Great thread. There are on these forums a lot of very experienced sailors that seem to enjoy sharing information. Thanks to them.
I have never been in such a bad weather that needed survival tactics. Just a couple of times with force 10.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnshasteen
... Rule of thumb is above 40 knots of wind you shift from sailing to surviving and every boat is different and requires different defensive tactics. ...
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But I know that 40kn of wind is not always too much to sail safely. It depends on the boat. Sure, with a 20ft boat, but not with all sailing boats.
I have learned a lot with my friend Armand. Armand was a Flemish sailor that lived aboard with his family on a 15 m steel ketch : Horoscoop. 30 years ago his boat was at my home port and he enjoyed it so much that he stayed for some years.
I had at the time an 80-year-old 22ft traditional sailing boat and one day, when I was going out, he asked me if he could come with me. Later on the day he said that he loved my boat. It turns out that it was very similar to a boat that he had sailed in his youth (he was 60 years old) from Antwerp, around British Islands to Finland where he was shipwrecked by a big storm.
We became good friends and almost every time I sailed out, Armand joined me.
One stormy day, I was looking at my boat, seeing if everything was alright when I was surprised by Armand. He came and said to me : let’s go sailing. I looked him and said: Are you crazy?
He said: No, not on yours, today let’s sail mine.
It was at least a force 9, perhaps more, and it was a wonderful sailing. Armand was a great sailor, I was just doing what he told me to do, but between the two of us we had no difficulty in sailing his boat, and what a sail.
It became a habit, when the stormy winds were blowing, we sailed his boat, not mine. I have very good memories from that time. Armand built some reputation among the fishermen. When they were returning for shelter on their 70ft boats, we were going out for having some fun. I learned in those days that a sailboat well managed is much safer than a motorboat. I remember to pass those fishing boats doing over 10k and feeling comfortable, while they bounced on big waves, doing very little speed, sometimes with their propellers out of water.
Of course his boat was so heavy that on normal days the best he could do was motorsailing.
Bottom point, 40ft winds for survival tactics, for an oceangoing boat, it seemed to me a bit excessive. After all on the last Mini Transat the Minis (6,5m) get over 40k winds and all of them (70) went on racing…and with just a solo sailor. No casualties.
Regards
Paulo