Letter: Gravy Boat Swamps, Eld Inlet Race

as posted on SA:
Okay anarchists, here goes.
My name is Jeremy, I skippered our Holder 20, Gravy Boat, into the water that day. Here is my story. This is a 3 part tale.

Part A

0946 Saturday Eld Inlet Race. 1/19/08
We left dock late, arrived at starting line late and crossed several minutes after the fleet. Trying to make up lost time we got kite up early. Gusty wind conditions forced us towards the beach. We pulled out the stops and hit the gas. 10 kt boat speed, headed towards beach off Cooper Point before getting to Eld Inlet. We decided to gybe. The pole was not disconnected when boom came across. Boat rounded up and broached at the 10 o’clock point. Then capsized. Then swamped. The time between losing control and being in the water was a millisecond. Two of the three of us had life jackets on.

We got clear and tried to right the boat from the keel. It came right over on us and we realized it was sitting only 2 feet or so above the water. We all realized how bad this situation was very quickly. We took stock of the life jacket not being accessible and decided to have two of us swim for shore. As we set out we noticed a kayaker heading out. He came and took us one at a time back to the beach, while the swamped boat drifted with the tide. Things were floating away from the boat. We were all in the water for 15-20 minutes, luckily close to shore. Very nice people fished us out and dried us off. We watched the boat drift in as high tide came in at 1315. Made wetsuit missions out to the vessel to remove sails and rigging as possible, but the keel wedge was not coming out underwater and the spinnaker was tightly wrapped around the top of the mast. Family came to help, and we tied the boat to the bulkhead. The sheriff came and asked questions. He did not have a VHF, or a clue, so we could not call the race committee. We decided to come back as the tide was going out and try to bail it, anchor it, and set it up to float when the tide came back in. High tide was due to be 0520.
JS, our kayaker hero, a 7th grade, gets MVP for saving our wet drowning asses and bailing out the boat while we were home getting warm.

A photo of the Sheriff giving Jack Swanson the Citizen Commendation for the rescue. Jack is twelve years old, a seventh grader at Jefferson Middle School.

Photos of the boat

Part B

1730 – returned to beach by car with waders, anchor, ropes, and a van. I loaded up all poles, spin gear, outboard, gas can, portapotty, etc. Bailed boat. Lowered mast to unwrap spinnaker, then raised it again. Tilted boat and lifted keel slowly in. Rotated so bow is out. Tied off to bulkhead and made the next plans. Left main/jib on boat with only those halyards in place. When we came back we brought our beachfront hosts red wine and boat shirts, which may be decreasing in value.

Part C

0130, or later that day, neighbor JW borrows powerboat and we leave Swantown ramp at 0230. Bro-in-law meets us at the beach, from his car. He helps push sailboat out. After lifting anchor and untying from beach, lowering keel and installing rudder, we tow boat about 1 mile before JW’s boat motor dies. He works on motor for an hour while I tow the motorboat at about 1 kt. With jib/mail up but very little wind we call this kiss-and-makeup time. At about 0445 he gets his motor going again and we swap. Towed in to ramp at o515 AM. Bro-in-law meets us there. We trailer up and lower mast and get home by 0600 AM. Cold once again.

Monday Morning QB:
Boat is back in the driveway, not considerably worse for wear. She could race again next week, but family vote looks towards sale. The wipe out happened too quickly and too easily. Here are some what-ifs: 1. we had too much weight forward, with larger crew on foredeck than usual
2. flying big kite, from Santana 20.
3. didn’t pop mainsheet, or vang, when rounding up.
4. should have dropped sail for gybe in that much wind. We were trying to make up lost time and underestimated conditions. During part A we had buried the bow in a wave and all gone to the aft; we should have stayed there. We missed our one warning.
5. we should have left the dock earlier, so we wouldn’t have been rushed.
6. we should have all had lifejackets on.
7. yes, the damn companionway doors should have been in, but honestly I think more flotation in the stern would make a bigger difference. The boat would likely have sunk had we not added a lot of foam to the boat last summer. We plan to add more this month ...

So, there you have it. I’m not proud of it, but that’s the way it happened. The boat is fine and would sail again tomorrow. After having done over 30 races on that boat, I can tell you I did not expect to go over. Is the boat dangerous? No. However, it deserves respect. We had over 600 lbs of crew on deck with 500 lbs of keel below water. Until we went over it did not seem like we were pushing the boat too hard. So, yes operator error, but also it could happen to anyone. I don’t blame the big kite, but it would be good to follow the basic rules from now on: 1 ladderboards in when it is windy
2 if you think it is too windy to gybe, it is
3 lifejackets for all on a windy day
4 add flotation to your Holder
5 plan on saving your own butt when this happens
6 get racing, these boats are fast!
Take care all

Jeremy Norris, Gravy Boat


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