High winds and standing rigging

[2Sheets2Wind]

The boat is on shore. Was going to leave mast up while the boat was out of the water on trailer. Upcoming weather forecast is for winds on Wednesday in the area to be steady at 25 to 30 mph. With gust approaching 60 to 65 miles per hour. I'm naive on this issue. At what wind speeds should I be concerned and giving serious thought to folding the mast down?

65 mph seemed pretty high to me. Then I realized when the sail is up and under sail at even 10 knot winds that is probably considerably more load on the mast then just the mast and winds of 65 mph.

Thank you.

Have a Great Day,
Jim

[wookie]

Make sure the Hull and Trailer are secure

Good Luck

Paul

[tommays]

A few get blown over here every year

[klem]

Like everything in boating, you are taking a chance. The chances of damaging your standing rigging and mast are quite low but the chance of everything tipping over is a bit higher but still low. How great of a chance really depends on your setup. If you have a boat with a deep keel(makes it taller), a large diameter mast and a skinny trailer, it might tip over. As other boaters, we can't guarantee what will happen one way or the other and I don't even dare trying to put probabilities on it.

The majority of people do not have a solid place to tie the boat off to but there are some places with large tie down points which make a big difference. Another thing that you can do if the trailer is easy to move and the wind is predicted to come from one direction is point the boat into the wind and block up the back end of the trailer.

Only you can decide how well it is insured and how risk averse you are.

[14432]

If you have a furled headsail - be sure it is furled securely - or better yet remove it.

[Jeff_H]

Most boatyards and insurance companies require you to remove all sails (main from the boom and Jibs from the headstay) from the boat when they are stored out of the water with the concern being that the boat will blow over. 60-65 knots of wind is an enormous amount of wind as the load increases expedentially with speed, and the loads on a boat out of the water are greater than when in the water since they boat can't disperse the energy by accellerating or heeling.

Jeff

[cruisingdream]

Depends on where the boat sits . is it sitting out on an open point or surrounded by buildings & trees to break up the wind. Mine sits behind a house across the street from a rack launch building across the river is all trees so even a windy ay is fairly calm where it sits. also surrounded by other boats (and stink pots)

[BreakingWind2]

Last week in the high winds, north shore of Lake Ontario. Winds over 60 knots.
One reason I take the mast down.

Dave

[BreakingWind2]

Sorry, forgot to attach the photos.