Capsizing AI

Anybody has first-hand experience?

Have been sailing SF Bay yesterday in a fairly strong wind and waves started picking up. When I went running and started riding waves immediately bow went pretty sharp under the water. And then again. First time in such conditions and it was a bit scary. Have been fighting it for a while and then reefed sail to ~30%, which made lots of difference and much smoother sailing.

I know AI can be capsized, both over side (has been on trampolines all the time) and bow, wonder how easy it is, so I don't do it

On a related topic. At the end I had 4.5 liters (over a gallon) of water in a hull. Are you noticing anything similar after you sail in high wind?

Never capsized, but have had the bow submarine like you said.
Have though it might be "fun" to get some folks and purposely capsize and right the boats someday

Water is probably coming in through the front hatch. They are notorious leakers. There's loads of fixes for it, add some pipe insulation to the coping in the hull or, yoga pad cut out to the hatch, and others have tightened the bungies.
Definitely make sure you release the bungies for storage.

Thanks, Steve.

Just about flip mine I was sailing at a lake with a buddy of mine and a fluke wind hit me from the side my buddy said my mast was about six feet from hitting the water I let go of every thing and popped back up scared the crap out of me.

PatR

How strong wind / waves? I think we had 20 knots gusts and some waves were about 6ft. Did not feel comfortable sitting inside at all, all the time on tramps. Instagram.com/se6ast.

Water can get in the holes thru the hull where the screws for the front hatch bungees penetrate. Either these holes are drilled a little too large or the force of the bungee pulling on the screws makes them bigger. I put the screws thru small rubber washers.

The AI is surprisingly difficult (but not impossible) to capsize. I have never capsized mine, but neither do I sail it very hard. I have had it on the bay in 15-20kt wind with 4' wind waves and didn't come close to capsizing it but it wasn't fun sailing either. The AI is a kayak converted to a sailboat and consequently the mast is much farther forward than a normal sailboat. This makes the bow submerge when reaching at a relatively slow speed which slows the boat down making pitch-poling unlikely. Like any sailboat, if the full sail is deployed on a beam reach and you take a gust over 20 kt, there is a significant chance of capsizing. There are certainly reports of AI's capsizing in this scenario. The other common scenario for AI's capsizing is in the surf zone. I have not seen any reports of an AI capsizing running or on a broad reach. I came back from the Soquel hole through the jaws at Moss landing running down wind with 15-20kt tail wind and a 6' trailing sea and it felt like it was going to pitch-pole but the mast being far forward spills the wind as the stern lifts up and slows the boat down.

Bottom line, the AI is probably more difficult to capsize than a real sailboat, but it is also more difficult to control than a real sailboat in heavy air sailing close hauled. It doesn't point very well and in heavy air the weather helm is really bad so if your destination is upwind, you are in for a long slog, peddling like a madman. If the current is against you, you are basically screwed. I had an unpleasant sailing trip on the bay and although not in danger, it wasn't fun either. I know a lot of guys get obsessed trying to improve the sailing performance of the AI, but for myself, the AI is a fishing platform first, a recreational/family sailing vessel second. If I wanted to sail in technical conditions or sail really fast, I would buy a vessel designed to do that, like a Hobie catamaran. 16' Hobie cat vs 16' AI, no contest in any conditions. The bay  can be fairly technical sailing but if things go bad, there are lots of places to land. Just hope it's not west Oakland.