Went sailing and capsized!

The weekend of the 24-25th July 2010 I decided to have the Triss Giggen out for some sailing. The wind forecast for Sunday 25th was good at a steady force 3 bft.

On the Saturday morning I go to launch the boat at Nyon Port slipway. The weather is good. I navigate to the Port des Abériaux motoring and moor up to one of the visitors buoys.


View Nyon to Prangins by boat in a larger map

Once arrived I set the cover and leave the boat to the next morning.

On Sunday 25 the Bise (North-easterly wind) is blowing a steady force 3, gusting 4. I take two of the kids with me and we have a great sail around the Port des Abériaux.

Taking...


Haul in the mainsail...


And off we go!!!


We take a break for lunch and after that I decide to go out again on my own. The wind is now force 4 bft gusting 5. I set the sails and motor out of the Port des Abériaux... and set sail on a healthy reach! after about 10 minutes sailing I decide to tack to head upwind a bit... as I am about to come about my left foot gets caught in the jib sheet and the boat continues to turn. I am unable to get across to windward before the sails catch a gust... and flop! Over I go! Lucky the water is nice and warm. I swim swiftly round to grab hold of the gunwale and push my feet on the centre plate... and up she comes, without much effort I am surprised to say! Of course the boat is full of water and all sorts of items are floating about. Sadly I lose the tiller, the small wooden hatch from the floor of the cockpit and worse my small waterproof bag with my iPhone and wallet in it!!!

Never mind, I concentrate to sail as best I can back to Port des Abériaux... The engine doesn't start of course! The difficulty is without the tiller I have to hold the rudder by hand and it is tough, but luckily the wind is behind which makes thing much easier.

The whole event wasn't nearly as dramatic as I thought. I would say that the item I was missing most is an efficient bailing system as there was really a lot of water in the boat... However the buoyancy was excellent at keeping the boat afloat and quite stable actually...

What an adventure! Now I have to get the engine running again which isn't easy...

First update in a while!

During the month of July I had the sails mended in the UK (check http://www.sailmakers-uk.com/). The whole luff was replaced and the clue as well. The result is great! The sails set well and I feel reassured that when the wind is blowing the main sail won't rip out of the mast...

Some basic information

The Triss Giggen was built between 1975 and 1976. A fiberglass hull with a round chine designed similar in shape to a fishing boat. An aluminium center board that swings down insures good stability when under sail and even motoring. The rudder is also aluminium but the tiller and transom board are wooden. The sail layout is Bermudan with 10 square meters of sail area. The boat officially weighs 165 kg, but I recon more on the 180 kg mark, and is 4.5 meters long and 1.93 meters wide.

The Triss Giggen is very stable due to her wide beam and the heavy swing center plate helps a lot too. Under motor (I have a Honda BF20 from 1988 2HP) which does the job but isn't very fast, the maximum is 4HP that can be fitted.

Under sail is when she feels most at home. She is quite fast, and I would say a force 4 is the best under full sail. The ride is dry as the "lip" of the free board keeps any wave down out of the cockpit...

More information and pictures to come...