Setting up a recovery line to right a leeboard OzRacer or OzGoose sailboat

A sharp eyed customer notified me that I hadn’t included a method to right the OzRacer RV. The nice thing about the OZ series is that all the boats come up with very little water inside when righted from capsize. Also the wooden mast doesn’t allow the boat to turn completely upside down making righting easier. The hollow mast on the OZ versions is relatively light and makes the load required to right the boat quite light. You don’t need to jump on the centreboard normally just pull it down by the tip.

The problem is that the leeboard it too high out of reach, unlike a centreboard.

A centreboard on this size of boat is usually within reach. So you can right from capsize as in this video.


Video image can take a moment to load.

But when the leeboard is too hard to reach … what to do? You have to rig a recovery line as shown below. The boat and the figure are to scale. The figure is 5ft10″ (1.77m) tall so you can get the idea of the reach.

Righting a leeboard sailing dinghy from capsize.

The system shown simply relies on ropes and knots. The attachment at the ends is the same method as attaching the traveller in the OzRacer Sailboat Rigging Guide on Flickr – will also work for Gooses and PDRacers.

As shown below … but of course the knot will be on the top of the deck at the rope end of this rig and on the outside of the transom at the bungee/shock cord end.

Attaching a traveller or capsize recovery rope to a simple sailboat like the ozracer or PDRacer.

The MOST important thing with capsize is to PRACTICE. A nice warm day with onshore wind (you don’t want to blow out to sea) and capsize. In the video above I get in over the side … some find getting in over the bow easier. Also remember the first rule is to stay with the boat. Never attempt swimming to shore. The boat will float whereas you might not.

3 thoughts on “Setting up a recovery line to right a leeboard OzRacer or OzGoose sailboat”

    • Didn’t Bill Gates coin the term “an undocumented feature” when a new version of windows crashed on unveiling to the press?

      At least my features are fully documented???

      MIK

      Reply
  1. Excellent! I might even include a foot loop in that righting line

    Then the kids can really play around with confidence

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.