What would take to flip a rib

[smokie]

Outside of doing something really careless, what kind of seas, conditions, would it take to flip a 6m rib? I'm not the type that is going to go flying off the top of swells at full bore. Mainly fishing offshore in northern California where unexpected conditions can get nasty.

[pettal]

As far as I know and am ready to be proved wrong.....but!

It's very hard to tip a rib up sideways even if it's been dragged down the face of a wave.

So the only way that I know how and have seen it done is going off the top of a big steep wave at medium to high speed into a howling head on wind and getting the wind to catch the underside of the rib and tip it. Teckernirkel term would be to pitch pole.

I think the only other way would be with a following sea and to bury the nose into a trough with a big wave coming up from behind.....maybe!?

[Seb]

There are loads of factors that could lead to the capsizing of a RIB:

Running into a steep head sea without powering off will make a boat take off at the crest. One big gust of wind under the hull at this point and the boat is likely to go head over heals.

Loosing power and drifting beam on to large breaking seas.

Rogue waves (they do exist)!

Whirlpools.

Rediculously large seas of any kind that a RIB cannot cope with.

Unsuitable RIB for the conditions (rigging, hull form etc).

Burrying the bow and skewing around broadside on to the sea before regaining headway.

etc etc etc.....

However, being out in conditions that are likely to capsize you are generally rare and a well equipped boat with a sensible and skilled skipper will generally be able to cope with some pretty harsh conditions and more to the point, will know their limitations and when to run.

Of course, lifeboats often have no choice in the matter and the same goes for people like AP who may be miles from a safe haven!

[Zippy]

Before i bought my rib i was fortunate enough to be out in Brighton for the weekend of the Powerboat P1 racing. anyone who was there will know it was pretty windy and rough.

Being new to ribs at the time i was amazed at how safe the boat felt no matter what we were doing. i know my nerve would have gone way before the boat had any problems out there that day and thats what made me choose a rib over anything else.

As people have said here. skill of the skipper is very important and as with anything theres a large portion of common sense involved in any form of boating.

[ADS]

I don't know whether this has been posted on here before but it shows a lifeboat atlantic 21/75 flipping, unfortunatly its in quicktime:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/whitslb/video.mov





It is suprisingly easy to roll a rib if you end up beam on to a rough sea, I rolled a little Ribcraft, while performing a dinghy rescue.



Alex

[Zippy]

That video is amazing!

And to think the crews do that for no other reason than to help others in distress!

i take my had off to each and everyone of them!

[Nasher]

In my younger days 20 years ago, when my brother and myself would tear about in my dads Flatacraft force4 with far to big an engine on the back we managed to do it both ways.

We rolled it over doing too tighter turns when we hit the wake of another boat, and flipped it over backwards when we jumped off a wave into the wind. The wind got under the bow lifted and stopped it dead, whilst the weight of the engine rotated the stern underneath it.

Rolling was very scary but happened so quickly, and flipping over backwards seamed to happen in slow motion.
If I had to choose I'd go over backwards, you've more chance to brace for the boat landing on top of you.

On both occasions we lost the windscreen but righted the boat quickly and managed to restart the engine.

To those that may consider joining me at sea, may I say how much I've calmed down with the benifit of age.

Nasher

[ollyit]

Originally Posted by ADS

I don't know whether this has been posted on here before but it shows a lifeboat atlantic 21/75 flipping, unfortunatly its in quicktime:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/whitslb/video.mov





It is suprisingly easy to roll a rib if you end up beam on to a rough sea, I rolled a little Ribcraft, while performing a dinghy rescue.



Alex

JEEEEESSAZZZ!!

[Andy]

Seen it happen when a RIB got side on in surf. They where trying to recover up a beach (broadhaven) onto a trailer and lost it on the approach. It was a mess.

Flipping is easy. All you need is too much speed, the wrong angle off a wave and a bit of wind and you are gone.

[slimtim]

Nasher how did you flip her back over? Deflate one side and then try?

I've had a few near misses in my little flatacraft. Last summer i was going into a force 5-6 head wind and it was wind against tide with big solent rollers (huge for my little boat) off yarmouth. I had to lean right forward at the top of every wave to stop the wind picking her up. I could feel it rising every time I reached the crest! I was coming back from a photo shoot too so wasn't in a hurry to jump in the drink with all my camera kit

Tim