Here's the I20 version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8-4Qvrv5pk&feature=related

I love it when the hat goes off!

Who was that and how fast were you guys going?

that doesn't look fun at all..

Cautionary tale, glad they made it ok - I'm a bit surprised radios aren't required equipment in this race.

It is actually in protected waters between the mainland and the Key Islets to the east. And there are three sand bars to calm the waters even more. But, when there is big wind.., hold on!

In contrast to the Key Largo Steeplechase, half of which is sailed in the Open Ocean.
Rick

22 minute video? Jeeze, that's like taping the entire race that day!

I wish i had video from that day but the suction cup for my GoPro 2.0 didnt suck enough and was lost somewhere around cuter bank.

Need to tie that bitch off somewheres.

Cool video? What was cool about that???

As if capsizing that far from land isn't bad enough, the crew was stuck in the rigging under the tramp for way too long, then got separated from the boat and the skipper lost sight of her for an hour?

I know, I was young and crazy once too, also spent a night upside down on a H16. I don't leave shore on a pond without a radio (attached to my life jacket) after that "cool" experience.

Mike

Holy hell. That looked like a wild ride on both videos

It was a wild ride for anybody who was brave enough to race, on any boat.

I still have greater respect for those who chose to stay on the beach rather than test the abilities of the coast guard/ marine patrol resources.

Discretion is the better part of valor

It's also the fertilizer for pansies and boredom.

Be interesting to see if the girl in the vid wishes she had stayed on the beach.

Jay and Jared Sonnenklar. Real fast.

won't play in my country due to music violation

why don't they just screen the video without audio?

anyone know if a version is posted on vimeo or somewhere without the offending audio?

So,
Is anyone interested in discussing how that team could do things better? There are quite a few points that would come up.
What they did right: they were wearing good wetsuits and their boat looked to be fairly well rigged.
Things that need improvement for sailing in a breeze:.....

well...they made it through - so job well done.

The crew didn't seem prepared that the boat could drift away faster than one can swim. this knowledge alone would have probably convinced them to hang onto that sheet they just got untangled with until they make solid contact with the hull.

(untested) I still thinking keeping a water born drag chute (typically used by fisherman and sometimes called a drift sock) on the boat is a good idea to clip on the forestay bridle and toss into the water to slow/stop the progress of the boat while capsized (and help keep it head to wind). It could have made the difference and allowed the crew to swim back to the boat and lead to a calm righting process (and given time to flip the tiller bar back over the rudders ... that sucks when that happens).

A little, loose, bunji tied from the rear beam to each rudder arm will keep them from flipping completely over the rudders leading to a real steering nightmare as seen in the video (which wasn't as bad as it could be because the skipper knew what to do there...but imagine if the boat had just been righted and the arms were crossed like that...been there, done that...it steers for crap when one arm is flipped forward and the other flipped back because the rudders turning opposite of each other and if you are in the water dragging under the boat, you're not fixing that).

Who is in this picture? I see that the crew has a camera on his head and would love to see the footage of that.

http://www.imagesbymarco.com/p425286977/h5280b8e#h223c6155

Wow, that H16 vid represents a first rate example of what NOT to do. IMO, they were very lucky that there was a rescue boat nearby that was able to find the crew and get them back together.

They should not have been out there. It was clear right from the beginning of the vid that the crew was not comfortable/experienced in those conditions. After the initial pitchpole, the crew was fumbling around on the sail, just waiting to get stuck if the boat turned turtle. It also seemed like the skipper was probably not prepared for the boat to take off after he righted it and climbed abord - he should have made sure that the boat was turned head to wind, that the rudders were locked down, and that the sheets were free before righting. He also should have made it very clear to the crew to grab the dolphin striker and not let go when the boat popped up. Maybe he wasn't expecting the boat to come up so quickly.

Once the skipper takes off on his own he is totally out of control because the tiller arms are flipped the wrong way. Once he corrects that and gybes back to the crew, his jib gets wrapped and then he's totally screwed because the jib is uncontrollable at that point, so he can't go upwind & can't tack. The only thing he can do is beam reach, gybe, and pitchpole. After the second pitchpole, he should have realized that it was absolutely necessary to un-wrap the jib before righting the boat. But it definitely looked like he was in panic mode after his crew separated. Had he cleared the jib, he would have been able to, at the very least, turn the boat upwind, go hove-to, and get himself collected.

Instead, what he does is continue to keep trying to sail the boat, pitchpole several more times, tire himself out, and continue to sail farther away from his crew. When the downhaul and gooseneck come apart, it's all over. Sailing upwind would have been totally impossible.

I would not say they made it through. They were rescued and they were just plain lucky.

sm

Anyone else notice the number of the sail? 5105:
CA Police code for crazy one on the loose. Danger to property, danger to others, and danger to themselves...