What are your limits?

In my one year of experience... I went single handed up to 18-20 gusting 25...

It's Worth reading trust me, can you say 49.8 MPH winds...

Last summer on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin my girlfriend and I were sailed across the lake from east to west. We had lunch and I listened to the weather report on my 2-way radio before heading back across (about 15 miles back to the cottage). A northeast storm was approaching but not expected for another 2-3 hours, plenty of time....wrong. About 3-4 miles off shore the southwest wind we had all day stopped, literally a minute later we see white coming from the northeast. We ducked under the main sail loosened the jib and main sheet then hiked out just in time. The wind hit us like a brick and we were soaked but not from rain but from the wind picking up the water off the top of the southwest waves that had been consistent all day long. Choices, do we sail through 10+miles, risking flipping in the middle, or try to turn around? What happened next I will never forget, several boats (big motor, even a couple cigar boats) had turned around and whizzed right past us towards port, thats when we knew we were in trouble. Next thing we know we have the jib and main sheet almost as loose as they get, and non other than the Oshkosh Coast Guard about 100 yards off our starboard bow. Over the loud speaker all we hear is "We cannot help you, but if you overturn we will pull you out"...great! This is when I decided to turn around after nearly being knocked over every other wave. After trying to get the boat to tack, every time we had the hulls turning the waves would turn us back around. (side note Lake Winnebago has dangerous waves because of how close the are together, we had 7-8 feet of swell with only abou 8-12 feet between each one, so when we would turn into the waves we would go up and over and the bow would sink into the next one then pushing us back.)

So I went for the jibe, knowing that the boom would swing violently. I pulled her around we ducked, dove across accelarated like a sports car, caught air off of a downwind wave smashed into the wave after that then managed to turn the hulls parallel to the waves. We then hiked out just in time to keep the boat down before tipping. In the process I smashed into the stick, 2 batons poked through the jib, and 3 on the main sail. It took us a good 30 minutes of getting knocked around by each wave, and several more close calls before we got back to port.

Once in the Coast Guard said the registered 43 MPH in the port and nearly 50 (49.8MPH) out on the water. I was blown away by that, and it took my girlfriend 2 weeks and a relatively calm day to get back out their. All said and done I was amazed we did it, and sustained around $300 in damage between the sails, stick and shredded lines that were whipping against the mast, all that damage and we never even flipped it! It has now made us both very confident and smart sailors, good thing we had practiced the jibe on windy days before, plus a couple of knock downs.

Weston, That's my point when I say "What's a Limit?" Before this experience, your limit was whatever you had experienced up until then. There's no such thing as a limit!!!

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Happy Sailing,

David

Good grief! thats alot of wind!

Rather than "limit" maybe what you are asking about is fun? Limits are not something I think we should be all that interested in. I grew up in the Caribbean and we'd always go out surfing or sailing as hurricanes approached. Extreme conditions are different, but not really a limitation if it's an incremental increase over previous experiences.

My old main sail has reef points - so I figure the limit of fun for me has to be in the 25+ range right now. Last weekend I went out alone in 18 knts and gusting and had a ball out on the trapeze - it was my second time ever out on a H16 and maybe tenth of my life on any kind of cat. Since I was alone I didn't want to capsize so I didn't let the hull too far out of the water.

If it stops being fun - that's the limit.

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74' H16

I would sail on a cat in any wind any time with Matt Miller, but the last time I saw him sail on a windy day, I was shocked by his drive to be thrown past the mast durring a pitch pole... ... on a Hobie Wave.

I also understand why he says windsurfing over 25kts. Easier, safer, and I have seen the pictures of Matt, mast inverted with more than ten feet of clear air under the masthead. He went from San Diego strong to world class when he ran the windsurf program in Mexico.

Weston, welcome to the boards... do you sail on Winnebago often? I keep my h16 in Oshkosh @ menominee park. That's my base of operations.

I'd love to meet up and sail together sometime.. I've only had my cat for a year now... so I have not ventured acrossed the lake yet.. just up and down the shores here in Oshkosh and towards Fondy.