posted August 08, 2002 09:18 PM            

As for floatation you shouldn't have problem. There's plenty of positive buoyancy in a CL14 so even totally full of water she'll stay afloat so you can bail. Good luck.

posted August 08, 2002 11:43 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by gcaldridge:
I'm thinking of buying a CL14 (12 years old) and have just heard that after tipping it is very difficult to empty one out. I will be sailing this in the Pacific with very few people (if any) around to rescue me if I dump. Can somebody satisfy this concern for me please?

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posted August 09, 2002 09:32 AM            

An anecdote to answer your question about tipping over:

About a month ago, I was sailing my CL14 single-handed in a protected bay near Ipswich, Massachusetts. It was only my fourth or fifth time out this season with the boat (which I had purchased this winter). It's been 20 years since I've sailed on my own (in sunfish) and I was certainly getting used to things.

Tacking back and forth closehauled was nice and easy. I can't reef my main (I wish I could)but letting out the mainsheet let me spill wind and reduce heeling to keep things under control. When I started going downwind, however, things got a little dicer. It had been too long since I sailed last and I just couldn't figure out the right course to hold. I experienced a series of three or four unintended gibes (clearly user error and not the boat) but was able to recover each time. On what ended up being the final gibe I must have gotten my directions mixed up. The boat continued to heel over and I dumped it.

I have been reading a fair number of sailing books lately and wanted to avoid turning turtle. I had an extra life-preserve in the cockpit (which was now floating away) which I grabbed. I swam it to the head of the mast to prevent the mast from going under. That bought a little extra time to sort things out which I used to collect the various stuff I had in the cockpit which was now floating away.

I swam back to the hull and made sure the main sheet and jib sheets were uncleated and pulled myself around to the bottom of the boat. I only had to pull myself halfway out of the water (to about my waist) on the centerboard for the boat to begin to right itself. I weight about 185 lbs.

The cockpit was only half-filled with water. My sense is that there's plenty of reserve bouyancy in the CL14 so that even on it's side, only about six inches of the cockpit were submerged (and so only that amount of water ended up in the righted boat).

I climbed back in and bailed like mad with the bleach-bottle bailer I keep in the boat. After I got rid of all but the last couple of inches of water I straightened everything up and got under way. I got the boat moving as quickly as possible and opened the self-bailer (venturi-style). My CL14 only has one which is located at the aft end of the centerboard trunk on the port side. To be perfectly honest, I've never been able to get it to do much of anything. I don't take on water with it open, but neither does it seem to significantly drain the cockpit. It's also not idealy placed. With my 2hp motor on the transom and my weight close-enough to hold the rudder (without the extension), the boat tends to squat at the stern. That means most of the water collects too far back to reach the bailer. I kept bailing by hand until I got rid of the rest of the water.

All in all I'd say it was pretty simple and straightforward to recover from the capsize. The cockpit was not a problem to bail out by hand. I would offer one significant disclaimer. I was sailing in protected waters with no significant waves to contend with. I even had a helpful sinkpot offer assistance (which I declined). I have no idea how much harder it would be to bail the boat out if I was simultaneously working against water coming in over the side. However, my sense is that the boat naturally has enough freeboard that this would be less rather than more of a problem than it would be with other boats.

Some important lessons learned:

Make sure your bailing bucket is tied into the cockpit. It would have take a long time using cupped hands.

Tie down anything you want to keep. Most of the stuff I had in the cockpit happened to float, so all I had to do was swim around to collect it. I would have lost anything in the cockpit that sinks.

I lucked out that the motor was on the highside of the transom when I capsized. I probably would have ruined it if it had been on the starboard side.

When you arrive back at the beach with a life-preserver stuck to the top of your mast you've got some 'splaining to do.

posted August 09, 2002 12:16 PM            

I'm not sure about the correct positioning of an auto0 bailer for a CL14. The ones on my CL16 are as far back in the cockpit as you can go and very close to the outboard sides of the boat as possible. They work very well when I have a bit of speed up and don't let in an appreciable amount of water the rest of the time. They do their job well. I keep my boat in a slip at the sailing club(too lazy to wrestle it on and off the trailer I guess) and leave the bailers open in case of rain. Any rain drains through them and no lake water comes back in... I'm convinced.

As for positioning yourself in your boat while sailing I'd suggest you move forward and use the tiller extension. I weigh close to 220 lbs(that's 100kg for you metric folks) and when I had a CL14 I had the same problem of the boat sailing low in the stern until someone watching from shore pointed this out to me and suggested I move forward. I tried it and moved ahead almost to the thwart... picked up the speed condsiderably.

Another suggestion if I may would be to attach a mast head fly to help with wind direction and avoid unintentional jibes. It will give you a bit better idea of wind direction especiallly when you're on a run.

School's out for today kids...

Fair winds and clear skies.

posted August 09, 2002 01:06 PM            

One other question that I was thinking about and got raised in a response:

My CL 14 also has it's bailer close to the centreboard trunk, port side.

posted August 09, 2002 04:02 PM            

You're too kind when you mention a masthead fly as an option. You assume that I didn't have any indication of wind direction. I'm embarrased to admit my shrouds each have yarns to let me know which way the wind is blowing. I guess too much input for my little brain to process and over I went...

I think you're absolutely right about distributing weight farther forward. The farther forward I sit the better the boat performs.

In terms of the question about how to protect the motor during a capsize I can't think of anything one could do (except avoid capsizing in the first place). I don't think submerging the head in salt water would be good for any brand (seagull or otherwise). Avoiding capsizing shouldn't be too hard with a bit more caution and experience than I showed. To be honest I was pushing the boat hard on purpose. I'm planning to sail quite a bit with my two little kids and I'd rather get a feel for how far I can push the boat when I'm alone (or with an adult who can deal). I sail pretty gingerly when I've got the kids on board.

I think the other way to protect a motor is to try to avoid using it in the first place. I need a motor to travel 1/2 hour to the place where the river opens into the bay where I sail, but many people could probably do without a motor entirely on a 14 foot boat.