[Rhodes22-list] New Sailor Fears

[R22RumRunner at aol.com]

Bill,
As you sail your new boat you will understand why the R22 is the perfect  
family boat. In heavy wind, the hull will only heal so far and then the 
rudder  leaves the water and you round up into the wind. No harm no foul. It's 
built  into the design of the boat.
Now, that being said, with enough rail meat, thirty mph winds and  alcohol 
thrown into the mix, I actually have been able to lay Rum Runner on her  
side with the mast in the water. It's a long story and I won't bore you with 
the  details. The important thing is that we were able to right the boat 
easily and  continue sailing. We ended up with about fifty gallons of water in 
the bilge  which we easily pumped out with an electric pump. Only damage was 
we lost three  rum and cokes and one pack of cigarettes. The interior dried 
out in a day or so  and no damage anywhere. Remember, the Rhodes has positive 
flotation built into  it. That means that you can fill the hull with water 
and she won't sink. I have  pictures somewhere of Stan actually testing the 
positive flotation by trying to  sink a hull.
Comfort will come the more time your children spend on the boat. My wife  
was afraid at first, primarily because she never considered herself a good  
swimmer. Now she's the first one up on the gunnels  when we need rail meat. 
 
Rummy
 
 
In a message dated 5/9/2011 9:54:23 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
billpauer at gmail.com writes:

Hello,  Everyone,

My family and I are the proud new owners of our first Rhodes  22 (a  
1980 Rhodes which you may have seen on the list about a month  ago).  I  
am working on a list of mechanical questions for the  list, but for the  
moment I was hoping for some help with one of my  crew.  I have a  
twelve year old daughter and fourteen year old  son.  While we don't  
have much sailing experience as a family,  my wife has had sailing  
lessons and has actually instructed on small  boats and I have sailed  
for many years making it up as I went  along.  The trouble I am having  
is convincing my fourteen year  old son that the boat is not going to  
capsize.  I would like to  say that it can't happen, but I am fairly  
sure that is not the  case.  I did read in "The Report on the Rhodes  
22"  on  Stan's site that because of the flared sides, the boat will  
not  capsize while under sail.
Does anyone have a story that I could share with  my son that might  
instill some confidence that the chances of  turning turtle and sinking  
to the bottom of the lake are slim to  none?
Thanks for your  help.

Bill
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