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 Post subject: Handling higher winds
PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 4:52 am 
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Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:25 am
Posts: 55
Location: Massachusetts and New Hampshire - Squam Lake
Newbie TI owner question:

Only my third time out on the TI.
So had the TI out in 15 -20+ knots and whitecaps on a lake. The boat handled it very nicely but I had some questions.

Being a Trimaran, she obviously didn't heel over much, but at some point the winds became a bit much for the amount of sail and I reefed a bit which worked great.

I was sailing 2 up and was controlling from the rear position.Releasing the main sheet in a gust was sometimes impossible. I am working to re position the main sheet cam cleat, etc. to improve the sheet release angle which was sometimes very difficult due to the force on it. I will next time go with a 3:1 pulley setup in higher winds.

QUESTION: Being a Trimaran, what happens when the boats gets overpowered? In a small mono hull you capsize, or some boats round up. What happens with the TI? Can the AMA bury too deeply? How do you know when you are sailing with too much sail? What dangers/ risks are there? How do you safely sail in high winds? :mrgreen:

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 6:44 am 
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Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:14 pm
Posts: 3323
Location: South Florida
bluesman wrote:
QUESTION: Being a Trimaran, what happens when the boats gets overpowered? In a small mono hull you capsize, or some boats round up. What happens with the TI? Can the AMA bury too deeply? How do you know when you are sailing with too much sail? What dangers/ risks are there? How do you safely sail in high winds? :mrgreen:


Your rudder gets overpowered. Usually the boat will round up into the wind. If you are uncomfortable, time to furl your sail. You sail in high winds by furling your sail. Here is my friend Royd, with 20-25 mph broadside winds.

Image


Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 11:11 am 
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Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2014 6:01 am
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Location: Orlando!
Because you lose that seat-of-the-pants feeling in a multi, a replacement overpower indicator is necessary. I like to think of my leeward ama as that indicator: when it is spending most of its time mostly submerged, it's time to furl the sail to the degree (imo) that no more than a little more than half is submerged.


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 11:56 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2015 3:13 pm
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The TI can and will capsize when completely overpowered. It's very resistant to capsizing but it will go over, make no mistake about that.

I was sailing in a sudden unexpected storm (20-25+ knots with strong swirling gusts and 3-4 foot waves) and foolishly thought I was in full control. I could have made for the nearest safe shore but instead chose to try to heading all the way back to the launch. I had the sail three-quarters furled when a strong gust of wind turned me around and easily nearly capsized me. I saw the port ama completely out of the water and far above my head and knew I was a few degrees from a capsize. I recovered it at the very last second by pure instinct and luck. I could have easily been overboard in extremely rough conditions in which it would have been very difficult to right the boat. Since I was near a rocky cliff at the time, my survivability could have been in jeopardy.

This was probably a near perfect combination of things that went wrong. As I said, the TI is not easily capsized. I had the tramps deployed because it was at first a beautiful, sunny day. The storm came up very suddenly and I had no time to roll them up, so that was a factor. Even though the sail was properly furled it still grabbed a surprising amount of wind and the winds were strong, gusty, and swirling. Finally, the waves were battering the boat from every direction. Again, I was sailing fine until the right (wrong) combination of wind, waves, direction, and speed nearly capsized me. I do credit the excellent design and stability of the TI to be able to be tossed that badly and still be recoverable. However, if I made one wrong move at that moment, I could have easily capsized. I was very lucky I didn't panic and my instincts kicked in and that the rudder held for the few seconds it needed to bring the boat back down.

I learned a very valuable lesson from that, in such bad conditions I'll either now make for the nearest safe shore or furl the sail completely and motor back. I won't ever tempt fate like that again and feel my limited skills can overcome the forces nature can deliver. I'll pay much closer attention to both my limitations and those of the boat. Live and learn.


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 12:16 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:16 pm
Posts: 605
Location: Colorado
Quote:
Releasing the main sheet in a gust was sometimes impossible. I am working to re position the main sheet cam cleat, etc


I had a 2010 AI and now a 2015 TI. The AI.. had to watch things more but the TI from the rear seat is way more stable. I have only come sort of close one time but simply releasing the sheet quickly fixed all of that.

I quoted your comment above because I also had a problem releasing the main sheet from the back seat. With the cleat sitting up on the cross bar, you really have to pull WAY up to uncleat it. I have a friend who is considerably taller than I am who has no idea what Im talking about as he has no problems at all.. but I did.

I moved the sheet cleat off the bar and onto the coaming a little and I know other have done the same thing. Its way more comfortable for me to release the sheet now and I can still pull it in fine. In picture you can see the original sheet cleat and what I have done. I think a few people have done something similar.

FYI, if you ever did capsize and could not upright the TI, just stay with it. The ama will float forever and the hull on at least my 2015 has foam flotation.

Finally.. if you dont have it already, Hobie has a little plastic part that bolts on to the mast rotating drum and keeps the reefing line from dropping down and then getting hung up at a really bad time - when you need to reef because you are about to explode. They are supposedly offering this free. I have had that happen several times.

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 1:55 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:29 pm
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Location: High Point, NC
In high winds, the mainsheet shouldn't be cleated to begin with. This is true on most any boat that possesses the least bit of performance potential.

I got rid of the camcleat entirely and simply installed an old fashioned horn cleat next to both the fore and aft seats. It's a simple matter to cleat if in light winds, or to throw one loop around the cleat if you need to take some pressure off your hand/arm. Otherwise, there is no chance for a situation where a sudden gust hits and you can't uncleat or a knot, etc., jams in the camcleat.


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 8:21 am 
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Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:25 am
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Location: Massachusetts and New Hampshire - Squam Lake
Thanks for the informative responses!!!

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Massachusetts and Squam Lake New Hampshire USA


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