[Rhodes22-list] Higher winds

[Mark Kaynor]

Slim,

Yeah, that's what Julie and I tried to do during the race. When we got home
w/ consulted The Annapolis Book of Seamanship by John Rousmaniere. That's
where we learned that sailing on the headsail alone is a viable option (at
least in the wind we had yesterday) - we'd just never tried it. I like it a
lot better than sailing on the main w/ a scrap of jib.

I also learned something else Saturday. We went out again on race day at
around 5:00pm - the wind had died down and we just wanted a pleasant sail.
We had both main and jib fully out when we got hit by a surprise 30+ gust -
instant white caps w/ only about 100 yards of fetch from the shore. We
furled the headsail and tried sailing on just the main. Every time a gust
hit, the boat rounded up, regardless of what I did w/ the rudder. We got
heeled over pretty badly and I dumped the main sheet, then was unable to
head up enough to furl it. Every time I tried to pull it back in, we'd get
hammered again. I finally started the motor and, at high RPMs, turned the
motor and the tiller together to have enough power to get us headed up so we
could furl the main. It was amazing. I had the tiller hard to starboard and
the boat rounded up to port. Once we got the main furled we decided we'd had
enough and motored back to the marina. And the wind died and other folks out
on the lake continued sailing, the gust having missed them, apparently,
probably wondering what had happened to us. But, I've got to say that not
once during the entire day did I feel the Rhodes wouldn't be able to handle
it if I'd known what to do. We got back and, after we docked Julie patted
the cabin top and said "I love this boat".

Mark


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Alm" <salm at mn.rr.com>
To: "Rhodes" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 3:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Higher winds


> Mark,
>
> I've heard it said that the R22 is manageable in winds up to 27.  Beyond
> that, well...you were there.  If it's gusting above 30, I bail out.  But I
> agree that we should all gain the experience of handling the boat, one way
> or the other, under those conditions.  I am surprised too that you were
able
> to point and tack with jib alone.  I usually opt for just the
opposite--full
> or somewhat reefed main and only a hanky of a jib.
>
> Slim
>
> On 6/2/03 11:19 AM, "Mark Kaynor" <mark at kaynor.org> wrote:
>
> > I'd be interested to learn how other Rhodies w/ IMF and furling head
sail set
> > their sails in windy, gusty conditions.
> >
> > We had our second regatta of the year last Saturday. At the start the
wind was
> > 18 gusting to 25. an hour later it was 23 gusting to 32, finishing up at
17 to
> > 23, gusting to 38. Friends who have been sailing on the lake for many
years
> > say they've never seen winds like these on the lake. Going from 17 to a
gust
> > of 38 with a 20 degree shift will wake you right up!
> >
> > Five out of the fifteen boats that started finished the course. Three
boats
> > capsized (dinghies all - one Laser actually went over 6 times, but
persevered
> > and went on to finish - the other two were towed in), a J/22 lost a crew
> > member overboard (he was recovered safely in about 10 seconds by a
nerarby
> > coastguard auxiliary boat), a Seafarer 22's tiller snapped, a Catalina
22
> > broached pretty dramatically on a spinnaker jibe in the first downwind
leg,
> > then continued on to finish. Two 1"x1/8" stainless straps that connect
their
> > tiller to their rudder cracked but did not fail completely, though they
will
> > require replacement. A homemade canoe rig got swamped before the first
mark
> > and had to be towed in. One boat's headstay broke, and several other
smaller
> > failures also occurred on other boats.
> >
> > We didn't break anything on Raven. Julie and I completed the first leg
(an
> > exciting wing-on-wing downwind sleighride) and part the second windward
leg
> > before deciding to drop out. We had the 135% genoa fully deployed for
the
> > downwind run to the first mark, then furled it and the main to slightly
more
> > than 1/2 full just before rounding the first mark. We did okay, but the
gusts
> > were making the main flog pretty badly, and it wasn't worth it to us to
> > continue if it meant ripping sails or breaking equipment. Several other
boats
> > dropped out at this point, so we decided to quit and see if we could
help some
> > of the boats that were having real problems.
> >
> > We'd never sailed in winds much over about 20 mph. We knew the boat
would
> > handle them - we were the weak link, so we went home and studied up on
it.
> > Then we went back out again yesterday (17 gusting to 29) to experiment
and
> > mess around. We started w/ the 135% genoa about 2/3 out and no main. We
> > gradually deployed more genoa until we had it fully out, and got the
main out
> > to about 1/4. On a beam reach the gusts heeled us a bit, but at no time
was
> > the boat out of control. It was a bit trickier on a close reach but
still
> > manageable, much more so than when the main was out 1/2 way or more.
> >
> > We were surprised to find that we were able to tack on just the jib from
close
> > reach to close reach in about 110-115 degrees. With the main fully
deployed
> > we're generally able to do it in 90-100 degrees. The wind died a down
bit (to
> > 12-15 or so) and we fully deployed the main. While we had the main fully
out
> > on a beam reach one of the highter gusts laid us down pretty well. We
headed
> > up, furled the main most of the way, fell off and continued. Succeeding
gusts
> > powered us up well, but we didn't bury the rail again. When we came in,
we had
> > a nice talk w/ the winner of Saturday's race. He suggested that we also
try
> > fully deploying the main, but raise the boom a bit with the topping lift
to
> > loosen the leech and let the main twist off up high. We're going to give
that
> > a try next time we get a chance.
> >
> > Mark Kaynor
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
>
> __________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list