AIRBORNE 2's story....

PHOTOS

Had a great start and were flying a chute at 7 knots boat speed from Port Credit to Bluffers Park (Scarborough).

Could see the squall lines coming up behind us and managed to drop the chute and put up a #1 genoa before it hit.

We suffered 2 bad knockdowns when the squall lines passed through off Bluffers on Saturday afternoon.

First squall at 35 knots sustained bent the whisker pole around the forward lower shroud (no damage to shroud)

Obviously, I underestimated the squall...in retrospect, should have weathered it with main only.

Lots of boats did not drop their chutes...one that was a few hundred meters away was pinned on her side for 5 minutes by the chute.

Looking around after the squall, there were numerous boats with blown chutes, genoas, main sails.

Second squall of 38 knots sustained was much longer and severe (reports of gusts to 62 knots). This one shredded the #1 before we could drop it.

Again there was massive carnage to the fleet.

Don’t know if you heard that a trimaran participating in the race capsized and sank...Coast Guard recovered the crew of 4 from the Lake.

Apparently the skipper was lucky to live....he was trapped under the boat in all the lines....found an air pocket and managed to free himself.

We decided to push on with the #2 Genoa and Main.

Weather was still nasty so we opted not to put the chute back up.

Third incident knocked us out of the race....

Were sailing downwind with 20 knots and 5 to 10 foot waves.

Strange wave pattern....most waves were 4 to 6 feet but every ten minutes a group of three waves 8 to 10 feet rolled down on us.

Location 18 miles southwest of Cobourg.

Time approximately 19:00 on Saturday.

140% genoa poled out to stb.

Full main on port side with gibe preventer in place.

Wind was off the rear, stb quarter to minimize the risk of gibes.

Boat was surfing down the waves with speeds up to 11.3 knots.

I was on the tiller and was in the “groove” of steering the boat as she was overtaken by the waves.

As the waves passed, the boat’s stern was being kicked consistently to the port side.

We were “pushing the envelope” but the boat was under good control.

A large wave (from a different angle????) picked up the stern and unexpectedly threw it to the starboard side.

Before I could correct, the main gibed.

The gibe preventer did its job and saved my live.

I was standing at the tiller.

Without the preventer the boom would have hit me in the side of the head ..... based on the speed and violence of the gibe, I am quite certain that I would have been critically injured or killed.

The boom actually bent at a 90 degree angle where the preventer was attached.

Pictures were taken in Cobourg on Sunday morning.

Incidentally, I would like to praise Prescott Coast Guard for their assistance.

The operator gave me distances and headings for alternate harbours at a critical time when we were attempting to assess the extent of the damage, and get the broken boom / mainsail under control so that we could proceed.

We opted for Cobourg harbour since it was downwind rather than upwind.

Bob Hickson