Just curious.

Do you?

The swimming or embarrassment is not so much of problem. Probable cost of damage to mast and sails and other rigging in water under 30' is.

Even an "unflippable" Farrier tri has.

Do you see a need for mast tip flotation when you are not racing?



Many monohull classes preach the need for mast flotation but cat sailors not as much that I can see.

Hobie's Bobs overrule any turtle worries, but they don't fit on all brands. Even though they appear on other brands...



The thought of mounting more hardware to the mast end seems messy.

Seal your mast and a "hobie bob" isn't necessary.

No Tad that is not correct. If you stick it hard in choppy seas going downwind you will turtle quickly regardless of how well your mast is sealed.

Putting your weight in the wrong place (intentionally or not) will also cause turtling.

I can't imagine why a Hobie Bob couldn't be made to fit on any mast of any boat, it should be just a matter of adapting a bracket.

Mike

It is also a positive safety issue to be able to invert the boat.

If there is a capsize and one of the crew gets separated from his boat that is now doing 5 knots on its side, the crew should force the turtle to allow him to swim to the boat.

It may also be preferable to be on a turtled boat in an extreme weather event like hailstones or lightening, or if one of the crew is badly injured or needs picking up from a chopper.

Always look on the bright side hey?

Paul

Are you a Turtle?

Maybe what you need is an easiy removable Hobie Bob. If you need to turtle, you can swim out to the mast head and remove it.

or that inflatable system that you can choose to deploy or not...

or one of these

"Bet your sweet a$$"

Willing to bet not many folks know about that one.
Rick

Only when its cold.

Only the "Snapping" varity ..... but they do make good soup!!!

Harry

Just the peeking variety.

I'll bite. How much of a turtle/terrapin were you?

So, J, dude, changed a few Huggies, eh?

Trogg yes. Turtle, no.

My friend hit a turtle with his nacra 5.8 in northern QLD. split the bow wide open... good reason to fear the turtle!

Many years ago when racing a Prindle 16 a sailor named Jim Pate taught me a very good trick. We had gone over during a race (not a pitchpole) to the weather mark. He instructed me to help him turn the boat to a turtle position and continue to right the boat, actually doing a 360. The result was when the boat was righted we were going in the proper direction on the same tack as before the flip and did not lose as much time or distance as we would have if we turned the boat while it was on its side into the wind to right and then tack or gybe to head back toward the weather mark. I was surprised how easy and quick this worked. Not sure if it would work with the newer high tech cats. We were in the Pacific Ocean so we had plenty of water to accomplish this.

I'll buy you a beer Rick!