baldheadguy
New Member
I just bought my first Laser and on Thanksgiving Day I took her out for the first time. (The boat is a 1986 model, so it's maiden voyage happened long ago, but it was my first time using it.) It has been 20+ years since I have sailed, but as I expected sailing is just like riding a bike and the rigging / launching / sailing was problem free. However, all my sailing experience has always been on fresh water lakes, and this was my first time sailing in the ocean. (I brought the boat to Bald Head Island off the coast of Southport, NC.)
I learned that I don't have a clue when it comes to landing a sailboat on a beach in the surf. It was fairly disastrous. This is how it went down: I headed in to the beach going with the waves, not quite perpendicular to the shore. I was sitting on the starboard gunwale sailing "by the lee". The starboard gunwale was slightly closer to the beach than the port gunwale.
I figured that I'd land much like I do with a paddle surfboard. My intension was to sail right up on the beach and let go of the sheet to de-power the sail. I didn't want the daggerboard to hit the bottom so I pulled the daggerboard up as far as I could. I realized that it was high enough so that if the boom swung by it would not clear the top of the daggerboard, so I pulled out the daggerboard entirely.
I thought that the speed of the boat would allow me to cruise up on the sand, but I was wrong. As soon as the bow of the boat hit the sand the stern swung around too so that the boat was parallel with the shoreline. Keep in mind that since I was "by the lee" the boom was now hanging out over the bow. The first wave that came in capsized me so that the top of the mast landed on the sand, and I landed in the surf with the hull being pushed up against me. The daggerboard was crashing into everything because it was still attached with the bungee.
Since I was by myself and not strong enough to muscle the boat in the waves that just kept coming and coming. I quickly came to the conclusion that my only choice was to de-rig the boat while it was on its side in the crashing surf. My first order of business was to get the rudder off so that it didn't get snapped off. I ran the rudder up onto the beach and ran back to the boat.
Next was the daggerboard. I unclipped the Brummel hooks and ran it up to the beach.
Next was the boom. I undid the clew hook and the boom fell off the gooseneck. I untied the stop knot from the main and pulled the sheet through all the blocks. (Amazingly when this whole episode was over the Brummel hooks on the traveller were still attached and I didn't loose the small block. Looking back, I deserved to lose that block, or break something, or get hurt. Fortunately none of those things happened. Happy THANKSgiving.)
At this point I decided that I needed to right the boat to drag it up on the beach. I ran back to the daggerboard so I could reinstall it for leverage. I walked the boat into deeper water, righted it, removed the daggerboard and once again ran it up onto the beach.
I then de-stepped the mast and ran it up onto the beach with the sail still attached.
Lastly I ran back out into the surf to get the hull that was being bashed around. I dragged it up on the beach, then dropped to my ass exhausted.
Because of the current, when I finally got the hull on the sand I was about 100 yds down the beach from where the rudder was. It was a true yard sale with my equipment strewn all across the beach. And ALL of it was coated with a thick layer of sand, including me.
If anyone has any advice on how to do a proper beach landing I'd love to hear it. As humorous as this whole episode was, I'd rather not repeat it.
Thanks in advance,
TJ
I learned that I don't have a clue when it comes to landing a sailboat on a beach in the surf. It was fairly disastrous. This is how it went down: I headed in to the beach going with the waves, not quite perpendicular to the shore. I was sitting on the starboard gunwale sailing "by the lee". The starboard gunwale was slightly closer to the beach than the port gunwale.
I figured that I'd land much like I do with a paddle surfboard. My intension was to sail right up on the beach and let go of the sheet to de-power the sail. I didn't want the daggerboard to hit the bottom so I pulled the daggerboard up as far as I could. I realized that it was high enough so that if the boom swung by it would not clear the top of the daggerboard, so I pulled out the daggerboard entirely.
I thought that the speed of the boat would allow me to cruise up on the sand, but I was wrong. As soon as the bow of the boat hit the sand the stern swung around too so that the boat was parallel with the shoreline. Keep in mind that since I was "by the lee" the boom was now hanging out over the bow. The first wave that came in capsized me so that the top of the mast landed on the sand, and I landed in the surf with the hull being pushed up against me. The daggerboard was crashing into everything because it was still attached with the bungee.
Since I was by myself and not strong enough to muscle the boat in the waves that just kept coming and coming. I quickly came to the conclusion that my only choice was to de-rig the boat while it was on its side in the crashing surf. My first order of business was to get the rudder off so that it didn't get snapped off. I ran the rudder up onto the beach and ran back to the boat.
Next was the daggerboard. I unclipped the Brummel hooks and ran it up to the beach.
Next was the boom. I undid the clew hook and the boom fell off the gooseneck. I untied the stop knot from the main and pulled the sheet through all the blocks. (Amazingly when this whole episode was over the Brummel hooks on the traveller were still attached and I didn't loose the small block. Looking back, I deserved to lose that block, or break something, or get hurt. Fortunately none of those things happened. Happy THANKSgiving.)
At this point I decided that I needed to right the boat to drag it up on the beach. I ran back to the daggerboard so I could reinstall it for leverage. I walked the boat into deeper water, righted it, removed the daggerboard and once again ran it up onto the beach.
I then de-stepped the mast and ran it up onto the beach with the sail still attached.
Lastly I ran back out into the surf to get the hull that was being bashed around. I dragged it up on the beach, then dropped to my ass exhausted.
Because of the current, when I finally got the hull on the sand I was about 100 yds down the beach from where the rudder was. It was a true yard sale with my equipment strewn all across the beach. And ALL of it was coated with a thick layer of sand, including me.
If anyone has any advice on how to do a proper beach landing I'd love to hear it. As humorous as this whole episode was, I'd rather not repeat it.
Thanks in advance,
TJ