeward-triangle with the finish to weather; the legs are 1.1 nautical miles. At the 1st weather rounding Chris Maas (USA) is hundreds of yards ahead. In not so close pursuit are the British duo of Alistair Warren and Robin Wood with Australian Hayden Virtue and another Yank Steven Gay, not necessarily in that order. Many spectacular capsizes in the 9 legs with the eventual winner Mikey Radziejowski (USA) followed by Steven Gay and Alistair Warren.

"The capsize with greatest impact was the hammer blow that befell Chris Maas who, when leading by hundreds of yards at the last weather mark and against all odds, caught the last couple of inches of his main halyard on the weather mark ballast snap shackle! It took Chris considerable time to undo this tangle. [ed. note - He eventually retired]

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"Tacking these boats is very hard."

This was a quote that Swede Olle Berqvist gave to a reporter after finishing second in the 1981 Worlds on Buzzards Bay.

I previously wrote about the 9-point drill of tacking an IC in this post of the 1981 Worlds.

By 1993 I had gotten better at tacking an IC, but not good enough to avoid my fair share of problems getting from starboard to port and vice-versa at the San Francisco Worlds. One rich source of images from the 1993 San Francisco Worlds was a VHS video shot by the support-boat driver for Steve Clark. A copy made it to every IC fleet on the planet and provided much amusement over the winter. One of the sequences that elicited chuckles was me demonstrating the belly-flop tack, a last-ditch desperation move when things go wrong and the only option to prevent a capsize is to throw yourself front-first on the sliding seat, or whatever was extended of the sliding seat.

By contrast the same movie had a beautiful sequence of Lars Guck (who finished third at the 1993 Worlds) executing a perfect tack at the finish line (when most of us were so gassed that any maneuver at the finish provided enough follies to keep the finish line RC amused). Bill Beaver chunked the movie images into a primer on how to tack an IC in a breeze. (Click on the image to get a larger picture.)