Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark.

[Billy Ellis]

#182 going upwind in the Fairhope Yacht Club parking lot thanks to a spring storm and 60 knt winds.

[Glenn VanHeel]

Am I seeing this right. It blew off the trailer?

[Billy Ellis]

yup. It jumped over the guides and landed beside the trailer. It would have had to been lifted 2' off the trailer for that to happen.  A second U20 got lifted over the keel guide but stayed on the trailer. I quess the side guides kept it in place.

[Jay Harland]

Crazy.  We can get crazy winds like that up at our lake in late fall.  Good to know.

[boroughf]

We had ours blow sideways on the trailer since we had forgotten to secure the bow to the trailer.  The keel stayed in the track, so that's probably what saved it from coming all the way off. We had also left the jib up and had the jib cover, so that was a little too much windage and blew the bow sideways. Still got a puncture in the bottom when it ended up resting on the u-bolt that holds the leaf spring to the trailer frame.

Curious how you got it back on the trailer from that point? Mobile hoist or crane?

[Billy Ellis]

Matt, that is exactly what happened. I viewed the club security video yesterday and watched the whole thing unfold.  It was amazing to see how much windage the furled jib had, but even the light post in the parking lot were shaking. The wind was blowing maybe sustained 60 when a additional gust hit. It lifted the bow completely off the trailer and the wind caught the stern causing a pitch pole into the asphalt. The mast head fly was shattered and scratches are visible where it hit. The boat then came completely off the trailer and landed on its side along the hull deck seam.. As of yesterday it had not been lifted back onto the trailer but it appears that sans a bent spreader where it hit the deck the and some serious rash the boat came out OK. We will know more after it is back on the trailer but it appears the U20's reputation as being a strong well built boat is about to become legendary.  Hopefully I will be able to post the video later.

[Billy Ellis]

Fred's boat is back on the trailer. After all is said and done there is a small amount of skin damage where the boat was in contact with the asphalt and some rash that will need to be faired out. "Thats gonna leave a mark" about sums it up. The strength and build quality of the U20 is truly remarkable.