Safety on Rainbow 24’s
The Rainbows are safe boats. They are designed for beginners with high booms, heavy keels, and rudders that will help turn the boat into the wind during a puff. But what to do if something does go wrong? While all of these things are covered in 101 we have some members who didn’t take 101 with us, and some that took 101 with us so long ago that they need a refresher.
- If you get hit with a puff and the boat suddenly starts to heel, let it come up into the wind and ease out your mainsail.
- If you are seeing more than the occasional whitecap (over 12 knots) you need to reef.
- If you see small trees begin to sway; and lots of whitecaps (over 17 knots) partially reef your jib along with your main.
- If you see large waves begin to form; the white foam crests are more extensive everywhere (over 22 knots) you need to return to the dock.
- If you are overwhelmed or you feel the conditions are too much, check that you are going to have some room to leeward on the other tack and heave to, preferably on starboard tack. Your boat will drift to leeward when hove to. You can’t use this maneuver when a sea wall, a government mark or another boat will be to your leeward.
- Once you are hove to:
- Catch your breath and allow things to settle down.
- If you aren’t already reefed, put one in and roller reef some of your jib. You still need some jib to balance out the boat’s sail plan.
- All the boats have anchors in the stern lazerette – the hatch at the back of the boat. If you can’t sail for some reason don’t become a moving obstacle, put out your anchor. Preferably off the bow, but it will work off the stern if the sails are down. Be sure to cleat the anchor down first.
- Call the School 410 726 7205 – we will be on our way. You can always do this even if you are just having a hard time and not in danger or injured – aground or having a difficult time tacking back to the school are examples.
- If we deem you are in danger, or injured, we would immediately remove you from the boat; anchoring will keep the boat from becoming a drifting obstacle.
- There is a safety box with a distress flag and whistle.
- If you are in danger display your orange distress flag, especially if you are in a channel. It will let approaching boats know you are disabled. If you are not in the channel or in danger, and we are on our way you can hold off on displaying the flag. It will bring people to your aid.
- Blow the safety whistle if any approaching boats seem unaware of your presence or you need immediate assistance and can’t reach us.
- If someone is injured and needs an ambulance, call 911. Tell them you are returning to the Sailing School at 7001 Bembe Beach Rd, Annapolis MD. The Sailing School is the emergency pickup location for the area that we let you sail in. There are three locks on our gate so the police and fire department can both have access 24/7. If any rescue service was to pick you up on the water they would bring you here to meet the ambulance.
If you don’t know what or how to do any of the bold terms in this email, ask someone at the school and they will be happy to show you.
If you’d like to know any other specific Rainbow safety questions email Ian@annapolissailing.com
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