[Rhodes22-list] comfortable with wind

[Robert O Baldi]

There has been discussion on the list about sailing on windy days. Jay Friedland and I just came in after sailing in sustained wind of 23 to 28 mph wind. I know it was at least 28 because that was the highest speed my handheld registered for the brief time I could try to check the wind. I assume it was higher at some point, but when I held it up, the meter moved between those numbers for maybe 20 to 30 seconds. 
We had the boom at the low level. The Main reefed so that the 2's on the R 22 were split with only one showing and about  1/3 of a 135 jib.  With the weight of two people the boat handled fine. It was not a sail for the timid or a novice. You have to be able to deal with all sorts of forces and potentials for problems, so I repeat, this was not a sail for a beginner, but it was a lot of fun and quite manageable. We kept remarking on how well the boat is made. Because you can set the sails at any size you can balance the boat in extreme conditions. At one point Jay let go of the tiller to grab his hat and the boat just sailed on straight  with no hard rounding up or any jerky motion. 
Let's all tip our hats to Stan!

rob
Robert Baldi

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