# Fear of heeling



## Alexssimon (Jun 23, 2013)

I am 16 and have grown up on a 30ft catalina on lake michigan. But for the past maybe two years i have been deathly afraid of the heeling of a boat. My dad lets me steer and i know exactly what im doing but after four knots i get uneasy and after five going on six im seriously considering abandoning ship. I hate that i get this way, im a string swimmer. No one else is like this and i feel like im a drag. I want to know what to think when sailing to not get scared! I usually lay someplace i dont feel the lean of the boat so much and think of how sturdy the boat is and i try to sleep. But i want help! I have to remind myself that i can always jump off to make me feel safe sometimes!

Ps- i dont really have any current or sudden stress and thinking back i think i have been fearful since i could start to think of things and experiance some scary "close calls". Also, i know how everything on the boat works and i have sailed some small sun fish and i loved it, capsizing and all. The catalinas size and force is what really scares me i think. I feel like its in control of me


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## lajimo (Sep 5, 2011)

This is a pretty common fear, and it sounds like you have a bad case. Perhaps it might help if you read an article or two on the physical mechanisms of sailing so that you better understood the way that the wind, sails, keel and rudder work together balance the boat. This will help you convince the logical side of your brain that heeling is normal and even necessary. For the "instinctive" side that is experiencing the panic, the next time you sail try some deliberate experimentation on different points of sail. 
- try sailing on a beam reach - wind perpendicular to your boat direction -, trimming the main and jib until they just stop luffing. This should be both a fast and comfortable point if sail for you. Then head up into the wind a bit to more of a close reach (look up these points if sail if you are not familiar with them), again trimming the sails in until they just stop luffing (edges flapping loosely). As the boat starts to heel, try letting go of the helm and get a feel for how the boat will self-correct by heading upwind and losing power. Repeat the exercise but this time steer away from the wind and feel the heeling diminish. The point is to repeatedly bring the boat to point of sail in which it heels and then move it out of that zone in a controlled way. I think with practice, you will get a better intuitive feel for how the boat works and its inherent stability and so build up your confidence to the point that you are comfortable whether you are at the helm or someone else is.


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## jameswilson29 (Aug 15, 2009)

Alexssimon said:


> ... But for the past maybe two years i have been deathly afraid of the heeling of a boat..!


The best way to get over your fears of any kind is to confront them. You can do that gradually, at your own comfort level, or immediately.

Gradually, you could sail in stronger and stronger wind conditions to become accustomed to healing.

Immediately, while sailing upwind, you could steer the boat off the wind until it is broadside to the wind. Hang on tight.

Using either method, you will discover that a keel boat will only go over so far, then the wind begins to deflect off the sail while the ballast pulls the boat back up, the boat floats high above the water, even when healed over at extreme angles, and the boat will eventually pop back upright when the force decreases.

Running away from your fears, avoiding them, never works. You will simply become a fearful person who has lost confidence in yourself. You might as well make the decision to live your life courageously, to face down all your fears, and free yourself from excessive worry. Fear and worry rarely accomplish anything for you and you waste a lot of psychic energy that could be better focused on something productive.

With all your fears, you should also consider what is the worst that could happen. People usually inflate the consequences of their fears. Take heeling: the boat could be knocked over and/or sink, you would find yourself in the water and you could swim to shore or wait to be rescued. So what? That would hardly be the end of the world. You would be wet and inconvenienced. Many have survived worse.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

If you're on the helm, have you let the boat round up toward the wind about 5 degrees? You should notice a clear reduction in heel. Round up more and the heeling should subside more. 

While this may not be the tack you want to be on or have the sails properly trimmed for it, the helmsman can always fix the heeling problem, as necessary. In fact, weather helm is designed in for just this purpose too. Once you realize that you have the power to stop it, you should become less fearful of it.


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## deniseO30 (Nov 27, 2006)

It takes time to get used to heeling. I owned my boat 2 years and before I got used to it! Now I can "dip the rail" and actually have fun trying to do so.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

I dare say, in a 30 ft Catalina in relatively small seas and winds under 30 kts, you couldn't knock her over if you tried.


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## deniseO30 (Nov 27, 2006)

Minnewaska said:


> I dare say, in a 30 ft Catalina in relatively small seas and winds under 30 kts, you couldn't knock her over if you tried.


very true!

Alexis, it isn't really necessary to heel hard over, and most of us know our boats sail best with less heel then more. I'd also say who your sailing with is not really concerned with the comfort of others on the boat.. NOT, a good thing imho.


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## JulieMor (Sep 5, 2011)

Alexssimon said:


> I have to remind myself that i can always jump off to make me feel safe sometimes!


Your fear of heeling is so great that jumping off the boat makes you feel safer? I've sailed Lake Michigan for decades and there's no way I would ever say that. Most who fear heeling worry about ending up in the water (the boat sinking). You've already overcome that fear. So, if being in the water makes you feel safe, why worry about heeling? Just look at heeling as being closer to being safe in the water. 

Sometimes we have to play mind games with ourselves to overcome our fears.


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

The unusual thing here is that the fear has developed after a long time sailing, the OP has grown up with the boat and at 14 suddenly is frightened by this... Normally someone new to sailing has to come to terms with the sensation, this may be something different.

Wondering if anything happened to trigger the onset of the anxiety? It's true that of all the boats out there the Cat 30 is a heelophobe's dream... Hard to imagine a less tender boat.


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## Magoofskie (Nov 23, 2011)

If you enjoy being in the water why don't you try some fast paced sailing dingy action at a local club. When I was young I used to love putting on a wetsuit and seeing how far I could push the envelope, ultimately ending with me in the water but to me that was fun! These smaller boat also help really get a feel for the mechanics involved in heeling. My daughter is 8 and she gets afraid when our '38 boat heels. I intend to put her in a sailing club so she may confront her fears in a controlled and fun way. She is very comfortable in the water like you so I hope for positive results. Good luck. And yes, you must confront your fears.


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## SlowButSteady (Feb 17, 2010)

Find a cheap dinghy, and sail the bejesus out of it. You'll get used to heeling (and turtling, and righting, et cetera) real fast.


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## KBuckley (Sep 17, 2008)

I am encouraged that you can deal with this because:
- you are spending time with your family at 16 so you have support
- you know what you are feeling and can articulate it
- you want to change things.

Does your boat have a heel gauge so you can read the degrees of heel directly? That will help to put some limits on what you are comfortable with when others are at the helm.

Communicate with others on the boat what you can tolerate and what you can't. This may change from day to day depending on the weather, and other apparently unrelated things like how much you sleep you had the night before.

Certainly do as others have said and spend time at the helm experimenting with trim and heel. Reef to maintain the heel as needed for your point of sail, that is what all those lines are for anyway!

We all change and experience things differently from day to day. You are normal. Just keep sailing and spending time with your family. 

(didn't really mean to sound like Dear Abbey....)


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## hillenme (Oct 11, 2012)

I've done a lot of sailing on a cat 30 on lake Michigan. I agree with a previous poster that it should be comparatively little heel compared to say a c&c of the same size. A lesson in the physics can help if your a person who just needs to understand how things work. The more it heels the less sail area presented to the wind, also center of gravity and center of buoyancy diverge more and more, meaning it's becoming exponentially harder for the boat to heel farther. To capsize this boat would require a breaking wave of a height you're unlikely to encounter on day sailing on lake mich and the boat would likely come back around. Trying sitting hiking out on the high side and looking outboard. I would guess with your sailing experience you probably knew most this already, maybe remind yourself how often you've experienced this without incident.


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## Mary Flower (Jun 16, 2013)

We once took a new-to-sailing friend out for a day sail on Lake Michigan. It was a great day; wind 15-20 blowing offshore so the waves were only about 2 feet. I avoided sailing close to the wind so we wouldn't be pounding. Perfect conditions.

Suddenly, we caught a gust that pushed us over from about 15 degrees to about 25. Our friend got a look of concern on her face but that passed when we returned to the 15 degree mark. She asked if the boat could roll over if the wind blew hard enough. I thought about explaining the physics of sailboats; heel, wind pressure, the countering effect of the keel, wind spilling as the sail moved further away from a right angle to the wind, etc., etc. Instead, I just said, "No. The boat can't roll over' No need to mention rogue waves and ocean currents since it was just a nice day on the lake. She seemed to relax after that.

As we motored into the harbor, she said she really enjoyed the day; especially after I told her that the boat couldn't sink. I calmly explained that I never said the boat couldn't sink but only that it couldn't roll over. Well, it was a darn good thing that I hadn't said that while we were out sailing because, from the way the color drained from her face, I thought that she might have jumped off the boat and tried to swim back to shore.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

A good leader is not always right, but they are always certain.

No, the boat will not roll over and, no, it will not sink. Next question.


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## Mary Flower (Jun 16, 2013)

A good leader also does not lie.


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

My standard method of dealing with people sailing on Synergy and who are afraid of heeling is that I tell them "'Synergy' weighs as much as four Volkswagon Jettas. The equivillent of two of those Jettas are in the form of a lead shark's fin hanging six feet below the boat. As the boat leans over, it is like the boat is trying to pick up those two volkswagons balanced on the far end of a diving board. At the same time the sail is laying flatter so the wind can't hit it as hard. We're not going over." It usually works.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

Mary Flower said:


> A good leader also does not lie.


It's most certainly not a lie, if as the leader you intend to make it so.

Truth is, you could be hit by a meteor. Rolling over and sinking are controllable.


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## rgscpat (Aug 1, 2010)

Fear of (excess) healing can be a good thing... 
generally, excess heeling is slow, creates extra leeway, reduces VMG to your destination, and causes you to lose ground to other boats. You may feel better after you do a lot of exploring of all the ways to de-power.


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## MarkSF (Feb 21, 2011)

KBuckley said:


> Does your boat have a heel gauge so you can read the degrees of heel directly? That will help to put some limits on what you are comfortable with when others are at the helm.


Another thing my heel gauge told me, is that the boat is not heeling as much as you think. What you would guess is 45 degrees is more like 25 on the gauge. Now I have a self-imposed limit of 25 degrees, and it's actually quite hard to exceed that.

I can't recommend this, but when I was doing basic keelboat, we went out in 30 kts or so in a Santana 22 and got some experience of how an over-canvased boat behaves. Now all these comments assume you aren't flying a spinnaker... but there is almost no way you could capsize that boat from wind force alone. The tendency to head up into the wind simply becomes overwhelming.

To capsize a well-designed keelboat you need a breaking wave on the beam, the height of which is a minimum of 1/3 boat length. (keelboats vary from 1/3 to over 50%). Your Catalina would need at least a 10 ft breaking wave.

A knockdown is a different matter but virtually all of those are due to flying a spinnaker when you should not. (ie, most racers)


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## Mary Flower (Jun 16, 2013)

Jeff_H said:


> My standard method of dealing with people sailing on Synergy and who are afraid of heeling is that I tell them "'Synergy' weighs as much as four Volkswagon Jettas. The equivillent of two of those Jettas are in the form of a lead shark's fin hanging six feet below the boat. As the boat leans over, it is like the boat is trying to pick up those two volkswagons balanced on the far end of a diving board. At the same time the sail is laying flatter so the wind can't hit it as hard. We're not going over." It usually works.


That is the funniest thing I've seen all day. I can imagine their eyes glazing over as they try to follow that explanation. After that, they probably wouldn't mind if the darn thing sank.


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## Mary Flower (Jun 16, 2013)

Minnewaska said:


> It's most certainly not a lie, if as the leader you intend to make it so.
> 
> Truth is, you could be hit by a meteor. Rolling over and sinking are controllable.


The question was "CAN it sink?" not "WILL it sink?" Yes it can. No it won't. Assuming, that is, I don't do something incredibly stupid or we don't have a piece of very bad luck. Getting run over by a thousand foot ore boat would certainly be in one or the other of those categories.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

Mary Flower said:


> The question was "CAN it sink?" not "WILL it sink?" Yes it can. No it won't. Assuming, that is, I don't do something incredibly stupid or we don't have a piece of very bad luck. Getting run over by a thousand foot ore boat would certainly be in one or the other of those categories.


Exactly.

Q. Can this boat sink?

A. No, it will not sink.

The passenger already knows anything can happen. Think about what they are really asking. Are you able to keep us from sinking? In the conditions you described, I actually don't think you could have rolled her, if you tried. Honest answer.


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## deltaten (Oct 10, 2012)

As a noob, I tend to keep the pole as plumb as possible; by most of the recognized (and some unrecognizable!) methods.
Last sojourn of the w/e on Monday, we encountered flukey winds ranging from S thru NW and varying from 3 to 12 mph. On a beam reach, we s*l*o*w*l*y allowed the speed to increase along with the heel as I maintained course and the wind came up. Confidence in one's own and the boat's ability will make "showin' 'em some paint" a much more interesting and 'specially FUN


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## Sazyb (Aug 17, 2013)

I sailed & raced dinghies for 15 years, i was a sailing instructor and have my day skipper & 
I have the same anxiety when the boat heels!

Im not sure if it's a control thing, being used to being on a dinghy and being able to respond immediately with your body weight or letting out the main may be part of it.

Not knowing the boat's limits may be another. 

Maybe if i could see pictures of the optimum & max safe heel angles I'd be able to train my mind!

Also, repetition & time is probably the key. 
They say with fear, write a list of 1-10 1 being ok & 10 being the worst
Apparrently you take the list and work down the list, keep repeating 1 until it doesnt make you anxious, only then move on to 2 etc
They say going straight to 10 is called flooding! & wont cure it. 
So you need help from your skipper.
E.g.
1. Heeled at 5 degrees, no gusts, sitting windward or helming
2.heeled at 10 degrees , no gusts, sitting windward or helming
3. Heeled 20 degrees , no gusts, sitting windward or helming
4. Heeled 30 degrees , no gusts, sitting windward or helming
.
.
.
10. Gust + Water over the rails, not helming & leeward

Could someone suggest a good scale? Not sure if its the sharp increase in heeling due gusts or just the angle, will have to go out again & work it out!
S


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## PaulinVictoria (Aug 23, 2009)

I just kept pushing and pushing until the boat stopped letting me push any further. Gave me confidence in the boat and confidence in me. I think most people when they start are apprehensive about heeling even if they know exactly what it is, how to stop it etc. Same way that when you first start sailing, 10kts of wind seems waaay too scary to go out in, and after a few goes, all of a sudden anything under 10kts and you can't be bothered to sail.


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## robodd (Feb 3, 2013)

Try keeping your back to the wind (facing downhill). I have noticed I think the boot is heeling more than it is when I am facing the wind (looking uphill).


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