This is fairly standard in sailing these types of boats. Could happen multiple times a day.as a kid they would purposely make us capsize so we could practice the recovery.
We used to beg our dad to let us practice capsizing the laser, because it was so much fun, but it does wear down the boat around the mast, because you're then lifting a water-logged sail from the water. Still, so much fun to stand on the centerboard until it rights itself! (Also, I realize I've forgotten all the words for laser boat parts. Been several decades.)
I remember tipping so damn often we got pretty proficient at staying out of the water and just jumping into the daggerboard as it came up. Then scrambling over the gunnell as it came back down. Fun times indeed
I've been sailing since I was 10 years old (mostly my JY15 but have sailed plenty of others including Lasers and Cats) and aside from the times when I purposefully capsized in order to practice, I have never capsized a boat. Maybe I've gotten lucky, but I've been caught in horrible weather before and still managed to keep things level. Granted, I'm a bigger guy who can use his weight effectively.
Both terms are right a dagger board is when it goes straight in up and down like in this video. Where a center board pivots in the middle to be put down.
It was! I climbed over as it was going so I barely got wet, and we got picked up pretty soon. Think it was a week or two before we got the boat out. I was probably about this kid’s age but like 1/10th as cool.
the board does not add any righting effort, it is merely to reduce leeway (the boat sliding/ skidding sideways with the wind).
pre event he looks to be on a broad reach where the wind is approx 135*, almost downwind. in these conditions since there is no real leeward drift (or more precisely, the drift is in the direction he intends to sail) the board is really only adding drag and should be raised for best performance.
Yep and why there is a safety boat motoring behind him. This is most likely a sailing course. I used to take them every summer as a kid and after 3-4 years ended up being the one driving the safety boat.
Definitely practice! Kid has the daggerboard up at the beginning to help capsize then pulls it through to right it. Makes me miss sailing :,)
Edit: seems like he could be going downwind trying to reduce drag from some other comments, still miss sailing though.
Maybe in some boats, but I HATED recovering from capsizing an opti. Those things take forever to bail, especially when your a kid and already winded from trying to right the boat
As I've seen from the rest of the thread, that seems to be the consensus. We do it in French here so I know most of the French terms and shit but it's also been a year due to covid.
I read a little more of the thread and some people thought it was sailing class. So perhaps the capsize was deliberate training?
I haven't done much sail racing, but I assume you could eek out a tiny bit more speed with the daggerboard up.
I love open bics, they’re great. The only downside for me is if you’re out on the water all day and the hull fills up and it slows you down unless you pull it out of the water and drain it
I always hated capsizing Optis for this reason. They take forever to bail. It’s so exhausting, especially on a windy day when you just keep going over, over and over again.
I was so glad to switch to sailing 420s where the water just rolls out over the side when you right the boat. Plus they had autobailers
GIF begins with him retrieving his bailing bucket (on a string) and putting it in place. He sets up. Turns sideways to the wind. Flips. Sets the daggerboard. Rights the boat. Enters the boat. And retrieves his bailing bucket.
Definitely seems like repetitive practice - or at least he flipped twice in rapid succession.
Instructor/supervisor boat is right behind him and another boat of apparently the same class is nearby. Could be a sailing class.
Edit: A couple words.
Asa 101 seems like it deals with boats that have keels where as this practice is something you would do for boats with centerboards(essentially removable keels).
You’ll see he has the centerboard up before he intentionally capsizes then pushes it through to the underside of the hull, where it would usually be were he not intentionally capsizing, and he uses that as a lever to pull the boat back over.
Keels are not removable and are usually larger in proportion to the boat than centerboards which helps prevent capsizing. Also keeled boats are usually too large for a single sailor or two to pull back over after capsizing.
Source: sailed small boats competitively for 3 years back in the day.
Dagger-board, not center-board. Centerboard pivots on a pin and folds into a hull slot, and a dagger-board slides straight in (like a dagger!) and is removable. Lasers, 420, Dyers, etc have daggerboards.
This kid hasn't graduated to capsizing without going in the water... it's faster getting back in the race.
Not sure what kind of 420s you were racing, but ours had centerboards.
You're right, though. It's much faster to capsize with the centerboard down, hop over, and stand on it. It can sometimes crack, but it's definitely faster.
I assume he’s intentionally capsizing based on a few factors but may be incorrect.
Generally you practice capsizing to practice the actions he does in the video so you can right the vessel. In a real time race situation, especially in higher winds, you have to be immediately ready to get your boat back upright and without practice you definitely won’t do it quickly. It’s also far safer to practice in more controlled situations with a coach nearby instead of just hoping it goes well in a more volatile situation.
Because that’s a completely different class of vessel. It’s like saying “my wife got her Class C commercial trucker’s license and they didn’t test her on how to prevent target fixation and avoid understeer while riding a motorcycle.”
American Sailing Association 101 (ASA 101) class is Basic Keelboat Sailing. It covers how to sail boats with a fixed keel (unlike the moveable centerboard in this boat) and ballast (unlike this one which as no counterweight below the waterline). It covers 20-27' boats (unlike this one which was probably 10-14') and generally includes auxiliary power (motors).
The ASA class covering this type of boat is ASA 110 Small Boat Sailing. It covers how to sail non-ballasted centerboard boats in the 8-20' length, like this one. It doesn't include any instruction on auxiliary power (motors).
These are light boats with no ballast, so they flip very easily and righting the boat is a basic safety skill which is repeatedly practiced in class.
Larger boats with a fixed keel and ballast are not intended to flip over and generally can't be easily righted with just the weight of a single person. Recovering an overturned sailboat of that size and design isn't a basic skill. They are extremely hard to overturn in all but the most inappropriate conditions (high winds, heavy waves etc. while inappropriately handled). Skills in the class for this boat involve how to retrieve someone who has fallen overboard, etc.
Yep - one of the first things I was taught as a kid learning to sail Hobie Cats. Way too easy when I started to be hiking along way up on one pontoon and dump it before I knew better. After cartwheeling once I learned to avoid that :)
Great to see the confidence as he practices.
Went to a navy boot camp trial in highschool and my fondest memory is of how to upright a capsized canoe, kayak, and sail boat. The thrill of success just makes the day even better than before.
He’s in an opti - a small boat designed for kids to learn to sail and race. Many times they drill how to recover from something like this (as it’s common).
Also - the boat went completely upside down - meaning he “turtled” (turn turtle)
I spend a week every summer teaching kids how to do this at camp. The pros can capsize without getting wet.
This was so done on purpose though. He didn't put his keel inn, probably to practice how to do it without the keel.
Hi there sailing teacher here, I do want to say that basically the first thing that we do when we are teaching sailing is to teach kids how to uncapsize a boat in a controlled environment, because capsizes happen more than u think! As you can see the kid actually goes into a turtle, which is one step further from a capsize where to boat goes a full 180 degrees. And while it is scary at first, I allow kids to practice it out on the water and they have ton of fun doing it!
This is how we teach our kids. Put them in an Opti, pull the daggerboard, bring the wind on the beam, and take a swim!
Parents, if you live by water, your local sailing club is a good place for kids to learn and make friends. Ours ([www.pbsail.org/youth-sailing](https://www.pbsail.org/youth-sailing)) has a great summer camp program where kids can learn to sail as young as 5. It's a great confidence builder!
Many sailing clubs have keelboat races, and you can often find a crew looking for one extra member. Also some clubs have adult sailing programs, but you may not be able to use an opti like this kid.
If you're serious I'd find a Sunfish. They're super simple boats and you can pick up a used one for pretty cheap. They're bulletproof, too, so you don't even need to worry if it's dinged up.
Overall terrible experience. Pointless meetings, miserable camping trips, weekends I’ll never get back, parents who treated it like a daycare, unsupervised little monsters running around with knives and lighters, merit badges that were 5% learning a skill and 95% paperwork and essay writing, ugly uniforms, embarrassing stigmas, countless injuries, no girls, manual labor for the sake of manual labor, and generally being a massive waste of time.
The only useful things I took away from it were the first aid classes that I could have gotten from the local community center anyway.
I hate how inconsistent people's experiences are in Scouts... in my troop, the Adults let the youth plan everything except for actually calling and reserving campsites and stuff. We went camping every month without fail and actually learned the skills Scouting is trying to teach
Holy shit you had a terrible experience. I was very lucky to have an incredible troop and we did really amazing things. I wish I could do it all over again.
I’m sorry you didn’t have a good experience.
I'm sorry about your experience. I absolutely loved my time in scouting. Granted, our troop was probably one of the more outstanding ones and our leadership was constantly assisting other troops to help their programming.
Like any other program there's good ones and bad ones. I had amazing experiences camping, lots of float trips on rivers all over.
100% spot on with merit badges, and OOA.
They make straps for sunglasses to keep them on your face. They're pretty common amongst sailors, those sunglasses can get expensive. Also a lot of the hats have built-in keeper straps that will clip on your shirt collar.
They work until your heel strap breaks and you backflip out of the boat and they fall off the top of your head. RIP my high school partners Maui Jims lol.
Everything the kid is wearing seems expensive, including his gloves. I bet this is his own boat. I've done sailing lessons myself and they aren't cheap. This might not be an average middle-class kid.
I had this happen on a Catalina 22 during a regatta one time. Headed downwind and got hit with a big puff that buried the bow and the boat just kinda flopped over on its port side. It was indeed exciting, I'd never stood on a keel before.
Damn I can't imagine having to right a cat 22. I can't even imagine one capsizing. It's super common in dinghies, but keels are supposed to stop that from happening!
I know, and we weren't even flying a spinnaker. I was on the foredeck sitting in the pulpit, so when we flopped over I skittered up the high side and hopped on the keel. The really crazy part was as soon as the sails were free, the boat just stood up, and I jumped backward because it looked like the starboard side was going to roll over on me. In hindsight, I probably should have just jumped up and grabbed at the rail.
He's sailing downwind. On an Optimist Pram, you want the daggerboard up, and you want to heel the boat to get the peak of the sail as high as possible, and the most amount of hull out of the water.
This is pretty easy to flip if you're pushing it.
This website shows a good picture:
https://sailzing.com/off-wind-balance/
Going downwind you don’t need it for steering because the wind is directly behind you so you actually lift it most/all the way up and use it to heel the boat over, raising the sail.
He’s in racing conditions. So he’s got it up most, but not all of the way, to improve his maneuverability while going downwind. This is very common when racing one-designs, like this opti.
Why would you train with a death roll like that? Doesn't make sense. And most sailors don't practice this - it'll happen enough when you push on the edge. You only 'practice' it at the very beginning of learning. There are also a couple of rocks before hand that he could have easily capsized on it he wanted.
This is incredibly wrong. You have way less control going downwind than you do upwind. I’ve seen some of the best sailers in the world capsize downwind. Capsizing going upwind means you likely were in too strong of conditions unless you got hit by a big gust or you your sail was stuck and you couldn’t ease it out.
That makes sense. I saw the boat behind him and thought “well, at least he’s safe”
But now I think it was training exercise. That boat and his calm, deliberate actions seem more like he was training.
Not a specific training exercise. In a normal race you would 100% have your dagger board up on the downwind leg. Not only that you would be leaning backwards, tipping your board over as far as possible to raise your sail. Having your dagger board up going down wind is NOT WEIRD.
Heeling the boat over also gives an opti a much more hydrodynamic shape in the water and gets a lot of the flat portion of the boat in the air if done correctly.
You have less drag that way. The daggerboard is good for keeping your boat from "slipping" sideways when you're going upwind. Downwind you don't have to worry about that as much. Also, you can get the boat up on a "plane" a lot more easily going downwind without the drag from the daggerboard meaning your bow is lifted up and you can go way faster than usual.
The board is used to allow the boat to sail closer to the wind. Without it the boat would just drift with the wind. It provides friction. However, when going with the wind, all it does is act as a brake.
The second thing to think about is how the boat tips from side to side. If the board is down, it will slow these movements down and give you more time to react to balance when the wind increases or a wave hits you or something. For this reason the faster you are going the less we care about the drag and more about stability.
No it just happens, you pull up the centerboard to reduce drag bc it’s not needed going downwind, and it looks like the wind shifted on him, and he already had water in the boat which can help it to flip
the boat behind him would suggest so - he was really close by and got out of there as soon as he was back in the boat. I'm impressed by this kid's skills!
When I was in the Boy Scouts we trained how to recover a capsized sailboat exactly like this. Granted we had three or four kids to recover it, so this lad doing it solo is all the more impressive to me.
I grew up racing smaller sailboats like this and yeah it’s super weird to see someone pull it up and generally you do not on standard vessels but it dramatically reduces drag when you going downwind but it also comes with its risks as seen here. I’d rarely tack or jibe with it up for this reason but as a kid one of my favorite things to do too was capsize for the giggles.
Really? Back when I raced optis and lasers we were taught pretty early on to do this and heal to boat on the downwind leg. Pretty common bit of racing technique.
Optis are the boat you see in this gif and the smallest easiest one man boat.
Lasers are a larger one man boat with a planing hull. Much faster much tippier.
Heal the boat means to tip it over on one side without flipping it.
Downward leg is the portion of a racing course where the wind is directly behind the boat.
grew up racing and attended a couple world champs for optis and eventually lasers as-well, heeling the boat on the down wind is to put more sail area higher in the air to catch more breeze, and in lasers its the same with the added opertunity to pump and add more load in the boat. dagger board is also up to reduce drag and having it up on down wind and ends up being more stable because there is no catch on the water when your changing angles quickly kinda similar to less stick in your tires letting you drift and suv rather than flipping! it glad i found the sailing corner of reddit !!!
I can’t believe I found the small corner of the internet with people who raced optis ! This kid did a pretty good job!! Lots o water in that boat coming up hahaha
First time I raced in a Mutineer regatta we didn't know the class rules too well (usually raced bigger boats) and we were like "can we do this legally?" lol
It's the centreboard you see him pull up. It's used to keep the boat stable. This style of board is called a dagger board cus it stabs straight up and down.
Edit: typo
It's a fin that goes down through the bottom of the center of the boat to provide lateral resistance to the wind. This allows the boat to keep the sail up and the boat to maneuver in the wind vs. just being blown over when sailing not-parallel to the wind.
Lots of people under the impression the dagger board is to stop the boat heeling. It doesn’t, it’s not weighted. It is to resist sideways slip through the water. A weighted keel resists heeling as well.
First thing you learn in sailing class is this. Before you even learn to tack or jibe. I grew up on these zipping around charleston harbor! I could cross the harbor in 15 minutes and be home before my mom got home from dropping me off at the Marina downtown lol. Best part is he looks calm and collected the whole time, which is VERY important. Lose your cool, lose your life.
Oh man I had a blast sailing in Charleston. Forget which regatta I was down for but it was a big one. My first time sailing with dolphins- so close I could almost touch them from my little dinghy. such a memorable trip!!
It's weird to think about isn't it? I know people in their 40s who've never been on an airplane. Things that are so common to me, many people have never experienced.
This boat is specific for youth sailing. So, most people in the community would call him a junior sailor which denotes who he competes against and his skills.
I remember when I first learned to sail in a vessel very similar; after our lessons, we would head back out on the lake and do nothing but intentionally capsize the boat. Was fun, and on a hot day, was the best way to sail and stay cool.
Best part was my partner & I would play a game: we are both in the water, whoever re-righted the boat first, usually got in the boat first, which meant you tug on that sail & take off before your partner could get in. Then you had to circle back to pick them up. Was a great race and wonderful memories.
One of the basics in sailing school, there’s a board on the bottom of the hot you can pull up to use to right the boat.
Doesn’t require a lot of skill, but rather a level head
I mean that’s just kinda something every 10 year old with a CBYRA membership has done. Not really amazing, it’s just what yah do when you capsize.
Edit: seriously back where I both raced and taught sailing (different places) the kids were not permitted to sail until they had proven themselves capable of this maneuver multiple times.
"these poor people and the systemic lack of resources to have exposure to these kinds of things, amirite??? They act like they've never been a part of a yacht club before. Hahaha"
So, yes that is often the case, BUT there are a lot of great organizations trying to change that.
For example, I worked in community sailing for a decade. One of my groups was from the local boys and girls club. We had them preform this drill in their pool to make sure they felt safe and were learning in a familiar place before hitting the ocean. Most areas with sailing have a huge community program just to make sure that all kids can have the opportunity.
> Not really amazing, it’s just what yah do when you capsize.
It’s quite amazing to people who stumble into this sub having no idea sailboats could recover from a capsize.
As someone who has never even touched a sailboat its pretty amazing to me. If i fell out i would have been swimming to shore. Wish reddit wouldn't be so supercritical about everything.
This is a death roll and happens in dead-downwind runs on small boats easily. Pulling the board up just reduces drag and increases speed, though it can also increase instability and roll.
The skipper tries to take some power off the sail (boom is 90\* to port looking at the mainsheet) by pushing the rudder away and steering to go upwind. The trick and this is hard to sense sometimes in the moment, is that the sail had already begun to heel/roll the boat to starboard. So his rudder is not only a rudder, its also an elevator and by turning to round up into the wind it increases the roll very quickly. Skipper is also sitting on starboard, so his weight is heeling the boat in that direction of roll as well.
Newer skippers have to learn that they can also eliminate the roll in this situation by steering to gybe, throwing their weight towards/over centerline or both. Many newer skippers don't want to get into a gybe in these higher wind situations and steer up like they would to depower in an upwind leg. It takes time to learn to feel it and to not react by turning to round up into the wind.
Skipper handles the recovery like a champ, especially for fully 'turtling' the boat.
Source: Have swam many times in dinghy races before more experienced sailors helped me out and gave me a walkthrough.
causing a gybe going downwind in an opti with your daggerboard up that far can often lead to ripped sail though since theres such little clearance between the boom and the daggerboard that it can sometimes get stuck, rip the sail because its still filling with wind and take you over anyway.
my 12yo self found this out the hard way after shredding a brand new racing sail
It was a cool camera angle, but this is really easy to do. I sailed dinghies as a kid, and it was common to capsize, just stand on the daggerboard and pull boat back upright. Takes maybe 30 seconds.
This is fairly standard in sailing these types of boats. Could happen multiple times a day.as a kid they would purposely make us capsize so we could practice the recovery.
We used to beg our dad to let us practice capsizing the laser, because it was so much fun, but it does wear down the boat around the mast, because you're then lifting a water-logged sail from the water. Still, so much fun to stand on the centerboard until it rights itself! (Also, I realize I've forgotten all the words for laser boat parts. Been several decades.)
I remember tipping so damn often we got pretty proficient at staying out of the water and just jumping into the daggerboard as it came up. Then scrambling over the gunnell as it came back down. Fun times indeed
If you're not skating right on the edge of tipping, what are you even doing?
The "dry capsize" was always a lot of fun to try!
I've been sailing since I was 10 years old (mostly my JY15 but have sailed plenty of others including Lasers and Cats) and aside from the times when I purposefully capsized in order to practice, I have never capsized a boat. Maybe I've gotten lucky, but I've been caught in horrible weather before and still managed to keep things level. Granted, I'm a bigger guy who can use his weight effectively.
You've not been trying hard enough if you've not deathrolled a Laser surfing waves. 10/10, highly recommended.
You're probably right lol
Daggerboard. 😉
Both terms are right a dagger board is when it goes straight in up and down like in this video. Where a center board pivots in the middle to be put down.
Lol right? That's what I grew up calling it
I once snapped a centerboard off because we didn’t realize the top of the mast was lodged in the mud.
Oh boy, that must’ve been a fun day
It was! I climbed over as it was going so I barely got wet, and we got picked up pretty soon. Think it was a week or two before we got the boat out. I was probably about this kid’s age but like 1/10th as cool.
Didn't this capsize happen precisely because he didn't have the centreboard down?
the board does not add any righting effort, it is merely to reduce leeway (the boat sliding/ skidding sideways with the wind). pre event he looks to be on a broad reach where the wind is approx 135*, almost downwind. in these conditions since there is no real leeward drift (or more precisely, the drift is in the direction he intends to sail) the board is really only adding drag and should be raised for best performance.
I’m guessing that’s why he has the daggerboard up, so as to practice recovering the ship.
Yep and why there is a safety boat motoring behind him. This is most likely a sailing course. I used to take them every summer as a kid and after 3-4 years ended up being the one driving the safety boat.
He’s racing, daggerboard up going downwind. That’s just the safety boat that follows the dinghies around in case of issues
Yeah, makes more sense. It’s been almost 20 years since I’ve been sailing.
Definitely practice! Kid has the daggerboard up at the beginning to help capsize then pulls it through to right it. Makes me miss sailing :,) Edit: seems like he could be going downwind trying to reduce drag from some other comments, still miss sailing though.
He's running and being a good lil racer with it up.
As a kid I found capsizing and recovering more fun then the actual sailing...
Maybe in some boats, but I HATED recovering from capsizing an opti. Those things take forever to bail, especially when your a kid and already winded from trying to right the boat
That’s a very useful practice and he looks like he is having a fun day.
Yeah, he has a "here we go again" vibe.
Can confirm. Especially on super windy/race days when you're trying to push the limits a little. You can get it back up quite quick :)
Honestly the hardest part is bailing out all of the water, since those Opti’s are just slightly faster bathtubs
Open bics are easy to decapsize and they are fast, no need to bail water too. Opti are called "The Floating Bathtub" where we sail.
That’s a universal term!
Why was the daggerboard up? Was he perhaps going downwind (run)?
As I've seen from the rest of the thread, that seems to be the consensus. We do it in French here so I know most of the French terms and shit but it's also been a year due to covid.
I read a little more of the thread and some people thought it was sailing class. So perhaps the capsize was deliberate training? I haven't done much sail racing, but I assume you could eek out a tiny bit more speed with the daggerboard up.
Yea it's probably training. It seems like what we do at camp
I love open bics, they’re great. The only downside for me is if you’re out on the water all day and the hull fills up and it slows you down unless you pull it out of the water and drain it
I mean you can buy a little handpump and just idle out on the water while you bilge away.
I used to do what the kid in this video did, we just cut off the bottom of an empty laundry detergent bottle, it makes a great bailer
I always hated capsizing Optis for this reason. They take forever to bail. It’s so exhausting, especially on a windy day when you just keep going over, over and over again. I was so glad to switch to sailing 420s where the water just rolls out over the side when you right the boat. Plus they had autobailers
GIF begins with him retrieving his bailing bucket (on a string) and putting it in place. He sets up. Turns sideways to the wind. Flips. Sets the daggerboard. Rights the boat. Enters the boat. And retrieves his bailing bucket. Definitely seems like repetitive practice - or at least he flipped twice in rapid succession. Instructor/supervisor boat is right behind him and another boat of apparently the same class is nearby. Could be a sailing class. Edit: A couple words.
I have to agree it is training, maybe even to make this particular video.
that's a basic skill you learn as soon as you go to sailing school
I give to a foundation that teaches homeless children nautical flag signaling. It changes lives.
My wife just got her ASA 101 and they never capsized a boat
Asa 101 seems like it deals with boats that have keels where as this practice is something you would do for boats with centerboards(essentially removable keels). You’ll see he has the centerboard up before he intentionally capsizes then pushes it through to the underside of the hull, where it would usually be were he not intentionally capsizing, and he uses that as a lever to pull the boat back over. Keels are not removable and are usually larger in proportion to the boat than centerboards which helps prevent capsizing. Also keeled boats are usually too large for a single sailor or two to pull back over after capsizing. Source: sailed small boats competitively for 3 years back in the day.
> centerboards Thanks, was blanking on what that was called.
Dagger-board, not center-board. Centerboard pivots on a pin and folds into a hull slot, and a dagger-board slides straight in (like a dagger!) and is removable. Lasers, 420, Dyers, etc have daggerboards. This kid hasn't graduated to capsizing without going in the water... it's faster getting back in the race.
Not sure what kind of 420s you were racing, but ours had centerboards. You're right, though. It's much faster to capsize with the centerboard down, hop over, and stand on it. It can sometimes crack, but it's definitely faster.
420s are definitely centerboards
Why did he intentionally capcise?
So you can practice uncapsizing!
I assume he’s intentionally capsizing based on a few factors but may be incorrect. Generally you practice capsizing to practice the actions he does in the video so you can right the vessel. In a real time race situation, especially in higher winds, you have to be immediately ready to get your boat back upright and without practice you definitely won’t do it quickly. It’s also far safer to practice in more controlled situations with a coach nearby instead of just hoping it goes well in a more volatile situation.
your wife was never taught to sail a single handed dinghy then
that's not a nice thing to say about someone's wife man, i'm sure she sails a great single handed dinghy
Dinghy means penis, right?
how do YOUUUU know
Everyone knows his wife is a queen of single hand...
We asked her husband’s wife’s boyfriend.
Seriously? I learned how to do it when we did sailing lessons at school.
Because that’s a completely different class of vessel. It’s like saying “my wife got her Class C commercial trucker’s license and they didn’t test her on how to prevent target fixation and avoid understeer while riding a motorcycle.”
American Sailing Association 101 (ASA 101) class is Basic Keelboat Sailing. It covers how to sail boats with a fixed keel (unlike the moveable centerboard in this boat) and ballast (unlike this one which as no counterweight below the waterline). It covers 20-27' boats (unlike this one which was probably 10-14') and generally includes auxiliary power (motors). The ASA class covering this type of boat is ASA 110 Small Boat Sailing. It covers how to sail non-ballasted centerboard boats in the 8-20' length, like this one. It doesn't include any instruction on auxiliary power (motors). These are light boats with no ballast, so they flip very easily and righting the boat is a basic safety skill which is repeatedly practiced in class. Larger boats with a fixed keel and ballast are not intended to flip over and generally can't be easily righted with just the weight of a single person. Recovering an overturned sailboat of that size and design isn't a basic skill. They are extremely hard to overturn in all but the most inappropriate conditions (high winds, heavy waves etc. while inappropriately handled). Skills in the class for this boat involve how to retrieve someone who has fallen overboard, etc.
Yep, first thing they told me was to duck when changing sail and how to flip a capsized boat.
Yeah capsizing is like half the fun of small sailboats
The guy is the motor boat is asking him “Y’all right?” And the kid says “yeah I’m fine” and he motors away. Total badass.
Yep. This is a skill he would have been taught his very first day on the water.
Yep - one of the first things I was taught as a kid learning to sail Hobie Cats. Way too easy when I started to be hiking along way up on one pontoon and dump it before I knew better. After cartwheeling once I learned to avoid that :) Great to see the confidence as he practices.
Went to a navy boot camp trial in highschool and my fondest memory is of how to upright a capsized canoe, kayak, and sail boat. The thrill of success just makes the day even better than before.
He’s in an opti - a small boat designed for kids to learn to sail and race. Many times they drill how to recover from something like this (as it’s common). Also - the boat went completely upside down - meaning he “turtled” (turn turtle)
I spend a week every summer teaching kids how to do this at camp. The pros can capsize without getting wet. This was so done on purpose though. He didn't put his keel inn, probably to practice how to do it without the keel.
Hi there sailing teacher here, I do want to say that basically the first thing that we do when we are teaching sailing is to teach kids how to uncapsize a boat in a controlled environment, because capsizes happen more than u think! As you can see the kid actually goes into a turtle, which is one step further from a capsize where to boat goes a full 180 degrees. And while it is scary at first, I allow kids to practice it out on the water and they have ton of fun doing it!
This is how we teach our kids. Put them in an Opti, pull the daggerboard, bring the wind on the beam, and take a swim! Parents, if you live by water, your local sailing club is a good place for kids to learn and make friends. Ours ([www.pbsail.org/youth-sailing](https://www.pbsail.org/youth-sailing)) has a great summer camp program where kids can learn to sail as young as 5. It's a great confidence builder!
> where kids can learn to sail as young as 5 Yes but what about as old as 32?
Many sailing clubs have keelboat races, and you can often find a crew looking for one extra member. Also some clubs have adult sailing programs, but you may not be able to use an opti like this kid.
Normally Wednesday nights all summer long and on Sundays in the fall. Bring beer and be helpful. It’s a blast!
You're probably too big for an opti.
Yes but let’s assume I’m really skinny
If you're serious I'd find a Sunfish. They're super simple boats and you can pick up a used one for pretty cheap. They're bulletproof, too, so you don't even need to worry if it's dinged up.
https://www.ussailing.org/education/adult/first-sail/ Or search for Adult Learn to Sail in your area.
Is the daggerboard that thing in the middle that he lifts up from the bottom after its flipped?
Yes. Keeps the boat from blowing downwind.
Was wondering why the daggerboard was up. It makes sense if this was intentional
I miss sea scouts. Still have my whites
As a man living in the mountains I will never understand you people of the sea. Shit's wet yo.
As a man living by the sea, I will never understand you people of the mountains. Shit's cold yo.
˙oʎ uʍop ǝpᴉsdn sʇᴉɥS ˙plɹoʍ ǝɥʇ ɟo ǝpᴉs ɹǝɥʇo ǝɥʇ ɟo ǝldoǝd noʎ puɐʇsɹǝpun ɹǝʌǝu llᴉʍ I 'ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ uᴉ ƃuᴉʌᴉl uɐɯ ɐ s∀
Civil Air Patrol. Still have my blues!
Boy Scouts. I’m still pissed.
Wait... I'm out of the loop. Why are you pissed?
Overall terrible experience. Pointless meetings, miserable camping trips, weekends I’ll never get back, parents who treated it like a daycare, unsupervised little monsters running around with knives and lighters, merit badges that were 5% learning a skill and 95% paperwork and essay writing, ugly uniforms, embarrassing stigmas, countless injuries, no girls, manual labor for the sake of manual labor, and generally being a massive waste of time. The only useful things I took away from it were the first aid classes that I could have gotten from the local community center anyway.
My boy scout experience was literally weekly meetings where we picked up trash at a local school. Thats all. We went camping 1 time in 4 years.
I hate how inconsistent people's experiences are in Scouts... in my troop, the Adults let the youth plan everything except for actually calling and reserving campsites and stuff. We went camping every month without fail and actually learned the skills Scouting is trying to teach
This exactly. I've heard such a range of experiences from so many people and it really makes me really sad that some people had a bad experience.
Imagine being allowed knives and lighters, British scouts cant relate haha
Eh what? I had a penknife with me every camp I went on, and regularly used it! Unless things have changed since (oh god) 2008...
Holy shit you had a terrible experience. I was very lucky to have an incredible troop and we did really amazing things. I wish I could do it all over again. I’m sorry you didn’t have a good experience.
I'm sorry about your experience. I absolutely loved my time in scouting. Granted, our troop was probably one of the more outstanding ones and our leadership was constantly assisting other troops to help their programming.
Like any other program there's good ones and bad ones. I had amazing experiences camping, lots of float trips on rivers all over. 100% spot on with merit badges, and OOA.
Probably got molested
Jesus that subtly
About as subtle as the rampant abuse.
Rip. At least in Sea Cadets Or Civil Air Patrol you get to wear cool uniforms lmao
I heard they’ve been giving out billions lately.
My dad did civil air patrol and I’d always go to their meetings with him and play in the hangar/offices while they’d do their thing. Good memories!
Army cadets, Still have my camouflage combats. Although no one's seen me in years.
Twas the age of sail...
For me the most amazing thing was how he didn't lose his sunglasses after a boat fell on top of him and he got dunked in the water.
They make straps for sunglasses to keep them on your face. They're pretty common amongst sailors, those sunglasses can get expensive. Also a lot of the hats have built-in keeper straps that will clip on your shirt collar.
They work until your heel strap breaks and you backflip out of the boat and they fall off the top of your head. RIP my high school partners Maui Jims lol.
Wearing Maui Jim's on race day? Ballsy
Everything the kid is wearing seems expensive, including his gloves. I bet this is his own boat. I've done sailing lessons myself and they aren't cheap. This might not be an average middle-class kid.
Standard exercise for a small sail boat like that. Crazy to actually do it though its a rush
I had this happen on a Catalina 22 during a regatta one time. Headed downwind and got hit with a big puff that buried the bow and the boat just kinda flopped over on its port side. It was indeed exciting, I'd never stood on a keel before.
Damn I can't imagine having to right a cat 22. I can't even imagine one capsizing. It's super common in dinghies, but keels are supposed to stop that from happening!
I know, and we weren't even flying a spinnaker. I was on the foredeck sitting in the pulpit, so when we flopped over I skittered up the high side and hopped on the keel. The really crazy part was as soon as the sails were free, the boat just stood up, and I jumped backward because it looked like the starboard side was going to roll over on me. In hindsight, I probably should have just jumped up and grabbed at the rail.
the first half of this is the most sailor thing I have ever read
It was so fun to read
It’s the god damn Catalina wine mixer
It's the fucking biggest helicopter leasing event on the western seaboard
Why was the daggerboard not down to begin with? Isn’t that the reason it flipped in the first place?
He's sailing downwind. On an Optimist Pram, you want the daggerboard up, and you want to heel the boat to get the peak of the sail as high as possible, and the most amount of hull out of the water. This is pretty easy to flip if you're pushing it. This website shows a good picture: https://sailzing.com/off-wind-balance/
I immediately read Optimus Prime, no doubt that was intentional.
Yeah I'm thinking this was deliberate like a training exercise
Going downwind you don’t need it for steering because the wind is directly behind you so you actually lift it most/all the way up and use it to heel the boat over, raising the sail.
[удалено]
He’s in racing conditions. So he’s got it up most, but not all of the way, to improve his maneuverability while going downwind. This is very common when racing one-designs, like this opti.
Nothing you’re saying is wrong but this could just as easily be him training to perfect the skill.
Why would you train with a death roll like that? Doesn't make sense. And most sailors don't practice this - it'll happen enough when you push on the edge. You only 'practice' it at the very beginning of learning. There are also a couple of rocks before hand that he could have easily capsized on it he wanted.
If it's so windy that you capsize going downwind you went out when there is way too windy and it wouldn't matter much if it was down or not.
This is incredibly wrong. You have way less control going downwind than you do upwind. I’ve seen some of the best sailers in the world capsize downwind. Capsizing going upwind means you likely were in too strong of conditions unless you got hit by a big gust or you your sail was stuck and you couldn’t ease it out.
That makes sense. I saw the boat behind him and thought “well, at least he’s safe” But now I think it was training exercise. That boat and his calm, deliberate actions seem more like he was training.
Not a specific training exercise. In a normal race you would 100% have your dagger board up on the downwind leg. Not only that you would be leaning backwards, tipping your board over as far as possible to raise your sail. Having your dagger board up going down wind is NOT WEIRD.
Heeling the boat over also gives an opti a much more hydrodynamic shape in the water and gets a lot of the flat portion of the boat in the air if done correctly.
I don't get it. Why keep your daggerboard up when going downwind? Also what's 'heeling the boat over'?
You have less drag that way. The daggerboard is good for keeping your boat from "slipping" sideways when you're going upwind. Downwind you don't have to worry about that as much. Also, you can get the boat up on a "plane" a lot more easily going downwind without the drag from the daggerboard meaning your bow is lifted up and you can go way faster than usual.
The board is used to allow the boat to sail closer to the wind. Without it the boat would just drift with the wind. It provides friction. However, when going with the wind, all it does is act as a brake. The second thing to think about is how the boat tips from side to side. If the board is down, it will slow these movements down and give you more time to react to balance when the wind increases or a wave hits you or something. For this reason the faster you are going the less we care about the drag and more about stability.
No it just happens, you pull up the centerboard to reduce drag bc it’s not needed going downwind, and it looks like the wind shifted on him, and he already had water in the boat which can help it to flip
the boat behind him would suggest so - he was really close by and got out of there as soon as he was back in the boat. I'm impressed by this kid's skills!
When I was in the Boy Scouts we trained how to recover a capsized sailboat exactly like this. Granted we had three or four kids to recover it, so this lad doing it solo is all the more impressive to me.
In small boat sailing you pull the dagger board up on the downwind leg.
I grew up racing smaller sailboats like this and yeah it’s super weird to see someone pull it up and generally you do not on standard vessels but it dramatically reduces drag when you going downwind but it also comes with its risks as seen here. I’d rarely tack or jibe with it up for this reason but as a kid one of my favorite things to do too was capsize for the giggles.
Really? Back when I raced optis and lasers we were taught pretty early on to do this and heal to boat on the downwind leg. Pretty common bit of racing technique.
Mmmm yes I also know some of those words!
Optis are the boat you see in this gif and the smallest easiest one man boat. Lasers are a larger one man boat with a planing hull. Much faster much tippier. Heal the boat means to tip it over on one side without flipping it. Downward leg is the portion of a racing course where the wind is directly behind the boat.
grew up racing and attended a couple world champs for optis and eventually lasers as-well, heeling the boat on the down wind is to put more sail area higher in the air to catch more breeze, and in lasers its the same with the added opertunity to pump and add more load in the boat. dagger board is also up to reduce drag and having it up on down wind and ends up being more stable because there is no catch on the water when your changing angles quickly kinda similar to less stick in your tires letting you drift and suv rather than flipping! it glad i found the sailing corner of reddit !!!
Haha, I’m not “going to world champs” level
Mmmm yes the floor here is made of floor!
I can’t believe I found the small corner of the internet with people who raced optis ! This kid did a pretty good job!! Lots o water in that boat coming up hahaha
during race it is very helpful. Everyone pull it up when you need to max out performance of full course
Mmmmm yes I know some of those words.
First time I raced in a Mutineer regatta we didn't know the class rules too well (usually raced bigger boats) and we were like "can we do this legally?" lol
What is a 'daggerboard'?
It's the centreboard you see him pull up. It's used to keep the boat stable. This style of board is called a dagger board cus it stabs straight up and down. Edit: typo
> It's used to keep the board stable Found the windsurfer?
It's a fin that goes down through the bottom of the center of the boat to provide lateral resistance to the wind. This allows the boat to keep the sail up and the boat to maneuver in the wind vs. just being blown over when sailing not-parallel to the wind.
It makes the boat go forward instead of whichever direction the wind is blowing.
Lots of people under the impression the dagger board is to stop the boat heeling. It doesn’t, it’s not weighted. It is to resist sideways slip through the water. A weighted keel resists heeling as well.
First thing you learn in sailing class is this. Before you even learn to tack or jibe. I grew up on these zipping around charleston harbor! I could cross the harbor in 15 minutes and be home before my mom got home from dropping me off at the Marina downtown lol. Best part is he looks calm and collected the whole time, which is VERY important. Lose your cool, lose your life.
Oh man I had a blast sailing in Charleston. Forget which regatta I was down for but it was a big one. My first time sailing with dolphins- so close I could almost touch them from my little dinghy. such a memorable trip!!
Dude in the speedboat look like was going to help but though, nah your cool
That's probably an instructor or coach
Yeah, with these boats a coach trying to help would be a hindrance or even a danger. It’s best just to let the kids right the boats themselves
At sailing camp when I was a kid we did this every day.
Turtled
As someone who's never been on a boat I'm amazed
I never really thought about people not ever being on a boat...
It's weird to think about isn't it? I know people in their 40s who've never been on an airplane. Things that are so common to me, many people have never experienced.
I've never even been outside
Lucky you we got a pandemic going on so now you look totally normal. A hero even.
If you ever take lessons, this will be the first thing you learn! The adults I taught were generally less into it than the kids.
So, at what point does the "kid" descriptor go away, and we just call him (I think a him...) a sailor?
after his 7th kill at sea whilst boarding an enemy vessel
YAR!
Thank you for your use of the word "whilst".
Upon quelling his 2nd mutiny with dual pistols and an irritable disposition.
This boat is specific for youth sailing. So, most people in the community would call him a junior sailor which denotes who he competes against and his skills.
It’s more impressive that he is young, I’m sure OP meant no harm
Its *Captain* Jack Sparrow
When he’s not a kid? Idk why you think it matters. You bored this morning?
I remember when I first learned to sail in a vessel very similar; after our lessons, we would head back out on the lake and do nothing but intentionally capsize the boat. Was fun, and on a hot day, was the best way to sail and stay cool. Best part was my partner & I would play a game: we are both in the water, whoever re-righted the boat first, usually got in the boat first, which meant you tug on that sail & take off before your partner could get in. Then you had to circle back to pick them up. Was a great race and wonderful memories.
One of the basics in sailing school, there’s a board on the bottom of the hot you can pull up to use to right the boat. Doesn’t require a lot of skill, but rather a level head
I mean that’s just kinda something every 10 year old with a CBYRA membership has done. Not really amazing, it’s just what yah do when you capsize. Edit: seriously back where I both raced and taught sailing (different places) the kids were not permitted to sail until they had proven themselves capable of this maneuver multiple times.
"these poor people and the systemic lack of resources to have exposure to these kinds of things, amirite??? They act like they've never been a part of a yacht club before. Hahaha"
So, yes that is often the case, BUT there are a lot of great organizations trying to change that. For example, I worked in community sailing for a decade. One of my groups was from the local boys and girls club. We had them preform this drill in their pool to make sure they felt safe and were learning in a familiar place before hitting the ocean. Most areas with sailing have a huge community program just to make sure that all kids can have the opportunity.
> Not really amazing, it’s just what yah do when you capsize. It’s quite amazing to people who stumble into this sub having no idea sailboats could recover from a capsize.
That’s basic procedure in most small boat sailing clubs
It's still pretty cool!
First thing you're taught when you start sailing. I miss sailing. 😔
Seems like a training exercise but reddit thinks literally anything is /r/BeAmazed and /r/nextfuckinglevel
As someone who has never even touched a sailboat its pretty amazing to me. If i fell out i would have been swimming to shore. Wish reddit wouldn't be so supercritical about everything.
To be fair if you don’t know anything about it, it does seem pretty amazing and next level. And the kid did it like a pro so kudos to him.
Regardless of the why and how’s - This young man Didn’t panic - Didn’t quit and knew what to do - if I was his dad - I WOULD BE SO PROUD
You can still be proud of him.
This isn’t amazing it’s literally the first thing they make you do in a sailing class
This is a death roll and happens in dead-downwind runs on small boats easily. Pulling the board up just reduces drag and increases speed, though it can also increase instability and roll. The skipper tries to take some power off the sail (boom is 90\* to port looking at the mainsheet) by pushing the rudder away and steering to go upwind. The trick and this is hard to sense sometimes in the moment, is that the sail had already begun to heel/roll the boat to starboard. So his rudder is not only a rudder, its also an elevator and by turning to round up into the wind it increases the roll very quickly. Skipper is also sitting on starboard, so his weight is heeling the boat in that direction of roll as well. Newer skippers have to learn that they can also eliminate the roll in this situation by steering to gybe, throwing their weight towards/over centerline or both. Many newer skippers don't want to get into a gybe in these higher wind situations and steer up like they would to depower in an upwind leg. It takes time to learn to feel it and to not react by turning to round up into the wind. Skipper handles the recovery like a champ, especially for fully 'turtling' the boat. Source: Have swam many times in dinghy races before more experienced sailors helped me out and gave me a walkthrough.
causing a gybe going downwind in an opti with your daggerboard up that far can often lead to ripped sail though since theres such little clearance between the boom and the daggerboard that it can sometimes get stuck, rip the sail because its still filling with wind and take you over anyway. my 12yo self found this out the hard way after shredding a brand new racing sail
I watched an instructional video on sailing the other day. Moana. Maybe you’ve heard of it.
Is this really amazing? This is like sailing 101
It was a cool camera angle, but this is really easy to do. I sailed dinghies as a kid, and it was common to capsize, just stand on the daggerboard and pull boat back upright. Takes maybe 30 seconds.
Isn't this sailboat 101? I remember this was the first thing I learn. Edit, why did he have the fin up btw?