OK, to continue this discussion ...
Yesterday I was out singlehanding my Blade and managed to capsize it twice, neither time was intentional. Breeze was beginning to die off from there being enough to work up some whitecaps. After the boat went over, I was able to let out the mainsheet and traveller.
Tied to the trampoline was a tramp bag with a cushion, collapsible paddle, two 12oz softdrinks and two 16 oz water bottles. So maybe 5 lbs of gear on the boat working against me. I am 5'6" and about 172 lbs before wetsuit, jacket and harness.
Try as I might, I could not get the Blade up by myself using the techniques mentioned above.
Also couldn't get the boat to go head to wind. Best I could do by going all the way to to the spinnaker bridle and forcing down the bow was about 45 degrees to wind. As soon as I went anywhere near the main beam, the boat just went back to 90 degrees to wind. First rescuer took a line to lee and gave a little tug, effective but the boat took off like a scared mackrel when it touched down. I managed to stay connected and get back on with difficulty. The second time I needed assistance, the lifeguard rescue boat came to my help. They had a little more experrience than my first helper. They picked up the end of the mast with a boathook to the spin halyard pigtail and backed off to lee until my boat was head to wind. The guy just had to add a little more lift to get the mast climbing and the boat came over again. It was a lot easier to climb on.
I don't know how much more weight I'm going to need to get the mast out of the water by myself.
Can someone describe techniques that will work?
Thanks
John, learning the hard way