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Editor’s Note: Mark Prentice and his crew on Thistle 3802 were racing on Lake Washington on the night of Wednesday, April 22, when a puff estimated at up to 30 knots came through the fleet.. The puff capsized Prentice and at least one other Thistle, and the waves that came with the squall swamped one of CYC’s mark-set Whalers. Due to the efforts of the CYC race staff, led by PRO Kevin Cunningham working with Whaler driver Brian Coleman, and fellow Thistle sailor Rusty Lhamon and his crew, the ordeal of Thistle 3802 had a positive outcome. Prentice’s account follows.
By Mark Prentice
Wednesday, April 22, saw a large squall come through the fleet. This squall helped push 3802 over and got all of us, Jessica, John (first time on a Thistle) in the water and led to a series of events, which kept us from being able to sail back to the marina.
A huge thank you goes out to Rusty Lhamon for getting off his own boat to help us after we had been in the water for some time. Without Rusty’s help things could have gotten worse. Another thanks goes out to Haley Lhamon for providing a place for us to shower off, change and get warm. I also want to thank all who helped pull my boat back up on the dock while Jessica, John and I were recovering. I think those include Rusty and Jack Wisemore, Karl, Darrel, Wayne, Karen, Dwaine, Deane, Mary, and Scott. Finally, the race committee tender driver Brian Coleman was great and pulled us back to the marina, keeping us off the I-90 bridge. Below I recount the story and talk about the lessons learned.
The Story
This was the first night for our new crew John. John is still learning sailing but was game to go racing. We had some interesting racing up to the point where we were knocked down -- over early starts, screaming reaches, a great night.
CYC whaler driver Brian Coleman helped rescue crewmembers of a Thistle that crashed on Lake Washington and then towed the boat to safety.
On the down-wind leg of the last race, the spin went up with a twist. At that point the wind was moderate, but we were clearly under control, so John went down to clear the twist. As he was working on it, the first massive puff hit us.
Jessica and I tried to flatten the boat while I tried hard to bear off. No use… the main was not in control, boom in the water, we broached. So far so good. Jessica and John jumped on the center board and stabilized the boat. After we released the spin halyard, we brought the boat back up jumped in and started bailing.
We were cold but not so bad. I started sailing out of the take down. The boat at this point was lower in the water then I have experienced with previous take downs but still within reason. Just as we started making progress, a wave hit our bow. The bow submerged and we started a pitchpole. It was kind of an end-over-end with a bit of a twist.
We all ended up in the water up to our necks and the boat completely turtled. The first thing I noticed is how cold the water was. It literally takes your breath away and a large amount of strength. We got sorted out on the hull of the boat and started pulling the centerboard out. John and I were able to pull it about half way out. Jessica made her way from the stern where she was hanging on to the rudder to help right the boat.
I’m not sure how long this took. At some point John and I lost our strength and struggled to keep the centerboard out. Rusty and Haley sailed by and offered assistance, which we accepted. Rusty helped us get the boat righted and we all climbed back in. At this point the boat was sitting well low in the water. The bailer buckets were gone--floated away after the pitchpole. The stern spent a large amount of time totally submerged.
At this time things started to get fuzzy, the cold was really starting to take effect. At some point the rudder got loose. Rusty tried with no luck to get it re-attached. We then worked with the rescue boat driven by Brian Coleman to get a line on and begin the tow back to the marina. The first attempt failed as we could not get the centerboard up. It was jammed with the painter line. With some work we freed the centerboard and were able to raise it and used the jib sheet tied to the mast to start to pull the boat.
All of us at this point were too cold. We all got into the rescue boat. During the tow, the line placed a bunch of pressure on the forestay and pigtail, which finally gave up and took the mast down. Fortunately the mast fell in parallel to the port side of the boat. We continued to push toward the marina with the mast in the water.
Some great driving by the rescue driver and Rusty got us back into the marina, where a large group was waiting to help out. I can’t tell you how good they all looked to us waiting to help. A few told us they would take care of the boat and Haley offered hot shower, which we accepted.
Lessons Learned
1. The cold water can cause your functioning to decrease in a very short amount of time. We all understand the affects of hypothermia, but until you are that cold for any length of time, it’s hard to grasp how it will affect you. We were clearly under-dressed for what happened. I’ve been dressing in the same or similar foulies for years and have not had a problem. Luck I guess.
If the boat had not turtled, we would not have been cold. Once we all hit the water it was a different story. None of us was wearing a dry suit. Being skipper, it is my job to ensure the crew is safe. The cold I experienced kept me from effectively doing this job. I’m going out and buying a dry suit to ensure I keep the cold at bay in the future.
2. Thistle tanks leak. We all know the tanks leak. I’ve rolled my boat over more than a few times, and the tanks always took a bit of water but never completely flooded out. I checked the boat out later, and one of the seat tanks had a large amount of water. (The other was already drained, thanks to whoever popped the cork and opened the inspection port.) The bow tank had water half way up the lower inspection port. This must have been the cause of the boat riding low in the water. I’m going to pull the boat and pressure test and fix any leaks and sort out the Styrofoam and add where needed.
3. The pin which holds the tiller to the rudder should be secure. We think the pin fell out when the boat was upside down causing the tiller to come out and freeing the rudder.
4. The Thistle fleet and CYC are full of great folks! Without you all and the CYC rescue folks, things would have been much worse.