Hi welcome to East Coast Sailing. I wanted to share this crazy experience whilst learning to sail our new boat.

After updating running rigging and generally becoming familiar with the boat, we went out sailing for the 1st time. There were 3 of us on board; myself Rob, my wife Fran & Our son Hugo who is 2.

We made our way over to the River Blackwater and hoisted the sails up. It felt like such an achievement as we sailed towards Maldon at 5 knots. This boat is significantly large than the last boat I had which was 22 foot as opposed to 34 foot. The forecast before hand showed 14 knots of wind with gusts of 20. I put one reef in the main sail to be safe and let out all the head sail so it could be retrieved quickly if things blew up.

The true wind indicated 14 knots and I was nearly about to take the reef out to go faster and get some drone footage. Luckily the rain came which gave me second thoughts.

It was grey and miserable but what happened next is something I have never experienced in 9 years of sailing.

A massive storm squall hit and tipped the boat over which caught me off guard. The head sail wouldn't retrieve by hand and the cause of the jam is covered in another video. I didn't winch the sail in incase it was jammed and damage the furling gear which would be more expensive than a sail.

Lots of bad boat practises on my part not wearing a life jacket, not having life lines in place. I have certainly taken a lot of lessons learnt from this experience to make me a better sailor. Everyone walked away unharmed apart from the front sail and we narrowly avoided the mast coming down. Every boater will encounter an unexpected malfunction leading to an accident.

If I were sailing on my own things would have been a bit less hectic without the 2 year old.

The new boat did us proud, thanks EVANIA

And thanks for watching.