Capsize Vagabond 14 at Tempe Town Lake

Article By Patrick Valandra


My friend Patrick just got a new sailboat. She is a late 80's Vagabond 14, a boat I have lusted after for many years. Coming up the following weekend was the first Parent Youth race and Patrick wanted to go test sail his boat to get the feel for her before the race. We met out at TTL for a sail, the weather was just about right. Winds were blowing mostly 9 mph with a few 18 mph gusts.

We sailed upwind to the East end of the lake and as we got close to the bridge, we debated whether or not we could get under it. After a short communal grumbling about the bridge not being marked, we realized that neither of us knew how high the mast was off the water, so we headed for the highest looking span in the middle. Closer and closer we got, with about 3' to spare we sailed under just fine.

Tacking back and forth, taking advantage of every gust we could hiking out for speed, we almost got up on a plane a couple of times. I am really impressed with that boat, she sure is a nice hull design. The day was getting away from us so we headed back down wind for the bridge. A few feet from the middle span, we looked at each other and realized that on the way up, we where heeled over and we might not make it back under. Just as we got under concrete, I let out a grinding sound like "GGGRRCCCHHHKKKKK". We had a chuckle and passed back under just fine.

We landed at the dock so that I could hop out and get some pictures of Patrick sailing around. Earlier we had seen the lake ranger head up to ticket a power boater who was on the lake motoring around. I asked and sure enough, the ranger could have busted him for 3 violations, but just gave him the single $218 ticket and warnings on the rest. On one hand I feel sorry for the guy that got the ticket, but on the other hand I sure do enjoy a lake that deosn't have power boats, jet skis, and their typical operators.

Patrick was figuring that it was a nice calm day so what a good opportunity to test capsize the boat.

Sheet her in tight, get perpendicular to the wind...

A little help from a gust of wind and there he goes !

The bouyancy from just the mast was doing a good job of keeping the boat from capsizing.

Many racers will tie a couple of chlorox bottles to the top of the mast to give it more bouyancy.

Patrick has many hours holding the tiller of a sunfish, so he tried to hang on the board for a while to get her back up again. Too much water in the sail, he had to swim around and drop it before pulling her back up again.

Whew that is some cold water!

At only 14' long, she is the same length as a Sunfish, but her large beam and huge cockpit afford her a lot more carrying capacity.




Note from another V14 Sailor, Stephen Cole
I just capsized my Vagabond 14 on Canyon Lake. I wasn't paying attention and let go of the tiller for a moment and the boat spun around and flopped right over. The mast immediately pointed straight down. Righting it was very difficult. The upturned boat held onto the water like a suction cup and the mast some 18 feet straight down in eighty feet of water with both sails up didn't make things easier. A small fishing boat pulled me to a dock where the water was very deep and a young guy reached over and lifted the bow a little, breaking suction cup like effect. I hung on to the daggerboard like a monkey with both arms and both legs. The boat slowly came back up good as new, minus cell phone, wallet and other gear. I am a beginner but I thought I had mastered this little boat. I think overconfidence and a lackadaisical attitude were the cause of the flip.

Comment from Shorty
One trick that will help prevent a turtling (where the boat goes completely upside down), is to attach a couple of empty chlorox bottles to the mast head. This will add floatation up there and when the boat gets knocked over, it will lay horizontally on the water and the tip of the mast won't sink below the surface. The biggest danger to turtling is to dig the mast head in the mud underwater, most of the water we sail in is only a few feet deep, and with the mast dug into the bottom, it can easily snap off or bend really bad to the point you have to get a new mast. To prevent the loss of the cell phone and other stuff, carry mine in a waterproof plastic screw top jar, which is in a small bag, which is tied to the boat.