A massive storm takes out my Windrider 17. Texas 200, 2021 day 1 

luckily the sail repair bill was only $200. I've replaced the stock furling drum with a Harken continuous line furl system so that will never happen again.

yeah, those Vibrio infections are crazy! I almost lost my leg. all from a small insect bite open to the water.

it's always an adventure! thanks for the shout, Zig

Awesome!, see you there.

Thanks, hope it never happens again but you know it will....

Rock on brother! The Ole Mac 26 is the queen of rides for it. You will have to stick mainly to the icw like most of us. See you there 👍 1st beer is on me.

That storm hurt me. But it's all behind me now categorized with the other bar tales, hehe

What could possibly happen? Hehe. Thanks.

Wow, I looked it up and it sounds like fun. It aligns with the same dates I go annually to Myrtle Beach for an event every year though. Should that ever change I will keep it in mind. I have ppl in Fla so it is doable. Thanks for the shout, Zig

and some luck in there too, hehe

Thank you, Zig

Большое спасибо!

More to come!

Thank you, Zig

Drunken dingy capers.... I should write a few of those up! We hit the beach pretty hard, hehe I do miss that clear fresh water.

the video doesn't do it justice. Thanks, Zig

way better than dry bags.

My world of sailing has really changed since then....

the video didn't fully capture the intensity of the storm. I felt those whip marks for days. those do or die moments make us better people in the end. thanks.

@@ZiggyLavengood The beatings shalt continue until morale improves!! Good to see you are on the mend. Even after following all the trials and tribulations of the fleet, the Texas 200 next year is the goal for us. Fair winds and following seas, do not make good sailors.

Thanks for checking up on me.... someone needs too, hehe.

it's Matagorda/San Jose Island. They are long thin barrier islands combined to be about 55 miles long. I'm at the halfway point.

welcome aboard brother, Zig!

Thank you!. Should have the sails back this week. The cross beam has been repaired and reinstalled. Miss the clear water of lake sinclair. . Want to hit it with the windrider for old times sake.

Yeah. I'm not in Tawas bay anymore...

Sweet boat. Shallow draft and room to hideout in the cabin! I like it.

About $200 bucks fixed both sails. I replaced the furling drum with a continuous loop furling drum so I can get the jib fully rolled in in a high wind, and the bent cross beam was straightened out by midis muffler for free.

@@ZiggyLavengood great to hear!

well said, Zig

I took my bent aka cross beam to Midas. they took a half round form from their tubing bender and set onto of the tube and lowered their lift, car and all on top of it a few times and straightened it right out. the sail shop says 1.2 - 2 week on the sails and Ill be back on the water. see you next year!

Excellent outcome! You’re so lucky body and boat survived as well as they did - motoring in was your salvation.

@@ericdahlkamp6781 weird thing to is the motor's 1 liter tank will run the motor for about 45 minute. I topped off the tank before leaving the beach and ran the motor up to a happy hum and 5-6mph. that 1st tank ran strong for 2 hours!... the second tank died at 45 minutes like they are supposed too.

@@ZiggyLavengood the Lord loves even you Ziggy 😆

Second count when the poop hits the fan.... I switched to a continuous loop furling after that incident.

Thanks for joining the adventure.

took a cpl of months but I got her back out on the water! thanks for the shout!

True, true....

hope to see you out there. Zig

Thanks, in Florida exploring mangrove tunnels this weekend.

that's funny, I hadn't even noticed.

I furled the jib as far as the line in the drum allowed. The sail wrapped extra tight in the wind thus took less sail in per wind leaving a tail hanging out. In a standard storm that wouldn't be a problem but in that blow it was enough to pull the furling line through the clam cleat and let the sail out. I pulled the line all the way back in but the big winds wrapped the sail even tighter leaving more sail exposed even though the furling drum was fully furled. I'm looking at a continuous line furling unit so I don't have that trouble in the future. About $400. The main was down and in the laxy jacks. Also good enough in a standard strength storm. I had the sail tie right on top of the gear strapping the buckets together so it was in easy reach. That's what I was fighting to get when I had to bail out due to the lines whipping me in the face. I put the anchors at top priority to secure the boat. Then the plan was to tie down the main. I didn't expect a problem with the foresail. The mainsail damage was cause by the jib lines whipping against it. If the jib had not blown loose all would've been fine just as it sat. The boat has survived several storms just like that in the past without issue. My bigger concern at the time was securing the boat and getting clear of the mast due to the lightning. A big advantage to the TI is weight and no keel. There is no dragging a loaded WR up onto the beach. In the end the jib repair and the small patch on the main only cost $200. The AKA repair was free thanks the the generosity of the guys at the midas shop.

yeah the northern bounders had it rough. I went from the top do to logistics of docking in PM. next year I'll start looking at slips earlier. I'm always up for a good sail, We'll hook up.

The everglades challenge (ETC110).

2x10s, now replaced with an aluminum deck. Check out a more recent video. Even a how to of building them

I always carry a big 1st aid kit in my emergency kit behind the seat with the flares etc. A must have. I even have a small kit in my bicycle pouch.

find one and do it! I'm trying to be the Trent Palmer and Tucker Gott of boat camping, hehe.

dropping the mast by hand is difficult enough with no wind on the trailer.......

Hey brother! Hope you're doing well in retirement.

the lines were whipping so bad that I chose to keep my fleshy bits out of harms way instead. Thanks for the shout!

@@ZiggyLavengood You gotta sheet in a bit to stop the flapping first, then follow the line up and you are good

there is a whole group of TIs that do this run every year and a few WR17s. you will fit right in.

the furling line comes to the end eventually. when the wind is high the sail furls up tighter taking in less sail.per revolution. the furling line only turns the drum so far leaving the leftover sail hanging out in the wind i replaced that furler drum after that with a continuous loop furler. it will spin the drum endlessly until all the sail is rolled up.

The cross beam is already repaired and the sails are in the shop. there are some oil platforms about 24 miles off shore from my cabin that is on my to do list. very weather sensitive. I have sailed 65 miles off shore a cpl of times on a larger mono hull before. I found the thought of being that far offshore less odd then knowing there was over 800 ft of water under us. and boat camping rocks. I spent my life on my 34 ft sailboat going marina to marina and that rocks. But, getting there without the luxuries and finding a place to camp etc is much more satisfying. thanks for the shout brother, Zig

Hi, I’m in Scotland and my Windrider 17 insurance gives a limit of 15 miles. That not to say you have to follow the coast. You could for example cross a river mouth 30 miles wide.

@@donaldpaterson5827 my boat coverage extends up to 75 miles offshore.... Plenty.

@@ZiggyLavengood would you go to the Exumas or even to the Bahamas, or is crossing the Gulf Stream too much for that size vessel? I am very happy to hear that the boat is getting fixed. That was a heck of a blow.

@@bradmottishaw467 I know a guy that sailed one from Florida to the islands, although most ppl would find him to be a bit...."Eccentric".... I don't think I would try such a sail at my age. in my 20s or 40s, I would've looked at it... because I was braver then or wiser now? a little of both I guess. I would say the boat would pop out of anything you hit as far as waves and storms. whether or not the skipper would is another question. I think the proper answer is no the boat is not big enough for such a crossing. but you know there's always THAT guy....

I had the torn section replaced at C&C sail makers in Houston. I've had other work done there too. I really like the place.

@@ZiggyLavengood Great, hope you can do a short video about the damage to the boat itself and how you repaired that....or at least explain what you did. If I understood you correctly, one of the ACA's got bent or something?

@@jeffm470 Bent AKA, easy to remove the arm from the boat. the rest I explain in this video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cF2Acdx9OyI.html

Yes it was.

@@ZiggyLavengood there's definitely another star in your captain's hat :-) I was told by the Coast guard that a similar storm was the next night. Tuesday. Right at sunset. I was offshore of Sargent, delivering a Westsail 32 from Kemah to Palacios. It went from perfect flat seas with a soft gentle breeze to a 70 mph gusts and 15 ft waves in one second. All the sails were out. The boat healed over, a knockdown, the mast head 10" off the water. It was all we could do to get 2 of the 3 sails down to upright the boat and start surfing the huge whitecaps. The 3rd (foresail) tangled half way down and stuck on the forestay like a mini parachute. Can help to the boat scared straight in the surfing. It all happened just as the sun went down and the storm pulled a dark curtain over everything. Every second was a lifetime. No forecast or weather warnings. We watched the storm go from a few puffy clouds to nearly capsizing is in less than 3 minutes total. 8;45pm till 4am with out let up. 7 hours on a ancient style thousand pound wooden tiller and rudder. My mistake was underestimating the "mares tail" clouds, 2 hours earlier. I've never seen them in Texas in Late June before.15 miles offshore. No time for drouge or trysail. The foresail wrapped the stay about like yours did. We came into the matagorda ship channel at sunrise after circling the channel opening for about 2 hours waiting for the time to slack and the wind and waves and the channel to diminish. Coast guard said don't answer matagorda Bay because there were 20-ft rollers in there Tuesday night. But we made it to palacios. Thank you for recording your adventure. And I'm glad you're okay. I'm 57 and about 50 lb overweight myself. Slept for 2 days and so in places I didn't know I even had. Sailing for 40 years and those days don't come along very often in a boat that you don't know very well. I've been following you for a while I love what you do. Stay safe. Hope to see you after on the water

It's clears your mind of all things and gives you a single purpose. Most ppl never push themselves hard enough to ever experience the Zen survival mode.

I fought the sail and the sail won....

I like that, Zig

yes I was.

@@ZiggyLavengood your rig is cleverly built out.

@@thomasbuzzi3234 thank you. I made changes in the furling system after that incident.

yikes!!!

what could possibly happen? hehe

Hit and miss. Depending on how close to a town you are. I've sailed up the ICW for days without a signal. I carry a Garmin inreach so I can let ppl know where I'm at

yeah the video doesn't capture the shear power of the storm. the cameras also showed the event to be brighter than it was. it was dark and foreboding.

like Mary Poppins. Fly out to sea, hehe

Yup. Replaced the factory furling with a continuous loop furler. Now the jib completely roll up in higher winds no matter how tight it wraps. With my current furler the jib would be secured b4 landing leaving me plenty of time to secure the main.

I agree but the vast majority of my viewers have no idea how far or fast a naughtical mile is.