Spent some time playing chase with Julian who was trying to get a max speed for his boat.

Had mast on the lower shroud settings and had eased the kicker. The boat was considerably easier to sail like this in these conditions.

Crew was complaining of sore hands. Dropped him off at slip to go get himself a cup of coffee and went back out on my own.

Was running on a broad reach, setting the sails as tight as I could without losing speed, then turning 10 degrees or so to leeward. Discovered the boat would accelerate. By now the batteries had failed in gps, so not sure if it was as fast as it felt. The boat was flat and seemed to be lifting. Moved back to try to increase lift some more. Was leaning out with my feet jammed against the centre box lip but somehow missed it and fell backwards off the boat.

Managed to keep hold of the mainsheet. The boat stopped and slowly capsized. Didnt turn turtle due to the buoy on the top of the mast.

The spinnaker ropes were hanging over the bottom of the hull. Couldnt get onto the centreboard, but by hanging on the rope and climbing up the chines, I managed to get on the board and the boat righted. I didnt managed to get over the side and ended up back in the water hanging onto the shroud.

I was astonished at how quickly I ran out of strength and coherent thought.

I let go of the shroud and swam round to the other side and tried to get the front sheet out of its cleat. As I let go the boat capsized again.

A small yacht arrived and asked if I needed assistance. I said yes please, could you tow me into shallow water so that I can reach the bottom. I passed the painter to the helm. He said I must disconnect my kicker so that it could be towed.

He said he worked for the lifeboats and the two ladies on board were both doctors and I was in excellent hands. They decided I was suffering from hypothermia and insisted I got in their boat and fed me sugared tea.

For some reason they seemed unable to tow my boat. It was seriously swamped and had both sails in the water. The man took a knife and started cutting my spinnaker lines next to the bobbles, which floated away. He also undid the forestay.

Julian arrived. He grabbed my paddle that was drifting away and sailed to the beach some 100 yards away, anchored his boat, dropped his sails and swam out to my boat and in minutes, got on and righted it. He then asked if the man would tow it to the shallows a few yards away.

The man was unable to make any headway towing it, but luckily the tide and wind was blowing it to the shore. Julian got out when he could reach the beach, I thanked them for their timely assistance and jumped in with my spinnaker sail and swam ashore.

Julian and I bailed the boat and I towed it half a mile along the edge of Baiters carpark to the slip.

I considered going back out just to make sure I didnt lose my nerve, but it was getting dark and the boat didnt feel right.

Checked it over the following morning and discovered the rear tank was full of water. Need to find out how it got in there. Suspect it is the hull to deck join as it got in but not out. This tank passed when I buoyancy tested it 36 days ago. It looks like the bungs were kicked out of the side tanks by the crew.

Feeling very lucky I did this so close to the beach and with company instead of on my own out in the channel. Will now find out how to get back in after capsize, find out how to right it easily, or if its possible to stop it tipping in the first place. Will also investigate the join to see why the tank filled and fix the pumps wiring.