Someone in another thread asked me to elaborate on preparing for a capsize.  It is way off topic for that thread, so I'm starting this one.  I'm no expert, but I have recently survived a capsize in a fully rigged Skerry.

"Hooper, can you please elaborate on how to be prepared for a capsize?

I worry about capsizing. Dunno why since I've done canoe camping for years in a tandem canoes and they can't be self-righted without getting to shore first. Never tipped one of those."

I'll try, John, but almost any other source would be more authoritative.  A sail and oar boat has a lot more pieces than a canoe.  You have to account for all of those, both in capsize preparation and recovery.

-   Wear a pfd.  In this case, I never felt the need to inflate mine, but I           was glad I had it.

-   Secure every little thing to the boat.  I know this from white- water canoeing and practice it diligently.  Even so, I lost one of four oarlocks and the glasses off my face.  You have to think about it.  It's not enough to loosely tie a light line to something.  Think about the heavy forces of water trying to separate that item from the boat.  That's what you're preparing for.  Items to secure to the boat should include your oars, oarlocks, rudder, tiller, etc., etc.   If you carry an anchor, you don't want it to deploy while the boat is upside down and you don't want to lose it, either.

-          Likewise, waterproof and secure all personal effects to your body.  My keys, wallet and cellphone were zippered into my pockets.  My wallet was in a zip lock bag, but the bag failed.  You get funny looks when you hand a cashier soggy money.  My cellphone is waterproof and that feature got a thorough and successful test.  I'm so used to wearing glasses that I forgot about those until I realized I couldn't tell how far I was from shore.  Luckily, I have a good replacement source for glasses.

-          You need a way to bail out the boat (redundancy is good here) 

-          Most importantly, you need to drill ahead of time.  On a warm calm day go out and turtle your fully rigged boat.  You will learn how your particular boat behaves when capsized, be reminded about things you have not thought about and get to practice the best technique for you to use with your boat in a self- rescue.  I think the Skerry is designed to float with the dagger board trunk above the water level when swamped.  I've read several accounts where this was not the case.  Apparently, the way it is built, rigged and packed can easily upset that buoyancy.  You need to know whether or not your boat will need additional buoyancy with its rigging and payload.  You can't bail if the dagger board trunk is below the water level. (it would also be very hard to swim it to shore fully rigged and full of water)  Some people have made arrangements to plug up the dagger board opening in this situation.  You also need to know how you're going to get back into the boat.  Based on weight, agility, swimming ability, upper body strength, etc., different people use different techniques.  If you will need some sort of ladder, you need to practice stowing, deploying and using it.        

I'm sure this is a partial list off the top of my untrained head.  Hopefully, other people will add to it.

Hooper