Good afternoon fellow sailors and sailing enthusiast,
Yesterday I went out for a day sail on a 47' Irwin Ketch from 1976. The wind was steady 20+ knots with gust over 30 frequently occurring. We pulled up anchor at 9:15 am and dropped anchor at 5:15 pm. It was a great day.
I have read a lot of people who treat gales as no sailing weather. I believe it depends a lot on the boat, its size, and the area you are sailing. The day was partly to mostly cloudy but otherwise perfect for going out. A mistake was made by an unnamed person who had somehow neglected to tie off the bitter end of the jib sheet. That means as soon as we started to let the jib unfurl and the wind caught it the sail was unfurled fully in a seconds time with the sheet flying out to port. It took 10-15 minutes to get this situation fixed and then we tried again only unrolling about 35-40% of the jib. It worked to perfection. The main is also roller furling and so we only pulled out around the same as the jib. We decided against raising the Mizzen as there were a lot of novice sailors on board and it was simply not needed. A mizzen does help in higher winds as it keeps the ass from being pushed out and acts to help stabilize the boat. Still, we were fine with the jib and main alone.
We sailed North to the North end of Wedo before tacking due West and going straight to the edge of the lagoon. Once there were gybed south and ran with the wind a bit before coming back. Due to the set and drift of the current we had to tack once more to avoid a sand bar coming back in.
Conditions were a bit rough. The wind has been blowing 20+ for two days before we went out so seas were up to 7' at times. The boat took them all with ease. A large number of the people who went with us did get sea sick however. I will post some pics and perhaps a video for those who have never been out in a "gale."
***Gale is being used in a friendly manner. I am not encouraging anyone to go out in weather they are not able to cope with. I hope you enjoy the pics.***
-Smyrna
Yesterday I went out for a day sail on a 47' Irwin Ketch from 1976. The wind was steady 20+ knots with gust over 30 frequently occurring. We pulled up anchor at 9:15 am and dropped anchor at 5:15 pm. It was a great day.
I have read a lot of people who treat gales as no sailing weather. I believe it depends a lot on the boat, its size, and the area you are sailing. The day was partly to mostly cloudy but otherwise perfect for going out. A mistake was made by an unnamed person who had somehow neglected to tie off the bitter end of the jib sheet. That means as soon as we started to let the jib unfurl and the wind caught it the sail was unfurled fully in a seconds time with the sheet flying out to port. It took 10-15 minutes to get this situation fixed and then we tried again only unrolling about 35-40% of the jib. It worked to perfection. The main is also roller furling and so we only pulled out around the same as the jib. We decided against raising the Mizzen as there were a lot of novice sailors on board and it was simply not needed. A mizzen does help in higher winds as it keeps the ass from being pushed out and acts to help stabilize the boat. Still, we were fine with the jib and main alone.
We sailed North to the North end of Wedo before tacking due West and going straight to the edge of the lagoon. Once there were gybed south and ran with the wind a bit before coming back. Due to the set and drift of the current we had to tack once more to avoid a sand bar coming back in.
Conditions were a bit rough. The wind has been blowing 20+ for two days before we went out so seas were up to 7' at times. The boat took them all with ease. A large number of the people who went with us did get sea sick however. I will post some pics and perhaps a video for those who have never been out in a "gale."
***Gale is being used in a friendly manner. I am not encouraging anyone to go out in weather they are not able to cope with. I hope you enjoy the pics.***
-Smyrna