5m 2sLength

Mug Race 2013 - Catamaran sailing on Richard Rayburn's Hobie 21 "Fat Cat." If you want to see when "it" happens, be sure to watch until the 2:35 point. Up until then we had some really good rides, although we were fighting gusts the whole time. This was taken during our 13th year of participating in The Rudder Club's Mug Race, an annual 44-mile race on the St. Johns River, from Palatka to Jacksonville, Florida. It was their 60th annual event. See this page for more info: http://www.rudderclub.com/mug.html After watching the crash sequence for what seems like a hundred times, full-screen, frame-by-frame, I can offer the following post-crash analysis: - Before capsizing, I had been gathering the extra mainsheet line so it would not work its way out the back of the tramp and behind the boat. Most of the mainsheet was in my right hand. In my left was the hot stick and the section of mainsheet that needs to be un-cleated in an emergency. - A big gust hit, lifting the windward hull quickly. - I immediately dropped the mainsheet bundle from my right hand, and reached for the other section in my left - missing completely! - I got it on the second try and successfully un-cleated it, but not until we were pretty far up in the air. If you watch the slow-motion clip, you can see the boom release at a certain point. It was just too late to save us. - The port wing was also digging in and "putting on the brakes" by this time, and I quickly got off-balance as the boat slowed. - Richard instantly went into a seated position, which gave him much more control over his fall. - Based on past experience, we were probably going around 20mph before it came to a screeching halt - all within about one boat length. - My only memory of the fall was that we were headed for the gap between the tramp and boom. Obviously, I was off, because my butt and head hit the boom. Richard landed behind me. My wife later asked why I didn't try to hang on to the wing. It all happened so fast, there was no time to even think about it. - As the video indicates, it was only by the grace of God that we were not seriously hurt. We had prayed for a safe race, and, thankfully, God did protect us. - The mast was quickly sinking as we made our way out from under the tramp. It stopped once the tip touched river bottom. It must have dug in pretty good, too, because the boat didn't move at all until we had help pulling it up. - Another race participant eventually came by, explaining that they had blown their main. They offered to help get us vertical again. We never got their names, but you can see them briefly before I tie their line to our front crossbar. If you know who this was, please let me know. We are very grateful for their help. - Richard had to release a stay extender so the boat would pivot to a more vertical position, relative to the mast. Then our helpers had to use full throttle on their outboard, plus turn us around a couple of times, before the mast finally started rising. - Once vertical, we removed the bent boom and lowered the main, securing both. We then sailed the remaining 25 miles on jib alone. The first 25 miles took just under 2 hours, the second was 4-5 hours. A catamaran doesn't sail well on jib alone. It bobs up and down wildly in large chop. We made progress, though, and are thankful to have still finished the race. - Lessons learned: 1 - Praise God for His protection. 2 - I should have been better-prepared to release the mainsheet. 3 - When winds are forecast to be 18mph gusting to 32, anything can happen. If you don't want that risk, don't go out. I can't speak for Richard, but that will be my choice next time we have those conditions. 115 boats registered 96 started the race 71 finished We finished 60th, and were very ready to get off that bobbing boat! Finally: No, we had no idea a small portion of spinnaker was hanging down below the front crossbar! Shot with a GoPro HD Hero2 camera in 1080p 30fps mode (http://www.gopro.com/). Music: Gem Droids by Dan-O at www.DanoSongs.com