[alberg30] White Squall

[sunstone]

From: sunstone <sunstone at idirect.com>

Oh, why not.

It was the 3rd day of a light air race in which the wind had only
started to build a few hours earlier, it had been hazy, hot and wearing.

In the inaugural Fujinon 300 (N. Mile) Double Handed Race on Lake
Ontario in 1990 June and I aboard our A-30 Wind Rose KC-544 along with
the rest of the fleet of 56 boats were hit with a line squall measured
in excess of 85 Knots for about 20 minutes.   We were 3 days  into the
race off 30 Mile Point beating in 15 -18 apparent on a Port tack when
out of the fog or haze, or what ever, a line squall came across the
lake, tacked us and pinned us hove to on Stb with the mast less than 6'
from the water.  I had been sleeping off watch on the bridge deck.

We lay on our side with the cockpit locker awash as the 1 meter waves
were pounded into a froth as in a washing machine and we were hit by
searing horizontal rain which made it impossible to turn one's face to
windward.

We were enclosed in a howling storm with visibility about 1 boat length
in any direction unable to hear each other only inches away.

There was lightening all around and you could smell the ozone from the
discharges, as we struggled to bring the sails down.   It is a funny
(ha) thing to walk on your cabin side realizing you are the tallest
object on the boat with lightening going off like a gattling gun. We
where so far over that the anemometer read 0, another boat took the wind
reading.

The main fell into the lazy jacks easily but the hanked on genoa would
not come down due to the wind pressure.  In hind sight I should have
turned the boat down wind after the main was down to let the wind drive
the Genoa down.  We felt exhausted when it dissipated and took about 20
minutes more to make sail again feeling totally pummelled. 

We then came up to 50o of heel with the sails down under bare poles.

As the haze lifted momentarily we could see we where driving ashore on
30 Mile Point and so tacked back to port flying back into the haze on
our beam.  Not many modern boats would have answered their helm in those
conditions and at that angle of heel.

The squall was over in 20 minutes, dismasted the other A-30 we were
racing, broke 3 booms, shredded several sails and killed the crew of
another boat in our division 70 miles a stern of us.   We did not find
out about the loss of life until several days later as they sunk without
warning or Mayday.

We suffered no damage, took on no water as I had put new seals on the
hatches and was ever so thankful we had changed the upper chainplate
bolts to 3/8" shanked hex heads.  If you haven't done this chainplate
bolt enhancement, let this be a reminder to do so.    

We finished 5 out of 56 on corrected time and won our division, the next
year we won our division and placed 22 out of 89.   Fujinon dropped the
sponsorship, presumably due to the negative press over the fatalities,
after the second year.

It is now called the Lake Ontario 300, Oakville to Toronto to Niagara to
Main Duck Island to Niagara to Toronto to Port Credit.

As for the boat, in that immortal quip of Carl Alberg "it seems to have
worked out all right."

John Birch

Marianne King-Wilson wrote:
> 
> From: Marianne King-Wilson <addvalue at zeuter.com>
> 
> Hi, Dick!
> We've had a couple of white squall experiences in Georgian Bay; very hairy.
> We asked our late friend Bill Beatty (Kaila #266), whose enthusiasm for the
> A-30 had led to our purchase,  what the maximum heel was, and he said,
> calmly,  "90 degrees".  He had two knockdowns on the Atlantic, with his wife
> and 2-year-old son and 2-month-old daughter aboard.   I feel certain that
> more than wind alone was responsible for the knockdown, of course.  The
> beauty of the Alberg was that she righted herself immediately and he felt
> completely secure and confident.
> I look forward to hearing more stories.
> Marianne King-Wilson
> Windward #369
> 
> Dick Filinich wrote:I just wonder if an a 30 can be rolled by wind alone,or
> did I put my boat through a testing experience? "High Spirits"#191
> Galliano,La.
> 
> --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ----------------------------
> 
>     GRAB THE GATOR! FREE SOFTWARE DOES ALL THE TYPING FOR YOU!
> Tired of filling out forms and remembering passwords? Gator fills in
> forms and passwords with just one click! Comes with $50 in free coupons!
>                  http://www.onelist.com/ad/gator1
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ----------------------------

  New!!  Free E-mail @mail.com, @usa.com, @engineer.com and more!
Mail.com makes it easy to set up a free, personalized e-mail address
           that you can access anytime and anywhere.
                http://www.onelist.com/ad/mailcom1

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 937453142.0