[Rhodes22-list] Higher winds

[Michael Meltzer]

it happens, that one of the problem with the big jib's, you can reef down about 25% before it looses all shape, a little more with a
good fuller and luff pads, after that it become a "wind grabber" more that a sail. one of the reason for the 135%, 100% and the
harken on the boat. Unfortunate it also happens with the IMF, it likes to belly when reefed, it get real hard to flatten it, have to
real pull on the out haul and side the car, also make sure the toping lift is not holding the boom up, need to use the main sheet to
pull it down. Also the boom needs to be over the traveler, again need the tension.

When it get that bad I try to run with it, the hull will give you a nice heal around 35+- knots, at that point you have to stop
sailing for course and sail for conditions. but that a longer story than now, still at work.

MJM






----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Kaynor" <mark at kaynor.org>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 12:19 PM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Higher winds


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

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