17 March 08 Weekly Whiffle

Meanwhile, here's what I know: To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever installed drain tubes on a Mk III. The principle would still be that you would need to sail away from the water as you do with your bailers. But really, I tend to think that the suggestion - untried, but sound in theory - made by Scott Town (click here, see item #6) is the best solution: Re-right, get back in, raise the board at least half-way and then immediately sit way aft (on the aft tank). In this position, much of the submerged sub-floor buoyancy tank comes out of the water, stabilizing the boat (i.e. reducing the tendency of the boat to roll to one side or the other as the buoyancy tries to rise above the water). Scott's theory is that if you sail away on a broad reach and crank the sails in fast enough, the sudden forward motion will slop a lot of the water in your boat out over the aft tank and the transom, after which you can open the bailers and sail the boat dry.

Rudy: If you are going to sail solo and be living in fear of a capsize, you can make your boat virtually capsize-proof by using an old genoa that you can have re-cut and use as a trysail - click here for the article which has lots of illustrations. We sailed under genoa alone on a long run on the Chesapeake last summer and were doing close to 4 knots according to my GPS. By using only a trysail, you can relax much more than you can using two sails, and still have ample speed and manoeuverability. Under trysail alone, you would then have to really work hard to get your boat to capsize: I won't say it could never be done, but I am hard pressed to imagine how it could be managed. Perhaps if you were to go broadside on to a 30-foot breaker in the Roaring Forties or in a very vicious squall? If you see a (thunder?) squall coming and can't reach shelter before it hits, you should take your sail(s) down and raise your board most or all of the way, and if possible, point your bow more or less away from the direction of the approaching squall/wind and "sail" under mast alone. I have done this in a Lightning and the windage of the mast and hull gave us amazing speed through the water and left the boat perfectly steerable (though of course, you're now stuck with more or less running before the wind). If a squall hits and your sail(s) are still up (which should never happen if you keep your eyes open!!), you can buy time by fully raising your board, letting your sails flog and trying to luff up until forward momentum is lost. See also the first item under Safe Sailing. At this point you can leave the tiller and quickly down your jib and then your main. I have done this with my young son as crew who couldn't take our sails down - and we were the only Wayfarer not to capsize.

Dear Robert, Rudy, and Al,

My apologies for the slow response.

I have considered cockpit drains that would lead to the transom, but have not done it for two reasons. 1) I’m too afraid to make that kind of a cut on the boat. 2) I don’t have the technical ability to evaluate if it is a good idea. Here’s my reasoning. The Mark III was designed so that if it were left at a mooring with the bailers open, any water collected in the cockpit would drain out. My feeling is that if the boat capsized and came up with say 6” of water in it, which is normal and if the rear drains were open, you might let more water in than would go out. My feeling is that for the drains to work, the boat needs to be designed to drain at the transom from the start, like the new Hartley W sold in Europe.

What I have found that is important for the Mark III is to be sure the rear compartment does not leak. It is very important to inspect the joint between the rear bulkhead in the cockpit and the deck.   Mine had pencil-size holes at the corners. I caulked with 3M 5200 twice to be sure. Also I have screwed my rear hatch down permanently and put in a 10” air-tight cover for access. As of last year this made the boat nearly leak proof.

What is the advantage of this? When the boat capsizes, water-tight tanks give you more time, the boat floats level fore and aft, and sits higher in the water, which means when the boat comes up it will have less water in it.   The down side is that this floating high tends to want to push the mast down. Al mentioned putting an inner tube on the mast, I use an orange swimming noodle Also you could put swim noodles on the shrouds for more floatation, but then you get additional windage.

In racing, my wife and I have only capsized twice, with the spinnaker up, and were able to get the boat sorted out and finish the race. We have a capsize protocol. The interesting thing about the Mark III is that the bailers are on the chine. So if you capsize I find that if we get the boat on a beam or broad reach then heel the boat slightly to leeward the water runs to the low side. It seems to steady the boat which empties within about 10 minutes.

I have a couple more comments but would like Al to comment, because I may be off base. 1) When cruising, I use only as much centerboard as is required to point in the direction I want to go. The boat seems easier to handle and keep on an even keel. 2) I have found that having a good strong boom vang which can be adjusted from either side of the boat helps to de-power the rig and keep things nice and calm.

In general I think practicing is best. It will allow you to see if your rear tank leaks. The next step would be to test mast flotation. If that works, then you can work on recovery protocol.   My chest tightens when I think of capsizing, but it is important to know what is going to happen when you hit the water. If you know your boat will float and you know what to do once you hit the water then it will go better.

Making sure your buoyancy tanks don’t leak is critical.   Before I found my leaks, I tried putting flotation in the rear tank and that was a waste of time. At the Midwinters this year, we had two very experienced sailors capsize, and due to leaking tanks, they could not recover.

The W Mark III is a good boat. I understand the desire for the transom drains, but at this point - until someone else does it on their boat - I will concentrate on making sure the boat won’t sink, and then planning my recovery. Most important is prevention such as the trysail.

Best Regards,

Richard Johnson