MercMan2004
Cadet
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2004
- Messages
- 13
I was at the lake the other week on holidays, sitting at the dock watching the goings on, when I witnessed the oddest collision. In this case it was a collision in slow motion, between a sailboat and a canoe.<br /><br />The incident started when the sailboat (a Laser with two people on board) attempted to return to its dock. I own a Laser myself and I know that docking a sailboat can prove interesting as you have to time things just right and you only get one shot at it (I must say I have mis-timed my fair share of dockings). The wind itself wasn't that strong but there were some pretty strong gusts working up at the time making things even more interesting and so I decided to watch. <br /><br />As the Laser approached its dock a canoe, paddling against the wind, just happened to be paddling by. My guess is that the Laser had anticipated coming in behind the canoe but due to the strong gusts the Laser reached the shore sooner or it slowed the canoe more than expected. So the Laser had to abort its attempt, but they waited a moment too late, and ended up setting up a strange sequence of events. <br /><br />The Laser had two choices, to tack (changing direction by turning the bow to the wind) or to jib (turning the stern to the wind). Jibing is more tricky because the boom rapidly swings from one side to the other and you have to get control quickly. Naturally, the Laser wants to tack. But a strong gust is playing havoc with the canoe, and its pushing the bow out so the canoe is basically being pushed into the path of the tacking Laser. And for whatever reason, the sailboat's tack was really slow and they ended up in irons (ie bow to wind and no forward motion).<br /><br />The canoeists (they looked like a couple of young girls) gave up trying to paddle into the wind and so the canoe started going backwards. The sailboat was now going backwards as well, sail all a flapping. Then the Laser's bow crossed the wind and the boat surges forward towards the shore. They can't tack or else they'd hit the canoe so they jib in the middle of a big gust. The boom whips across but they don't get to the other side in time. The Laser does a big 360 loop and flips over, the sail landing on the canoe.<br /><br />Fortunately no one was hurt. Moments later the gusts stopped and the wind dropped to nothing.<br /><br />It reminds me of the time I watched a Laser sail straight into the shore... but that's another story....