How would you get back ?

[barnakiel]

I would try to build a jury rig and see if the wind and current can take me to a place where I could just fire up the motor and go into an achorage, harbour, etc..

b.

[sailingaway221]

I'm painting the mast on my boat now... Im going to go tomorrow or the next day and see if I can hook up my kite and see what it can do. Heres a great link.

Dave Culp began professionally designing kite powered boats in 1978

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by sailingaway221

Cake... Blow up my kitesurfing 14m kite.. hook it to the bow and sail upwind to the appropriate port.

I'm pretty sure that if you attach the kite to the bow you're not going to go upwind. You need to attach it somewhere near the CLR or CE point or you're just going to pull the bow downwind overpowering the rudders.

Some people in our club experimented with a kite on a Hobie Bravo which is cat rigged. The attachment point was at the mast step. The highest they could get it to point was a deep broad reach. They needed to attach it back where the CE of the sail would be.

John

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by sailingaway221

I'm painting the mast on my boat now...

You're painting a mast on your boat ? Are you going to have painted sails too? Or your the painted ship on a painted ocean.....

[Shiner]

Originally Posted by sailingaway221

Cake... Blow up my kitesurfing 14m kite.. hook it to the bow and sail upwind to the appropriate port.

I have often wondered about these "flying sails".
Some bulk carriers and container ships are flying large versions of them to reduce fuel consumption, to good effect.
But can you sail upwind? Kite surfers seem to manage it.

[hpeer]

Since I have a steel boat I don't think I would have all that much worry about the mast and rig holing the boat.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by capngeo

You are sailing. It is night; midnight watch, and you suffer a catastrophic failure to your rigging... the whole thing is in the drink and beating on your hull with each wave.

I'd cut away the rigging, no questions about it.

Worry about the rest in the morning. At least you'll still be afloat.

[capngeo]

So in a moment of lucidity and forethought, just before that last snip of the cable cutters, you bind a bight of line around a secure part of the rig and let it settle 60' below the hull; the seas subside and daylight comes..... how do you salvage it?

[SabreKai]

I'd wait for things to settle down, then go below and mix myself a nice rum n coke. Then I'd go sit in the cockpit and pull out a deck of cards. I'd start playing solitaire.

I expect the rescue boat to be along momentarily. Because we all know its a galactic constant that once you start a game of solitaire, someone will show up to tell you to put that red nine on the black 10.

Seriously? I'd mix a drink, settle my nerves, and get a good assessment on the situation re food, water, hull condition etc. Then I'd wait until I hit the steamer route and holler by vhf at the first ship passing. Even if I could rig a jury mast (unlikely as there's nothing aboard to use that would give you much over 5 feet,) Sabre Dance is a heavy boat. It would be like hitching a Chihauhau to a Chevy Suburban and expecting it to move. Up hill.


Sabre

[Dreaming Yachtsman]

I would send an e-mail via Skymate (antenna attached to solar panel arch at stern) to my son asking him to send out a tow to the position obtained from my backup hand-held GPS.

[callmecrazy]

Originally Posted by Bash

I'd cut away the rigging, no questions about it.

Worry about the rest in the morning. At least you'll still be afloat.

But then what??? Thinking more than 1 step ahead is the key to survival (in any situation).

There are more solutions than cutting it away. You could lash near the boat. If that doesn't stop the banging, put some fenders out... if that is not good enough, cut it loose but keep a line tied to it. If it's a storm situation (most likely) dragging the rig behind the boat would make an effective drogue until you can figure out what to do next... if after all that you find no use for the rig, or it is still causing danger, then cut it loose and proceed with plan B...

[James S]

Originally Posted by capngeo

So in a moment of lucidity and forethought, just before that last snip of the cable cutters, you bind a bight of line around a secure part of the rig and let it settle 60' below the hull; the seas subside and daylight comes..... how do you salvage it?

This is what I'm thinking..
Wonder about using the windless...gets it close...but still not on board...may get it close enough to recover the boom.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by James S

This is what I'm thinking..
Wonder about using the windless...gets it close...but still not on board...may get it close enough to recover the boom.

My thoughts too. I doubt I could lift even our small 40ft mast back on board and if we did then what?

However the boom is only held on with a pin and the bits of string. Not sure which is the longest the boom or the spinnaker pole, probably about the same so either use them as legs to raise whats left of the mast or rig them as two separate masts.

The good news is you will have lots of time to work something out.

A 42 ft yacht had a rudder jammed hard over on the Atlantic run a couple of years ago. The drifted for a month trying different options and nearly made it to Bermuda. Sadly a second storm threatened so they took the option of bailing out when a rescue was offered. Would a been a great story if they could have made it.

Pete

[callmecrazy]

Raise it the same way you'd retrieve a drogue or sea anchor, winch it in on a secondary line, a few feet at a time... Might take all day, but you aren't going anywhere without it

[sailorboy1]

I think I would be looking to see how many books I still have on my Kindle and whether I am going to able to charge it in order to do some serious reading.

Do we really think that trying to bring that mast/boom back onto to the boat is a good idea? The boat is still seaworthy and I wouldn't want to risk holing the boat. What's the odds of getting the mast/boom back on the boat without damaging the boat and the risk this brings. And maybe even more important, not getting hurt and seriously injured trying to do so!