My first heavy wind experience

Although this is my first post, I would like to thank you all for this excellent forum. I have picked up a lot of tips here that really helped me get the most of my Cat. This weekend, I had the most intense sailing experience to date and I thought it was enough to warrant a first post.

During the last few summers, I have sailed an old Hobie 16 in Lake Mälaren in Sweden, an area not normally known for excessive wind. This weekend, however, was different and it became my first real venture into heavy-wind sailing. I have sailed in moderate winds before but this was different. I'm sure you can imagine the mixed feeling of terror and excitement in my gut when I saw white horses all around and heard a nearby sailor say his wind speed meter was measuring a steady 20 knots of breeze..!

I hadn't sailed with my crew before and he was inexperienced as a Hobie sailor, but what he lacked in experience he made up in eagerness and fearlessness. We both wore harnesses and I thought one of us would be trapping out most of the time, however it quickly became clear that it would have to be both of us. Before long, we were both out on the wire and flying a hull on a close reach and loving every second of it! If I wasn't already, I'd be hooked for life right there - and it only got better! When we tried running on a broad reach instead, the speeds we reached were unlike anything I've ever experienced on a sailboat..! I was sitting right at the rear beam and my crew was trapped out behind me and we were STILL barely avoiding the pitch-pole. I had brought my smartphone with me with a GPS app running and it was measuring 17-18 knots and more in the puffs. Afterwards, it showed we reached a top speed of 22.1 knots! My previous record was only 14!!

All in all, it was the best weekend of sailing I've ever had. Now a few days afterwards, a few things stayed with me:

First, something happened after a capsize that did frighten me a bit. My crew got separated from the boat when his wire unhooked and the capsized cat (with me standing of the bow) quickly started drifting downwind, away from him. He just managed to catch up but it took A LOT of effort. My question is, what would my options have been if he hadn't been able to catch up? Is there any way to slow down a drifting cat?

Second, my crew was unable to uncleat the jib sheet from out on the wire and we had a few close calls when we nearly pitch-poled because of his inability to adjust the jib. Is there instead a way for the skipper to steer to depower on a broad reach when the leewards hull starts to dive to avoid a crash?

Third, at the end of our trip the mast actually fell down in the middle of a gybe. At fault was a pin that secured one of the shrouds. After a lot of work, we managed to tow the boat back to the beach and eventually re-raised the mast but it got me worried that the mast might be damaged from the fall. How likely is that? And how could I tell if it was?

By the way, the results from the GPS can be seen at http://www.sportstracklive.com/track/de ... eden/47707
It really was an amazing weekend on the lake!

/Tommy

Sounds like a good time was had by all!!

One thing you might consider in order to slow the boat down in order for your crew to catch up would be to turtle the boat keeping the tramp/sails out of the wind. This would be my last resort. Otherwise you could swim the mast to position your tramp so that it is out of the wind as much as possible. But if that did'nt work you might have to turtle the mast. Once your crew arrived it wouldn't be an issue getting her back up.

My stretch righting line snagged a split ring and pulled it out of the clevis pin at the shroud adjuster. I tacked, the leeward shroud went slack, the pin plopped out into the water and the mast came down. I tape all clevis pins and rings now.

Turtle the boat. Or, I think dragging your body in the water might slow things up significantly too.



Don't cleat it. Same goes for the main sheet, if its gnarly your best bet is to hold it.

[quote=swe16"]Third, at the end of our trip the mast actually fell down in the middle of a gybe. At fault was a pin that secured one of the shrouds. After a lot of work, we managed to tow the boat back to the beach and eventually re-raised the mast but it got me worried that the mast might be damaged from the fall. How likely is that? And how could I tell if it was?[/quote]

If its straight probably nothing happened. As previously mentioned tape is a good safety device. I tape off almost everything now days.

I think that might be exactly what happened to me! I will tape all my pins and rings from now on, thank you for the tip! It took a lot of work to fix that mess and I don't much care to do it again.



Turtleing the boat was the only thing I could think of at the time, but I was reluctant to do so - at times the boat has been pretty hard to get upright again. If the situation occurs again, I will probably do it though. My mast is very quick to turtle and I don't have a float, so almost a third of my normal capsizes result in a full turtle. It's really becoming a problem and I probably need to learn a better righting technique.

Good idea ,I always have a quick pin on board just for this situation.

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Bodhisatfa

Sounds like an awesome day, that's the kind of wind I live for. How did you manage to change altitude in the range of 72ft to 118ft? Or am I not reading the chart right?

I have no idea. As far as I can remember, the sea level stayed the same the whole time..
My guess would be that the phone GPS isn't very good at predicting altitude.

Tommy,

Glad you had a great time, no one got hurt and the boat wasn't damaged.

I agree with all previous posts

Point one...turtle the boat
Point two...don't cleat the jib, you discovered the threshold where just the jib will capsize the boat
Point three...always tape the ring dings

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Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

Obvious question: What tape do you use? Electrical? Duct? Other?

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'81 H16

If it ain't a blowin', I ain't a goin'

I use electrical, there's also "rigging" tape

_________________
Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

Electrical is the most economical. The rigging tape is too expensive. Plus 3M makes a whole mess of colors.

Thanks fellas!

_________________
'81 H16

If it ain't a blowin', I ain't a goin'

I am going out tomorow in heavy winds with my 88 Hobie16, Am concerned about how your mast came down, how tight should my shrouds be, should there be much movement in the mast.


Marty