Dart 15 Forums

I was wondering if anyone out there can give my old friend Bob some tips on coming in on a strong onshore wind, as previously mentioned friend had several attempts at it on Sunday morning, each time having to go about and have yet another aborted attempt. At one point the girls in the kitchen even offered to send his lunch out in a rescue boat !!

Frank wrote:I was wondering if anyone out there can give my old friend Bob some tips on coming in on a strong onshore wind, as previously mentioned friend had several attempts at it on Sunday morning, each time having to go about and have yet another aborted attempt. At one point the girls in the kitchen even offered to send his lunch out in a rescue boat !!

Landing in an onshore wind is never much fun and it depends if you are on the sea or a pond.

I've not sailed on a pond in my boat so I'll leave that to someone else but for landing on a beach:

If its not very rough:

Drop Main about 2/3rds and come in on the little bit left or if with a jib drop main entirely and come in on Jib alone.

Alternatively trundle into shore at a speed so that you can turn into the wind, leap off and land the boat from the water.

Now if its rough and hence probably windy the fun really begins:

Now I'm of the school of thought that if I stop to drop the main I may find myself at the mercy of the waves and be driven too close\on to shore. So I think its best to attempt to land on the beach and get driven far enough up it to leap off and quickly turn the boat into the wind.

1) So I furl up the Jib if I have one
2) Pull the traveller fully in
3) Pull the mainsheet fully in (this creates a terrible sail set for running which is what I want to slow me down! but you must maintain enough speed to control the boat though so adjust as appropriate)
4) Set course for shore
5) Rudders half up
6) weight as far aft as I can to lift the bows up slightly, just before landing rudders all the way up
7) Try and land on the top of a big wave so that you are left high and dry when it receeds.
Leap off and turn boat into wind ASAP pulling it out of the surf at the same time, remembering to knock off the traveller and mainsheet. Its easier with some helpers.

If you try and turn the boat into wind whilst still at sea the chances are you'll get stopped side onto the waves and the boat could be rolled over with not so good results for your mast.

In the past I made the mistake of coming into shore at a full dead run with the sail set for a run and ended up tamboganing up the beach fortunately stopping before the sea wall! So slight error there but it did get me out of the surf. Didn't do my skegs a lot of good on the shingle though.

Just the way I do it, not necessarily the RYA way.

Martin S.

Hey Frank, you could always put a trolly on the other bank so the next time the winds the same he can park his boat on the waiting trolly and walk back to save time for the girls in the kitchen.
PS
If you look on shanklins web site and look at 2007 pictures, you will see we had an on shore wind on Sunday

Hi Erling,

great pictures, great advice---------I think the trolly on the opposite bank is his best option !!

This is my way of approaching this tricky situation.
On approach to the beach, furl the jib. Approach on a run or a reach across the beach away from the breaking waves and when dead upwind of the point on the beach you wish to land, turn the boat into wind, uncleat traveller and mainsheet leaving the falls attached to the clew and lift the rudders. Go forward and stand or kneel if you prefer, on one of the hulls, holding bridle or forestay to keep your balance. This lifts the sterns clear of the water and the boat will glide slowly, head to wind onto the beach. On reaching shallow water and before hitting the beach, you can jump of and, as you are at the pointy end, grab the bridle wires and either push the boat up the beach or await the arrival of your trolley via a suitable dolly or other kind person!!
Personally, I wouldn't drop the mainsail as keeping it up gives an escape plan i.e. if things start to go pearshaped you still have the option of sailing away from the beach for another attempt.
The whole process can be used in reverse for a strong offshore wind, particularly in confined conditions i.e. you can back the boat out into clear water before sailing off into the wide blue yonder.
I haven't tried this in big surf, so would welcome any comments

The best way i found is one handed down by 'our' Kevin Dutch. the idea is to run towards the beach then when fairly close turn into wind, get the rudders up and sit on the front beam or one of the hulls near the pointy end. The wind will then push the boat on to the beach/mudflat by the air resistance of the tramp, sails etc. you can then jump off and retrieve the trolley with a vague sense of safety as the boat is facing into wind.

Ben

Erling wrote: If you look on shanklins web site and look at 2007 pictures, you will see we had an on shore wind on Sunday

Nice one of you accelerating onto a plane away from the beach there Erling.

A lot depends on what waves you have and how sharply shelving the shoreline is. When visiting a club away from home this is one thing to check BEFORE going out.

Reaching in and turning upwind at the last moment in strong winds needs the rudders right down especially if you have heavy seas. One of our 18s found out that is NOT the way to do it with 3 foot breaking waves in an F6 last summer and split a rudder right across the top when a wave caught him whilst the crew both jumped off as it turned the boat broadside again.

Again taking the main down is not too easy to do in heavy seas and wind near the shore. But it would be favourite to come in on jib alone - if you have one.

Joan and I (18 and 15s) try to come in tight hauled on the main with jib flapping or furled with rudders half up, or at least unlatched, and with the helm sitting well astern and ride straight ashore. It may not be very friendly on the skegs but they are easily retouched compared with rudder repairs or potentially a damaged hull. As soon as you 'land' you need to get off as you loose the sheets and turn it quickly round though. Shore help desirable.

The method of turning upwind and loosing the sheets, taking the rudders up and stand on the bows is the kindest all round if you have the balance to get up to the bridle standing on one hull forward of the front beam. But if you have a sharply shelving beach you could be out of your depth and need help from someone ashore.

Now come on guys it sounds like great joviality was had from the clubhouse last weekend - it would be nice if a couple of people were ready to catch the boat as it comes in and help turn it round.

One point is that this beaching manoeuvre is the one most likely to damage your rudders by giving them a sideways impact. If you start to get rudder roller pins getting dislodged then have a good look at the angle of the 'wings' on the top pintel pin casting. On two of our boats I have found that the casting has flexed so the top wings are not in line and horizontal - i.e. they have flexed towards a 'Y' and the roller pin slot is wider than it should be.

These castings are quite soft and on 4 of out rudders I have removed the top casting from the A frame and gently straightened the casting in a vice with mole grips. New rivets and hey presto no more roller pin trouble.

It's all fun though isn't it!

Steve W (756)

Hi Steve,

Steve Willis wrote: <snip>
Joan and I (18 and 15s) try to come in tight hauled on the main with jib flapping or furled with rudders half up, or at least unlatched, and with the helm sitting well astern and ride straight ashore. It may not be very friendly on the skegs but they are easily retouched compared with rudder repairs or potentially a damaged hull. As soon as you 'land' you need to get off as you loose the sheets and turn it quickly round though. Shore help desirable.

The method of turning upwind and loosing the sheets, taking the rudders up and stand on the bows is the kindest all round if you have the balance to get up to the bridle standing on one hull forward of the front beam. But if you have a sharply shelving beach you could be out of your depth and need help from someone ashore.

<snip>

Steve W (756)

I see you do it the same way as me in big waves. Definatetly the safest way to land the boat in a big sea shame about the slight skeg damage you get from our shingle beach if you hit it just that bit too fast, but better than a bent mast or mangled rudder blade. Yes after 13yrs of landing in such a way my skegs were worn down to the bone so I had to build them up again after the nationals last year as you know my DIY skills are not great so I leave things until they fail normally on the water! (finding a hole along the hull seam line at the bottom of the "skeg" post nationals did at least give me an excuse for my below par performance "too much extra ballast").

In light winds or days when its windy but no waves: I normally turn into the wind just before hitting the shore and exit via the stern after pulling the blades up and pull the boat onto the beach since thats kindest to the boat I don't sail it in backwards as I'll simply fall off the bows if I try and stand there , me and balance not good . Requires a good sense of how deep it is or you run the risk of clunking the rudders on the bottom as you turn. So this is my preferred way.

But past experience has taught me the lesson of not doing it in large waves. It gets dangerous very quickly with the boat stuck side on to the breakers.

Martin S.

Not having too many / big waves at Halifax & the club being on the prevailing lee shore I usually drop my sail well away from the shore & come in under bare poles, yesterday this still resuled in me having to put all my energies into stopping the boat while my trolley was kindly brought out to me.

I did an excellent cartwheel yesterday too & have those nice shroud bruises & grazes to prove it !

Charles
Sticks & Stones
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