Capsize Drills

My son, Chance, and I went on our third sail of the year on Lake Whitney. Yesterday, the second sail, was beautiful and the wind was steady. Today the wind was not our friend.

The wind came in strong gusts and constantly switched directions. We were able to get up to some serious speeds!

The comedy started as we were coming around a large land mass. The wind was blowing hard from astern and we had our sails out to catch as much as we could.

Chance was in front of me when we passed the land mass. The wind was swirling around and caught him by surprise causing his boat to capsize. I was behind and to the starboard side so I turned starboard to avoid him.

The main sheet was too short and tied off so when I let out my sail while turning to the starboard the sail wouldn't get past 70 degrees and the boat kept moving fast.

To make a short story long, the boat capsized. Normally capsizing is no big deal. It happens, especially with a Dolphin. Almost to be expected.

Today was a little different. The wind was still gusting hard, up to 20 mph. The water was a bit cool. I had on a new wetsuit that was too small. Those are my excuses.

I righted the boat only to have it capsize again. The wind was catching the sail and every time it sat up the boat rolled on over. I did this drill five times. By the time I got it upright and fell into the cockpit my arms were jelly-like. I was whipped!

So, I will periodically do capsize drills! Oh and today I replaced the main sheet with a longer one, and probably won't wear the wetsuit again. I can't do too much about the wind except sail better.

Sailing on Lake Whitney Video

Here is a video made in October 2009 of Chance sailing a Dolphin Senior on Lake Whitney.

Home Port

Our home port is Uncle Gus' RV Park & Marina on Lake Whitney, Texas. Here is an aerial photo of the marina location in relation to the main lake body.

During the past summer the low water levels had not been seen on this lake since the 1980's. With the low water levels sailing out to the main body was time consuming and difficult.

The low water levels reduced the surface area we had to sail on. The gybe/tack legs had to be very short. The wind was very dirty since the waterway travels between bluffs which were higher due to the water level being lower.

This wasn't all bad, it required that we improve our close sailing skills!

Now that the water level is back to almost normal there is plenty of surface area to sail out to the main body with ease.

Keep your sails trimmed!

October sailing on Lake Whitney

October 2009 on Lake Whitney was wet. According to Weather Underground the rainfall for the month was over 10 inches.

When a cold front blows in the wind conditions on the lake are wonderful. Sometimes it makes for some fast and fun sailing.

Here is a pic of Chance taking advantage of the norther that blew in during October.

Our fleet includes the boat pictured above which is a Dolphin Senior. We also have a Dolphin Junior and a Chrysler Lone Star 13.

Drop me a line or visit our website http://www.sailbums.com/ to contact us about sailing on Lake Whitney!

Keep your sails trimmed!