Erik van der Meer has survived a dinghy regatta in 2011 with 35 knots. He is a good dinghy sailor, number 5 at the dutch championship 2012. September 2012 he made a little mistake in slow wind circumstances and capsized. See the picture. It can happen everybody. The first thing you had to do is to close your selfbailers. Second find as soon as possible a bucket. I have a 4 ltr optimist bucket and can use it immediately when I have bad luck. See the second picture. Most of the times it is not possible to empty your boat by yourself. You need help from someone who want to bring you to the harbour. Use a rope around the mast and fixed it to the rescue boat. What happened with Erik in this situation? He was able to empty his boat quick and in a long downwind course he could loose all the water in his boat to use his selfbailers. The ten dinghy sailors before him made a mistake, they forgot to round the right mark. After a protest Erik became number one. A miracle.
You need very quick a bucket when you capsize
