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Caught in Storm 35-40 mph winds 6 miles from shor

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gbeardjr
Navigator

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USA
101 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/15/2008 : 13:04:00

Pretty cool. I promise the waves looked bigger in person.

It was fun though!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9yD6LplmpI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKAlmsFci-g

There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those that understand binary and those that don't

Edited by - gbeardjr on 07/15/2008 13:04:40

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3476 Posts

Response Posted - 07/15/2008 : 13:35:21

ARRRRrrrrrrr.....you know how to have fun. Running before the storm, and during...

regards.ray

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 07/15/2008 : 14:59:01

Part of me says Wow! what fun. The other part says glad I wasn't there. Great video. How fast under that reefed main alone?

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jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 07/15/2008 : 15:15:53

Were you running w/ the auto-pilot, and what was your point of sail?

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gbeardjr
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USA
101 Posts

Response Posted - 07/15/2008 : 15:50:13

That was under bare poles alone I was making 7 knots at times down the chop. The boat was heeling 20-30 degrees with no sails up. Almost sideways to the wind running just a little. There was enough hull catching the wind to go as fast as I wanted to go.

Edited by - gbeardjr on 07/15/2008 15:51:51

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 07/16/2008 : 07:31:19

Looked like you still had a little main showing, maybe cause the mainsheet was out. Reminds me of the [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqjH3zzG8Ys"]Nov 06 video[/url] I did off Daytona, except you're moving as fast with no sails

. About 4 to 6 foot seas?

Edited by - DaveR on 07/16/2008 07:32:21

Stardog
Captain

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USA
319 Posts

Response Posted - 07/16/2008 : 08:13:22

I used to sail on Galveston Bay with a buddy, he had a Catalina 25 also and was living on it at the time. We ran with storms sometimes, but I don't remember the wind blowing that hard and that steadily. Looks like great fun... apprehensive, but fun. :)

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 07/16/2008 : 11:19:00

Very cool, thank God you didn't have to go upwind in that weather!

I would have been tempted to throw up my 60% jib and double reefed main and see if you could reach a little bit.

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aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 07/16/2008 : 12:40:32

Have you had an opportunity to use that 60% I sold you a few years ago Jim?

Even though I now have a furler, there have been times I wished I still had that sail and hank-ons.

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stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 07/16/2008 : 13:33:03

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">That was under bare poles alone I was making 7 knots at times down the chop. The boat was heeling 20-30 degrees with no sails up. Almost sideways to the wind running just a little. There was enough hull catching the wind to go as fast as I wanted to go.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I would have been tempted to throw up my 60% jib and double reefed main and see if you could reach a little bit.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

From the comfort of my easy chair on Monday morning: In those conditions, I would want to put my storm jib up, and double reef my main - however, with respect to already making 7 knots under bare poles - would it have been prudent to have raised a sail or two for the sake of stability and control or other factors? I'm inclined to think that because this is a sail boat, it would be better to sail or motor sail, than to just motor.
I got caught in a lightening storm, about 9KMs(6 miles) from my mooring ball last weekend. We hoisted anchor and motored out to the middle of the lake and while motoring with a following sea of about 3-4' I hoisted my 110 jib and with a 20knt breeze at my back, I flew down the length of the lake in record time. My Xtra long shaft OB prop was out of the water with regularity. In my situation, having a sail up was definitely the thing to do - so I wonder, as a non-expert in these matters, if sailing or motor-sailing is the default, best way to go.

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 07/16/2008 : 17:34:24

Al, I've used the 60% twice - both days with huge winds and seas when I was sailing around inside Mission Bay for practice in heavy air.

With the 60% + double reefed main you can control the boat in lots of wind.

The lifeguard boat stopped me one of those days and said "what are your intentions?" I answered "sail around in the Bay for experience." They said "Good, if you go outside we won't be doing any rescues."

Later it dropped a lot, I shook out the reef and did go outside - about 50 feet!

Edited by - on

Stardog
Captain

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USA
319 Posts

Response Posted - 07/16/2008 : 17:38:21

Gee, I watched those videos a couple of times and I would swear I heard an engine running? At one point you can hear it rev up very high when the screw comes out of the water going over the top of a wave. Not that you needed your engine though...

Edited by - on

KiteKraemer
Navigator

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191 Posts

Response Posted - 07/17/2008 : 11:45:29

35-40 is common in the columbia gorge, my swing keel doesn't like it very much. Don't really need sails at 40, bare poles work fine!! But at 35-40 my windows are getting washed (underwater), your ship looks quite upright... maybe it's a upwind/downwind thing..

Edited by - on

aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 07/17/2008 : 12:54:19

Jim,

Glad to here you've been able to try it out..... especially if only practicing. I always liked that sail with a doubled main. A roller furled jib is ok but somehow just doesn't seem the same in the big wind.

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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 07/17/2008 : 14:46:00

I got caught in a windstorm once about 6 miles offshore. The winds were 50mph sustained and the steep waves built to around 8ft with a period of 15' or so. I was motoring under bare pole directly into the waves and was still losing ground, but my intention was to keep from getting abeam to the waves. On a couple of occasions, the wind caught my bow and pushed me over which required me to do a quick 360 in the troughs to get the bow pointed back into the wind. When running in the troughs, I had a monster wall of water on each side of the boat and each time the waves passed under the boat, the bow would come crashing down like a breaching whale. Even though it wasn't raining, the spray and foam coming off the wave tops in the high winds sent sheets of water horizontally into the cockpit making it difficult to see, as if someone was blasting me in the face with a garden hose.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5904 Posts

Response Posted - 07/17/2008 : 19:23:01

Last Sunday I was beating to windward on a friend's Pearson Triton for about 25 miles on the Chesapeake Bay against about 20+ knot winds and about 4-6' seas. We were motorsailing, with a full main and the rf jib reefed down to about 90%, because, when we were under sail alone, each time a big wave hit the bow, the boat came nearly to a stop. Using the old Atomic 4 alone, the boat could hardly make any headway at all. By motorsailing, we could average about 4 knots. We were taking a lot of spray and an occasional dollop of water in the cockpit, and I had a completely new, unexpected experience. A small jellyfish must have been tossed into the cockpit and hit me in the neck, because I found a red jellyfish welt on my neck when I got home. It never occurred to me that that could happen. I'm glad it wasn't a barracuda.

Edited by - on

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 07/18/2008 : 07:35:39

Holy Crap Don,
That sounds a little unnerving. On Erie? I'll bet you were really glad to see the dock that day.

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piseas
Former Treasurer

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USA
2017 Posts

Response Posted - 07/18/2008 : 14:48:01

Garnett, that looked pretty rough. BTW, I noticed in the video, 2 inflatable vests in the cabin. I hope those were extras and you guys had yours on along with tether.
Steve A

Edited by - on

pwhallon
Admiral

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USA
694 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2008 : 11:36:55

I never sailed my Cat in those kind of conditions. How did she feel?

Solid, flexing..etc.

PW

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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2008 : 23:24:00

>"Pretty cool. I promise the waves looked bigger in person."

Waves always look smaller on film...

Edited by - on

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 07/21/2008 : 07:45:22

PW,
I've been in some pretty heavy stuff a few times with my 89 sr/wk and she was very stout. No flexing or anything. The only thing that bothered me at all was the tiller/rudder on the downwind return leg. Turned out I had a loose lower Gudgeon. Even with it properly secured the tiller feels a little hokey in a large following sea.

Edited by - on

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