How do you like the way your vessel performs in 30K winds?

[Suky]

How do you like the way your vessel performs in 30K winds ?
Do you want to drop sail and head home or continue to sail ?
Do you reef early ? and how many reef points do you have ?

How does the helm behave ?

[Terri]

30K winds!! I want big and tubby, tons of ballast and beaminess like you read about! And reefing, I'd be reefing in the slip! Reef early and often, easier to pull out later than put in. I have two reefing points, if i ever encountered 30K in Twizzled, i'd be going into the locker! Nice cruising boat, I'd continue to sail reefed.... as first mate anyways! :-)

[Phil Prater]

My only experience with really high winds was in the Chessy. Two years ago when bringing my boat home after purchase in NJ. Was heading south past the mouth of the Potomac, sailing almost dead down wind, flying a 170. No main. Boat was going like a bat out of hell, surfing down the face of 4 footers. One of those deals where something is telling you it's past time to reduce sail, you half scared to death, and loving every minute of it. Just at the south shore of the river, a really big gust got me, burying the nose into the next wave, up the the hatch. Ripped the window out of the sail, and managed to somehow get the anchor rode out of the locker, and wrapped around the furler drum. Was like a chinese fire drill for a while. Overall, in 30 knots or more, it's past time to reef, unless of course you like adventure. Most boats will have enough heel on them if not reefed, that they are trying to round up, or are gonna round up no matter what.

[Peter Gierga]

Our Boat "Penelope "38 Hans Christian Cutter with a telstar keel handles quite well in 30kts. I like to have 2 reefs in to sail flater she handles it just fine with one though no weather helm once we balance her out.

[Suky]

Great to hear your views and stories. Thanks for getting this started. Please include your vessel size and sails.

[John Shasteen]

As some of you know, Paloma and I have endured two Force 10 storms at sea, winds 50-60, gusting higher, 30+ foot seas. So here's my rule of thumb - if you have a reasonably strong boat, in 30 knot winds, you're still sailing, it's a blustry day on the bay - reduced headsail, first reef in the main. If you have a plastic lake boat, you better drop sails and head for shelter. On the other hand, no matter what kind of boat you have, at 40 knots you change from sailing to surving and the tactics change is a hurry.
Paloma is a '79 Bristol 29.9 with Hood sails: Two furling headsails - a 110 working jib for offshore sailing and a 130 for messing about in the bay - both sails can be partially furled. The main is heavy dacron, all seams double/triple stitched and glued, aluminum plates at the attachment points and three reef points.

[Suky]

Thanks. Curious if you have a sewing machine to do the work on sail yourself or that was specs for sailmaker ?
I don't choose to go out in 30 knots but I know even from sailing on Long Island Sound, that 30 knot gusts do arrive without notice - sometimes gusting and sometimes sustained.
I appreciate hearing your experiences and 'rule of thumb'. I'm planning to sail offshore but within 100 miles of the coast.

Now, when I windsurfed, my windsurfer buddies and I didn't bother to go out unless it was blowing at least 20. But we were windsurfing very close to shore either on the bay or ocean. We weren't cruising.
We also had a variety of sails down to the size of a hankerchief so that's gotta translate to 3 reef points.

[John Shasteen]

Those are the specs that Joe Cooper from Hood Sails and I agreed on after we lost the main in the March 2008 storm. I told him I wanted the same mainsail as I had, it was Hood and lasted about 15 years, but he didn't still have Paloma in the computer.. So we discussed what kind of sailing we do and will continue to do and agreed that I needed the closest he could come to a bullet proof sail - and $2,200 well-spent dollars later, we have it.

[Veranda]

You know what they say about reefing.....If you're thinking about putting a reef, stop thinking about it and do it. We're happy enough with the way our boat performs in 30 knots of breeze. Shes a 42 foot Pearson sloop so she's is big and heavy and handles the sea pretty well.

We only have 2 reef points and I wouldn't mind having another. I've never put in a single reef, even with 2 reefs in our main is plenty big. At 20 knots I go to a double reef in the main and we can still do hull speed. I just adjust the size of the headsail to balance the boat.

I think the biggest thing about sailing in bigger wind speeds is the sea state. We've been 30 miles off Georgia with 30 knots of breeze coming over the transom with 15 footers coming under us from the quarter. We had the double reef in and a slice of jib out and were surfing along between 8 and 12 knots for hours, it was exhausting but doable.

But when we were off of Charleston we ran into 35 knots on the nose so we were close hauled again with the double reef and a slice of jib out. The seas were in the 10 foot range but were closely spaced and so steep that tacking became impossible. As soon as the bow attempted to swing through a tack a wave would hit it and bring the boat practically to a stop and push the bow back the way it came. We'd fall off again and resume sailing on our original course, we ended up "chicken jibing" through 270 degrees to "tack" several times. It totally sucked and we ended up having to divert to Winyah Bay to assure a daytime landfall.

So I guess what I'm saying is that 30 knots in the lee of a land mass is okay. Once you're out on the open ocean things change dramatically.

Bill
s/v Veranda
Veranda422.blogspot.com