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...
