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High winds on the Chesapeake last weekend

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fredflemming
1st Mate

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USA
29 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/09/2005 : 14:02:41

Saturday we trailered the Pride of Macungie down to our usual marina on the Bohemia River in the extreme northeast corner of the Chesapeake Bay. By 1:30 she was rigged and in the water (about two hours to raise the mast, adjust the shrouds, mount the motor and rudder, load with provisions and water, and launch). Winds were 15 gusting to 20 from the WNW on a beautifully clear sunny day. We double-reefed the main and put out about 1/3 the jib. No problems sailing whatsoever, with speeds from 4 to 6 knots.

It was good practice for Sunday when there were small craft warnings issued. It was still clear and sunny but the wind was 20-25 with gusts well over 30 knots. The trees were really waving and spray was being blown off the 1 ft. whitecaps. The commodore was in favor of just motoring back to our launching ramp but I wanted to try to sail just to see if we could do it in these conditions, in case we had to some day. We repeated the same set-up as before and set off on a close reach. I used the winch to tighten the main halyard and the leech furling line so that the sail was really flat. We had excellent controlability with absolutely no round-up problems. I kept one hand on the tiller and one hand on the mainsheet to dump it a little when our heel exceeded 25 degrees. The jib was about 1/3rd unrolled and the jibsheet cars were 1/3rd back from the frontmost position. That seemed to give the best angle of pull on the sail to both pull it out and down.

During the gusts this was the most wind I have ever sailed in (I know you SF Bay sailors are chortling about that

) and I was very pleased how well the 250 handled the conditions when properly set up

. I have learned a lot from this forum. I would say that the keys to sucess are:

1. Flatten that mainsail by <u>winching</u> the halyard and the furling line tight. It should look absolutely taut when unloaded and still have very little curve when loaded by the wind.

2. When going to windward or on a beam reach, ease the mainsheet out to keep the heel under 25 degrees when the wind gusts. When on a close reach, an alternative, often more desirable, way is to let her begin to come up into the gust (point more to windward) but hold her just at the point where the mainsail begins to backwind a little (most visible right behind the mast). In that condition you gain ground to windward, keep the speed up, and don't have to keep hauling in and letting out the mainsheet.

3. Have a second reefing position in your mainsail. I'm sure that if we had only been able to reduce sail to the original factory-supplied single reef, we would have been overpowered. I had a sail shop add the second reef several years ago for a couple of boat units.

4. Have one person work both the tiller and the mainsheet. In gusty conditions the time delay when one person is steering and the other person is handling the mainsheet can be a problem. By having the same person handling both, he or she can coordinate them better. It might require more frequent relief of that person.

We were the only sailboat we saw all morning. There were a few powerboats in sight at various times but we basically had the Elk River to ourselves. Going back up the Bohemia was a downwind romp at 5+ knots under jib alone. We were worried about the approach to the dock

. I laid out my plan to the commodore (approach from downwind at a relatively steep angle, get the bow spring line on a bollard, then motor hard against the spring line to push the stern up to the dock) and we put out extra fenders. As it happened, our prayers were answered and the dock turned out to be dead in the wind shadow of a clump of trees. As we approached, I was able to throw the outboard in neutral and just drift slowly over to kiss the dock, perfectly parallel. Better than my usual docking in the August doldrums

.

Another treat this weekend was watching an adult and a juvenile bald eagle chittering to each other in a tree near our anchorage. We also saw the adult swoop down and take a health-sized fish.

Fred Flemming
Pride of Macungie
C250, WB, 1995, Hull #92

Edited by - on

sterngucker
Navigator

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USA
169 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2005 : 11:57:10

Fred,
I would be interested in how you have your second reef setup. Do you still use the single line jiffy reef for the first, or have you changed the original setup? Thanks.

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Jeff McK
Captain

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USA
389 Posts

Response Posted - 05/17/2005 : 19:55:10

Fred,

You are a brave soul. I got as far as the dock that Sunday (Bodkin Creek). The winds were gusting to 25, with whitecaps in a sheltered cove. The boss & I opted to have a cleaniing & maintenance day & chat with several owners of 30'+ boats doing the same.

Sounds like a great day though. Glad it all worked out OK for you.

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