Thread: Solo "Expedition" Sailboat

Originally Posted by Boatmik

Howdy,

The word from Brian is that the RAID is too twitchy to sail and too hard to get back aboard after capsize.

On the good side, when the boat is settled down and in balance it feels pretty sweet to sail ... lively and responsive. But if it can fall over and then is difficult to get back aboard there is little choice.

So after all the writing and hopes and excitement I am canning the project.

I've just checked into this forum after a long absence. I've been busy building a boat for my 10 year old, and sailing my single handed asymmetric spin/trapeze skiff.

Bringing me to my point - I found the same issues with my single hand skiff as you have with the Raid boat. So bad I got scared of sailing it as unassisted recovery was very difficult and tiring.

The boat is self-draining as well, with an elevated deck above the hull bottom. It too floats high and was near impossible to get onto the daggerboard from the water.

After much thought, I added two foot loops (much like what we use use on the trapeze) to the edge of the sheer clamp protruding out from the side about 16 inches forward of the daggerboard trunk. When capsized you place your (forward) underwater foot in the loop and pull yourself up towards the daggerboard - this now puts all your weight on the lower side of the boat, forcing it much lower in the water, and giving you the leverage to easily place your (aft) knee onto the (now much lower) daggerboard. Now you can reach to the upper rail and grab the other loop and easily pull your self onto the daggerboard.

Once on the daggerboard, I use the spinnaker sheets as righting lines and can easily right the boat without moving outward on the daggerboard. I usually wait for a while while on the daggerboard till the rig starts to emerge from the water - and then balance the boat with the rig JUST out of the water - this causes the boat to rotate by the wind till the rig is downwind. Once the rig is downwind, I continue to right the boat, as upwind righting is a quick method of achieving another swim.

Basically, I've found a method of making a very difficult and scary boat to right into a docile, easy to right boat. The problems were solved by a lot of thought and a little change to the righting procedure.

It sounds to me like the Raid 4.1 would benefit highly from the same methodology. I'd be happy to post photos of the "righting loops" that changed this boat from a terror to a lamb.

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Bill S. in Ottawa