Large Cat Flipped off Niue

[JeffBurnes]

See attached shots - Anna has (had) a massive sail area and also she did not sink.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Seaslug Caravan

All this talk of fuse's makes my blood run cold.

Ever watched what happens when the pawls strip on an overloaded winch?

Ever heard of the triangle of death?

Whatever system of release is chosen there has to be some control or someone is almost certainly going to pay with their life.

The maxi tri sheet release demonstration showed the sheets set up on two
winches with limited release for control.

Blowing a weak link is just silly inexperienced talk at best, deadly at worst .

Have you ever actually dumped a mainsheet on a cat?

It's really not such a big drama. The boom doesn't move far, and mostly it moves UP. Releasing leach tension.

A foot or so of mainsheet release would make a huge difference. And it would be easy to set up a "fuse" system that would only allow a limited release.

Also on the vast majority of cruising cats, the boom is a long way above head height to start with.

[arsenelupiga]

the other day, i was playing with sail trim at 48 deg app with one reef in main and around 15-20 kn true wind.

Here it comes 45 kn squall !

First time for me with so much sails.

Managed to depower jib and relelase mainsheet and tried to turn off the wind to hide behind land mass near by. Surprised that it was not possible ! As jib disappeared behind main, pressure on main rotated boat against rudders.

Gave up and turned against wind, turned on engine, packed up jib and then main. And then wind has gone !

whew ! learned something new. All it would take to depower is turning to 35 app and can actually continue to sail. Sail trim is also important I have learned. Setting it more 'racing way' more like blade is much easier to depower than setting up less sensitive balooney way as depowering takes larger angle to travel.