INVESTIGATOR 563

Hi All

Had a very interesting experience crossing the bar here at Batemans Bay on Friday in my Yacht Aminee.

My Wife and I were crossing it with an incoming swell and outgoing tide which made the bar very active. (BTW this was an unplanned early return so not my normal choice for a time to cross.) Huge waves were breaking but we were committed and had to ride it out. Halfway across I observed a huge wave building behind us, told my wife to hang on tight as it hit astern and broached us 45 degrees, then flipped the boat over hard to starboard so that the gunwales were well in the water and my wife quite wet, I was expecting Aminee to roll completely despite me being hard on the rudder pulling her to starboard but then....at a certain point, gravity and the design of the boat just slammed into action and she righted, pulled to starboard and we were over the bar and then heading as per normal. It was interesting as I could just feel the boat pull down once we reached what appeared to be a critical angle. I think many other small yachts of other designs would have rolled.

It was quite a fast and furious few seconds and I certainly thought we would roll and my wife to be thrown overboard, but as everyone has said here time after time these boats are stable and will handle a lot of tough situations My wife seemed totally un-pertubed and was impressed with the way Aminee recovered, as was I. I learned a lot that day about her stability in adverse conditions and my confidence in the I563 truly sealed.

Regards

Mark

That's a fantastic test of her ability!
I was planning on doing a pull down test before I start fitting out my interior.. Hope to see similar results to what you experienced!

An inspiring tale and the reason I sail the Investigator offshore. We have just returned from a great days' sail off Port Kembla and the Five Islands 10- 15k NE winds with a lumpy cross sea and the boat seems to love these conditions pointing well and taking it all in its stride more so than a lot of keel boats I have sailed in. You said it in your title its small but its a "yacht".
Kevin Shepherd we salute you

I shared this story with Madam DP and she wondered, given I have just bolted down the pop-top on Pip what happened with the hatch, wash-boards and pop-top on your boat, Mark?

BTW - racing on our local lake last weekend a bullet hit the fleet between races. I was on the tiller (it was not Pip) and I saw it coming and laid off a course to run off. Our headsail was already down and apart from a brief bit of speed all was well.

This was not the case for another trailer sailer whose three crew noticed nothing and were laid flat by the blast, everything was cleated on and they started falling into the water, and then the centreplate 'fell' back into the hull, and suddenly the mast filled up with water and whole thing turned turtle; they were buggered!

I know I563s are just shoal-keelers but they do come back. Just don't let go FFS! Make sure you are still on-board when it comes up.

Actually I have clasps which hold the pop-top down securely and used for locking the boat in storage, they are always in closed position for the bar, I had no washboard in but we took no water, I have a 1/2 washboard for bad bar days but couldn't leave the helm to grab it in time - I think I need to adjust my strategy around that one.
cheers and thanks for sharing that story

Just bumping this old thread for newer members and potential owners.

We have just arrived home from a two month return journey across the Nullarbor to the west coast of Australia in the little motoring home . First trip there was 1993. Been to WA a few times since by alternative transport but we also wanted to spend a bit more time exploring southern SA and the gulf country which we skimmed through in our trip in ‘93 with the kids in the Kombi.

As usual in these trips no matter where I am in Oz I’m always drawn to the waterfront areas. Though I didn’t see any Investigators to be truthful, I did appreciate why the 563 managed to spread around the country. Though blessed with ample and enjoyable enclosed waters in my east coat existence it’s not so cosy in many parts of the country. The Investigator’s safety factors, as referenced in this thread, make it suitable for many of these open water areas or at least more suitable than many other trailered sailing boats.

Still washing the bulldust off our bullbar and out of our undies, but after I’m sorted I’ll start a thread with stuff relevant to other threads on here. Promise no boring travel pics. (Unless relevant)