Brief Broach

David has been kind enough to provide the following set of pictures that show what happens when you broach a GK24. He has however sent in the following text to help reduce embarrassment.....

This unfortunate sequence happened in our first season with the boat, while
competing in East Coast Sailing Week, the major regatta for East of
Scotland and NE England. Wind conditions were 3/4 and gusty and we were at
the start of the leeward leg of a windward/leeward course. As other
skippers will appreciate downwind in a bit of a blow and some sea, the GK,
with a somewhat nipped stern and a masthead kite becomes quite lively!
Still when you're racing and the competition hoist the kite, what do you do
....?

As we launched the kite the pole was too high so I called not to sheet in.
Once I felt we had more control, we sheeted in and as we were doing so a
gust hit. I still remember the bang as the spinnaker set quite clearly 8
years later! The next thing I knew the boat heeled to windward, the bow
came round, there was a Chinese gybe and we were over on our side!

If you look very closely you may see the girl on the foredeck and her white
knuckles gripping the pulpit. You can still see the bite marks today!
Another crew member (normally a dinghy sailor) appears to be about to step
over the rail. Meanwhile I was scrabbling around in the cockpit looking
for my specs.

As you can see she came up very nicely again, only one boat passed us. We
actually went on to get a 5th and a 3rd in the overall regatta. Mind you
we didn't hoist on the next leg - fearing a mutiny!

Lesson learnt - I think I now have mastered the technique of steering under
the mast. we try to keep weight well after, I've fitted barber haulers and
we drop the pole when breezy. All round I think our spinnaker handling
skills have improved somewhat, I still remain wary of dead downwind in a
blow. Mind you, Clive, he's the 'brief', maintains a pathological hatred
of the big blue sail and has a preference for white sail racing. He wasn't
even on the boat at the time!

Photographs by Liz Tulloch