Is a Mac Knock Down fact or Fiction?

[sailnh]

I was out on the ocean last year on a fishing trip...thirty five miles or so off the coast, in my 2000 26X. The ocean was like a huge calm lake with sunshine blazing all day. We headed in late afternoon and as we approached the Isles of Shoals (seven miles off the coast) the sky turned black and lightning flashes were running up and down the coast. We secured the hatches, donned life jackets and decided to head for the harbor at the Isles. There's a lighthouse on one of the Isles, and we were approaching it when the storm roared in. Suddenly the light house was gone, visibility was zero, and the wind hit. We had no sails up as we were motoring back to the harbor. The wind grabbed the mac and layed it right down on its side. We were standing upright on the backs of the cockpit seats looking straight down into the ocean. The boat seemed to go over in slow motion, but once it went flat it settled right there. After a few seconds (seemed like an eternity) the boat came up. The wind immediately grabbed it again and layed it down on the opposite side. Stuff was flying everywhere and pea sized hail was beating down on us, a fact I didn't even remember until my buddy reminded me later. As the boat was coming up from the third knockdown I managed to get the prop to bite into the water and turned away from the wind. The waves had gone from nothing to six to eight footers immediately. Once I was riding with the waves with the wind at our back I gained control again. Only problem was we were headed back out to sea. I turned back towards shore as things began to calm a bit. As it cleared up and I looked at the GPS I saw that we had blown about 2 miles back out from the Isles. There was another sailboat right behind the lighthouse that looked deserted. I imagine they latched everything down and rode it out below. It looked very spooky. As the radio chatter picked up after the storm I heard that three boats had been struck by lighting in the Isles harbor and medical help was being summoned. I felt grateful that I hadn't made it to the harbor. Overall, a very frightening experience, and no question three complete knockdowns. Reflecting on it later I was pleased to learn that the mac could take that kind of wind and weather. One more fact...I had no ballast in at the time! The storm rolled in so quickly that I didn't have time to think about it and would never have been able to fill it that quickly in any case. Pretty amazing performance for the Mac.
Kevin

[Frank C]

... Overall, a very frightening experience, and no question three complete knockdowns. Reflecting on it later I was pleased to learn that the mac could take that kind of wind and weather. One more fact...I had no ballast in at the time! The storm rolled in so quickly that I didn't have time to think about it and would never have been able to fill it that quickly in any case. Pretty amazing performance for the Mac. --- Kevin

Kevin ... Welcome aboard and thanks for posting your quite amazing story. I was completely mystified until reaching your (highlighted) punchline! I too would have MT ballast tank if I was motoring out there, and given your calm seas, I'd probably NOT have been under sail.

I agree that it's risky to try filling ballast in wide open conditions. But with a fairly glassy ocean and gathering storm clouds, I'd have been tempted to try it, while also battening-down all hatches. (This is one case where my lazy-man's passive ballast vent is actually a safety feature.) Just guessing that our ballast tanks (model 2000) should reach 80% full in only five minutes.

Glad to hear your successful outcome. After a full ballast tank, I think a big outboard is our best friend in heavy seas.



(P.S. Consider stickin' around & adding your boat/motor features into the Location field of your profile - see left margin.)