I have thought of using a rock climbing etrier as a ladder the help facilitate re-boarding the boat. I own a set, but have not used it for sailing-yet.
this same image was shown on page 1 of this thread. I relied with "i have yet to see any rope style ladder that works hanging over the hull (or beam). I think it has to be rigid or lean against something to work (or be a fixed line attached at multiple points) but would be happy to be wrong"
try it in your back yard off a tree, or on your boat - i think you will find when you try to step up,your foot pushes the ladder under the boat and will not be of much use - but i would LOVE to be wrong
let us know..
tradisrad wrote: I have thought of using a rock climbing etrier as a ladder the help facilitate re-boarding the boat. I own a set, but have not used it for sailing-yet.
MN3
Thank you for sharing this info!
I followed the few R2AK races and am extremely impressed with anyone who attempts this - even more if you finish - well done!
I agree with just about everything you say (mark this day everyone, it is rare).
Question about the "grab lines under the boat" - do you think the skipper trap wire bungees that are on turning blocks, criss-crossed under the main tramp would suffice as an aid - or are they too lose and "spongy"?
also curios how much beach cat experience you and your teammate had before the I20?
southstars2012 wrote: I can share a few of the learnings we had from our I20 while prepping in San Fran and then doing R2AK.
...
I'll caveat that I'm no expert yet at re-boarding easily (I mostly just brute-force pull myself up)
MN3
MN3 wrote: this same image was shown on page 1 of this thread. I relied with "i have yet to see any rope style ladder that works hanging over the hull (or beam). I think it has to be rigid or lean against something to work (or be a fixed line attached at multiple points) but would be happy to be wrong"
try it in your back yard off a tree, or on your boat - i think you will find when you try to step up,your foot pushes the ladder under the boat and will not be of much use - but i would LOVE to be wrong
let us know..
[quote=tradisrad]I have thought of using a rock climbing etrier as a ladder the help facilitate re-boarding the boat. I own a set, but have not used it for sailing-yet.
Silly me, sorry for posting the same info someone else did.
If I get a chance to try it I will report back.
Silly me, sorry for posting the same info someone else did.
If I get a chance to try it I will report back.
hahah - no big deal - i assumed you hadn't seen that - that's why i reposed my response
MN3
If anyone wants to see this "grab the trap handle and get a foot up" method...
i have a funny video of me and a buddy capsizing with a spinnaker out on his gcat 5.7 a few years ago
it is on facebook so you may have to friend request me to see - it's pretty funny
https://www.facebook.com/530203601/videos/10150268756068602/
MN3
MN3 wrote: Question about the "grab lines under the boat" - do you think the skipper trap wire bungees that are on turning blocks, criss-crossed under the main tramp would suffice as an aid - or are they too lose and "spongy"?
also curios how much beach cat experience you and your teammate had before the I20?
The bungees are spongy as you said, so they don't provide enough resistance/hold for you to actively pull yourself quickly to the rear-beam (not to mention that they are not oriented fore-aft, and in some really hard capsizes they might even have broken). So the fore-aft line from front beam to rear beam is really 10x better (and easy to add).
As for beach cat experience pre R2AK and I20 -- not all that much, interestingly enough. Next to zero experience for my race partner (he had never really even trapezed); as for me, I had some decent rapid-learning experience on Hobie 16s -- two weeks camp in Ireland as a teen, where the wind is decently big, a brief 6mo crewing in round the buoys racing, and the Philippines Hobie Cat Challenge, which is a 250 mile multi-day raid in anything from light to medium-heavy winds. No experience at all on a spinnaker cat. So compared to a lot of sailors on this forum, not a lot of beach cat experience for sure -- just enough to learn how to capsize in every way possible, and then how to recover (thanks H16!). Certainly not F18 racing or such.
On the other hand, we both had real trailing tri (F-31) experience in SF Bay and nearby coast, had done R2AK on an F-31 the prior year, had real offshore experience and nav/weather experience, and I had grown up sailing a 50ft racing cat. So we were no strangers to apparent wind sailing, navigation, and keeping a fast multihull right-side up -- all skills which translated nicely to the I20 for R2AK.
I'd certainly encourage more folks to consider entering a beach cat in R2AK! It's a bit nuts, yet very feasible with the right experience, preparation and mindset. (I suspect this is what attracts people to most long-distance beach cat races in the first place!)
Edited by southstars2012 on Aug 31, 2017 - 10:28 PM.
cool - thanks for the info
ps - my friend just purchased an f-31,
I can't get over how amazing it rides
MN3
My dream rig is the f 31! Or Contour 34.
loose that ring ding
I've got the quick pin tied off to the tiller.
Not my favorite way to reboard a cat! https://youtu.be/DlddK6XOaYI Last September my old sailing crony and I took his '84 NACRA 5.2 out in 30+ winds. We actually got the old girl up to a little over 23 mph. Not bad for a 34 year old boat! Anyway on the way back to the beach the wind was dying off and of course, me not paying attention......
You need to be a gymnast to get up the from the front beam on my boat
the video shows my preferred way to re-board
grab the trap and get a foot over the gunwale and then use the foot and trap wire to get the rest of the torso aboard.
Looks like you guys where haulin ass!
MN3
Where where you guys sailing I have a 5.2 also cant wait to get it together and up to speed .great info thks
Another technique i heard from a fellow sailor is to face forward at one side of the front beam, one arm along the beam and the other over the hull, raise a leg over the hull and pull your body up. It was better than using just the hands facing back. I agree that reboarding from the side is a good and reliable way, but gertting there is challenging if the boat starts moving. My personal conclusion after all the reading here is to be mentalized to go quickly to the rear beam to grab the tiller crossbar to recover control of the boat and reboard from there (still have to try that..), otherwise use your preferred technique.
o face forward at one side of the front beam, one arm along the beam and the other over the hull, raise a leg over
not possible on boats with lots of freeboard
the beam is several feet above the waterline
MN3