Sailing today

lol miles per hour?

_________________
Hobie 16 sail # 9281

What is that supposed to mean? If you want knots/hour there are plenty of conversion sites on line so you can figure it out!

_________________
"Liquid Plumber's Edition Wave" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z78PozP9dc0

On July 2, I got caught by a squall while sailing solo in St. Andrews Bay, FL. (see attached website)

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/met.html?bdate=20090702&edate=20090702&units=standard&timezone=GMT&id=8729108&interval=6


I tried to reach land, but was blown over. Even with my Hobie Bob, the winds and waves tried to turtle the boat. Fortunately, I was able to get on one of the hulls and by holding onto the dolphin striker was able to keep from being knocked off by the waves while keeping the mast above water for about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, several of my batten pockets ripped and Hobie Bob had a big dent in him from hitting the bottom (about 12' deep there). As I tried to grab the jib sheet to keep it from flailing around, the boat quickly uprighted on it's own and I was able to limp to shore without anymore damage.

My question is, what is the best way to survive high winds and waves if you get stuck in them while sailing solo? I tried pointing into the wind but felt like I was going to do a reverse pitchpole, so I let both the main and jib travelers out all the way but my boom got caught in a wave and over I went.

_________________
Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

Hey Tim, I am no expert on this but everytime I go out here it's gusty. I talked to someone a couple of weeks ago at the launch that was selling their hobie because they said it's just no fun because of the gusty nature of the area. Rarely do we get sustained 10-15 winds without huge gusts in the 25-35 range. One of the pictures I posted you can see the bows riding very high and that was during one of the gusts. I have been doing exactly what you suggested and tried to point the hulls directly into the wind. I try to keep the sails loaded and the boat doesn't move very quickly and feels as though I'm going to flip over backwards but doesn't. Often it hits quickly with almost no warning except when I'm out towards the middle of the lake and I can see the water whip up with the appraoching gust. I've never had to deal with waves and a sustained 25+ blow solo like you've experienced. Someone mentioned in a previous post about going into survival mode and that's a great description. Having a crew is a huge help and solo in those situations is a crap shoot. If anyone knows how to survive a situation like yours I'd sure love to hear it.

_________________
"Liquid Plumber's Edition Wave" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z78PozP9dc0

I was out last year and had a squall/.rain storm hit with no notice. I was solo. I sailed as close to the wind as I could without stalling and things were scary but manageable. Skipshot responded to my post:

_________________
Alfred
'87 H16 Sail 89907
If you aren't sailing on the edge, you're taking up too much room.