Invictus capsizes... but dodges a bullet!!!
Here is my own summary to the team after one of the happenings over the weekend. Never a dull moment with us and we hope to share the ups and downs of our journey to the upcoming Little Americas Cup in Newport in a few months time.
Hi Team,
well, I can imagine that you are all aware that after some brilliant sailing in perfect weather, we suffered a capsize on INVICTUS.
seeing as I was the one on the helm, I obviously have to put my hand up for that one. I'm still trying to get my head around what happened even now.
Like all of these things with these types of boats, a lot can be learned and it can actually make you stronger in the long run. The boat suffered no damage from the capsize and only relatively minor damage due to a few factors. I now believe that we could actually survive and right the boat without damage based on a few mods and what we learnt this weekend.
A couple of things save d the wing and therefore the project once it was capsized... the main one being that the top of the rig proved to be remarkably buoyant. A full 180 degree inversion would probably destroy the rig. If the top of the rig was completely buoyant then we could protect the rig by inducing camber and sheeting the wing hard up to the high side to lift the flaps up and clear of the water. Dragging the flaps backwards through the water will break them. The support boat should always have a knife ready anyway... but here it could be used by someone to slice open the upper flap skin panels to let water out easily... as they do slowly fill up. If the upper flap comes off easily then we should remove it. We would then be in a very safe mode drifting downwind. Due to the light weight of the boat and the surface area of the tramp, she drifts very quickly with the tip of the rig trailing directly upwind.
If the RIB was to hold the nose of the boat via a line around the lower forestay, she would probably lie bow to wind with the wing now lying perpendicular and flat to the wind. If the upper flap was removed so it wouldn't be in the water, we could now sheet the wing down and camber the wing to provide positive lift. It may well right itself as often happen is smaller cats. This would be the safe way to hold the boat if we didn't have sea-room to allow a fast drift down to leeward.
The other way would be for the sailing crew to rig a line to the aft shroud of the hull which is up in the air and for the RIB to pull hard on this as an extended tow line and for them to then pull the boat over. The sailing crew would probably need to hang onto the hull and drag their bodies in the water to offer resistance. Climbing up to the windward hull is quite difficult... but a tiny tramp modification could make it a doddle.
The main thing is to get the upper flap out of the water and keep the tip buoyant. Well, the main thing is not to capsize of course!!!
Having a solid hand hold on the top of the wing would have made a big difference.
So HOW and WHY did it capsize???
Gordon and I had spent a good hour and a half flying around the bay in near perfect conditions. Even Weymouth Harbour began to feel small as we blasted upwind and downwind in winds gusting to 17 knots... but generally around 12-15. INVICTUS felt wonderful. She is steering much better thanks to Phils mods to the Ackermanns of the rudders and she now tacks on a dime. The new Marlow 3mm SK78 rigging was fitted and showed itself to be stiffer and strong enough with a small reduction in weight but large reduction in Windage. We changed the mainsheet rope which was much better (length and continuity wise) but later brought us unstuck for an unknown reason (probably a twist that got pinched in the block). The camber system was working well but we think the clamps on the wires are slipping as the system got progressively slacker as we sailed. The twist mechanism needs work as it is too fiddly and time consuming. It needs one setting which duplicates itself on either tack.
So We started working on a system for tacking the boat that would go like this...
1/ call to tack
2/ Crew hands mainsheet to helm
3/ crew goes in and fully lowers windward board
4/ crew takes mainsheet and goes to grab the new mainsheet on the other side
5/ Helm initiates the tack and comes in off the wire. The boat tacks quicker with a solid push on the tiller rather than a slow arcing turn.
6/ The crew ducks under the wing and holds the new mainsheet. If the tack is quick then the wing gives lift very quickly... but the boat is limited in its ability to power up by the amount of righting moment it has. It is important to keep the tack going right through to the new course... or even a little further and to get your weight to windward ASAP. If the boat powers up prematurely then it is faster to ease a little mainsheet than it is to pinch up and lose all speed. You need to focus on getting weight up and then full power on.
7/ The helm hooks up on trapeze
8/ the crew passes the mainsheet to the helm
9/ the crew raises the windward board whilst the helm goes out on trapeze
10/ the crew comes out on trapeze
11/ the mainsheet gets handed over.
That's the system we were practising. it was working and we could do the odd fast one. It was becoming obvious that the harder I pushed the helm across, the faster she would tack overall. This is probably due to the rudders steering better and giving less drag due to the Ackermann's being as it should be i.e. outer rudder turning less than inner rudder. Obviously a faster turn means we have to do everything quicker as the boat comes onto the new tack very quickly. If I am a little slow getting unhooked then the wing is set on the new tack and giving lift before I am across. This is no problem if the crew is aware and can simply ease sheet.
After a while we decided to get Helena onboard for some sailing. Gordon jumped off. I think we did one downwind and upwind run. The boat was definitely faster down-wind with less weight as you would expect... but it was also definitely slower upwind as it was less powerful. Overall, as I was used to the boat and have been doing a fair bit of A class sailing, I am pretty comfortable on the boat and with all its antics. It was probably a bit intimidating for Helena to jump straight on without much practice as we are now sailing INVICTUS harder than most of you are used to. After about three or four tacks I threw it into one more tack from Port to Starboard. Helena had the sheet. I pushed the helm across and pulled myself in. The next thing I knew we were flying a hull slowly on the new tack and I wasn't even across yet. I think I said "dump the sheet" as I made my way across not thinking it was anything too unusual and so not doing anything aggressive with the tiller to stop the hull flying. It was only when she yelled back that she couldn't, it was jammed that things got quickly desperate. By this time we were nearly at 45 and we needed weight to windward. I dived for the windward hull as INVICTUS teetered on the cliff of shame. By this stage we were barely moving and she slowly went all the way. Fortunately no-one went through the rig.
The boat was totally undamaged and the support RIB was quickly on station.
I couldn't believe it had happened... but we had to control the situation we were now confronted with. It was hard to tell if this required urgency or gradual assessment. In the end I think we did about the best we could considering it was a new situation. Fortunately the upper flap virtually removed itself undamaged. I was able to sheet the wing up to get the TE of the wing out of the water.
With the help of another RIB (we owe them beer) we were able to tow INVICTUS a mile or so back to the shelter of the boat ramp. It took about half an hour and by now a bit of water had made it's way up into the upper LE element making it very cumbersome. We eventually righted it in the water by using a car to pull the upper hull over. We then de-rigged as per normal.
So It seems that a kink in a cheap rope we substituted in to try out a continuous mainsheet was what brought us undone. This on its own didn't do it. It was this in conjunction with Helena being expected to do a new job a bit too soon. In the same situation either now or after some practice in lighter and less demanding winds she would have been more aware of exactly when and where to focus her attentions/priorities throughout these manoeuvres.
So very little damage was incurred... but I feel like a pilot who has pulled off a safe landing after running out of fuel. I shouldn't have run out of fuel in the first place. The issue wasn't the way we did the manoeuvre... it was what I expected of the crew. As we push INVICTUS harder and harder, practice and good team-work on the boat becomes essential. Every improvement we make to systems which aid this will yield some of our biggest overall speed gains.
Now we have the benefit of experiencing a capsize first hand... we should learn from it and be better prepared for it next time. Hopefully there won't be a next time... but if there is, it may well be nothing more than an inconvenience.
WHAT NEXT???
We need to get back out there ASAP. We need to assess all the damage and come up with a plan ASAP. If we don't have the time then we should still have a plan and maybe drop the bits off down to Dan. I don't mind chucking some money in the pot here. If we can use the skins of Mikes sections then we may only need to splice them onto the good bits. It will still take a while but it may be doable by the upcoming weekend. It would be great to be able to get back out there for the upcoming three days as we could achieve a lot.
So could we do a full assessment tonight?
Cheers, Paul.
Hi Team,
well, I can imagine that you are all aware that after some brilliant sailing in perfect weather, we suffered a capsize on INVICTUS.
seeing as I was the one on the helm, I obviously have to put my hand up for that one. I'm still trying to get my head around what happened even now.
Like all of these things with these types of boats, a lot can be learned and it can actually make you stronger in the long run. The boat suffered no damage from the capsize and only relatively minor damage due to a few factors. I now believe that we could actually survive and right the boat without damage based on a few mods and what we learnt this weekend.
A couple of things save d the wing and therefore the project once it was capsized... the main one being that the top of the rig proved to be remarkably buoyant. A full 180 degree inversion would probably destroy the rig. If the top of the rig was completely buoyant then we could protect the rig by inducing camber and sheeting the wing hard up to the high side to lift the flaps up and clear of the water. Dragging the flaps backwards through the water will break them. The support boat should always have a knife ready anyway... but here it could be used by someone to slice open the upper flap skin panels to let water out easily... as they do slowly fill up. If the upper flap comes off easily then we should remove it. We would then be in a very safe mode drifting downwind. Due to the light weight of the boat and the surface area of the tramp, she drifts very quickly with the tip of the rig trailing directly upwind.
If the RIB was to hold the nose of the boat via a line around the lower forestay, she would probably lie bow to wind with the wing now lying perpendicular and flat to the wind. If the upper flap was removed so it wouldn't be in the water, we could now sheet the wing down and camber the wing to provide positive lift. It may well right itself as often happen is smaller cats. This would be the safe way to hold the boat if we didn't have sea-room to allow a fast drift down to leeward.
The other way would be for the sailing crew to rig a line to the aft shroud of the hull which is up in the air and for the RIB to pull hard on this as an extended tow line and for them to then pull the boat over. The sailing crew would probably need to hang onto the hull and drag their bodies in the water to offer resistance. Climbing up to the windward hull is quite difficult... but a tiny tramp modification could make it a doddle.
The main thing is to get the upper flap out of the water and keep the tip buoyant. Well, the main thing is not to capsize of course!!!
Having a solid hand hold on the top of the wing would have made a big difference.
So HOW and WHY did it capsize???
Gordon and I had spent a good hour and a half flying around the bay in near perfect conditions. Even Weymouth Harbour began to feel small as we blasted upwind and downwind in winds gusting to 17 knots... but generally around 12-15. INVICTUS felt wonderful. She is steering much better thanks to Phils mods to the Ackermanns of the rudders and she now tacks on a dime. The new Marlow 3mm SK78 rigging was fitted and showed itself to be stiffer and strong enough with a small reduction in weight but large reduction in Windage. We changed the mainsheet rope which was much better (length and continuity wise) but later brought us unstuck for an unknown reason (probably a twist that got pinched in the block). The camber system was working well but we think the clamps on the wires are slipping as the system got progressively slacker as we sailed. The twist mechanism needs work as it is too fiddly and time consuming. It needs one setting which duplicates itself on either tack.
So We started working on a system for tacking the boat that would go like this...
1/ call to tack
2/ Crew hands mainsheet to helm
3/ crew goes in and fully lowers windward board
4/ crew takes mainsheet and goes to grab the new mainsheet on the other side
5/ Helm initiates the tack and comes in off the wire. The boat tacks quicker with a solid push on the tiller rather than a slow arcing turn.
6/ The crew ducks under the wing and holds the new mainsheet. If the tack is quick then the wing gives lift very quickly... but the boat is limited in its ability to power up by the amount of righting moment it has. It is important to keep the tack going right through to the new course... or even a little further and to get your weight to windward ASAP. If the boat powers up prematurely then it is faster to ease a little mainsheet than it is to pinch up and lose all speed. You need to focus on getting weight up and then full power on.
7/ The helm hooks up on trapeze
8/ the crew passes the mainsheet to the helm
9/ the crew raises the windward board whilst the helm goes out on trapeze
10/ the crew comes out on trapeze
11/ the mainsheet gets handed over.
That's the system we were practising. it was working and we could do the odd fast one. It was becoming obvious that the harder I pushed the helm across, the faster she would tack overall. This is probably due to the rudders steering better and giving less drag due to the Ackermann's being as it should be i.e. outer rudder turning less than inner rudder. Obviously a faster turn means we have to do everything quicker as the boat comes onto the new tack very quickly. If I am a little slow getting unhooked then the wing is set on the new tack and giving lift before I am across. This is no problem if the crew is aware and can simply ease sheet.
After a while we decided to get Helena onboard for some sailing. Gordon jumped off. I think we did one downwind and upwind run. The boat was definitely faster down-wind with less weight as you would expect... but it was also definitely slower upwind as it was less powerful. Overall, as I was used to the boat and have been doing a fair bit of A class sailing, I am pretty comfortable on the boat and with all its antics. It was probably a bit intimidating for Helena to jump straight on without much practice as we are now sailing INVICTUS harder than most of you are used to. After about three or four tacks I threw it into one more tack from Port to Starboard. Helena had the sheet. I pushed the helm across and pulled myself in. The next thing I knew we were flying a hull slowly on the new tack and I wasn't even across yet. I think I said "dump the sheet" as I made my way across not thinking it was anything too unusual and so not doing anything aggressive with the tiller to stop the hull flying. It was only when she yelled back that she couldn't, it was jammed that things got quickly desperate. By this time we were nearly at 45 and we needed weight to windward. I dived for the windward hull as INVICTUS teetered on the cliff of shame. By this stage we were barely moving and she slowly went all the way. Fortunately no-one went through the rig.
The boat was totally undamaged and the support RIB was quickly on station.
I couldn't believe it had happened... but we had to control the situation we were now confronted with. It was hard to tell if this required urgency or gradual assessment. In the end I think we did about the best we could considering it was a new situation. Fortunately the upper flap virtually removed itself undamaged. I was able to sheet the wing up to get the TE of the wing out of the water.
With the help of another RIB (we owe them beer) we were able to tow INVICTUS a mile or so back to the shelter of the boat ramp. It took about half an hour and by now a bit of water had made it's way up into the upper LE element making it very cumbersome. We eventually righted it in the water by using a car to pull the upper hull over. We then de-rigged as per normal.
So It seems that a kink in a cheap rope we substituted in to try out a continuous mainsheet was what brought us undone. This on its own didn't do it. It was this in conjunction with Helena being expected to do a new job a bit too soon. In the same situation either now or after some practice in lighter and less demanding winds she would have been more aware of exactly when and where to focus her attentions/priorities throughout these manoeuvres.
So very little damage was incurred... but I feel like a pilot who has pulled off a safe landing after running out of fuel. I shouldn't have run out of fuel in the first place. The issue wasn't the way we did the manoeuvre... it was what I expected of the crew. As we push INVICTUS harder and harder, practice and good team-work on the boat becomes essential. Every improvement we make to systems which aid this will yield some of our biggest overall speed gains.
Now we have the benefit of experiencing a capsize first hand... we should learn from it and be better prepared for it next time. Hopefully there won't be a next time... but if there is, it may well be nothing more than an inconvenience.
WHAT NEXT???
We need to get back out there ASAP. We need to assess all the damage and come up with a plan ASAP. If we don't have the time then we should still have a plan and maybe drop the bits off down to Dan. I don't mind chucking some money in the pot here. If we can use the skins of Mikes sections then we may only need to splice them onto the good bits. It will still take a while but it may be doable by the upcoming weekend. It would be great to be able to get back out there for the upcoming three days as we could achieve a lot.
So could we do a full assessment tonight?
Cheers, Paul.
posted by lars at
13:50
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