[Rhodes22-list] Need advice on basic sailing of an R-22 in higher winds

[mputnam1 at aol.com]

I apologize about the lack of paragraph breaks ... I don't know why my aol email is doing this and I can't seem to fix the problem.


- Mark



-----Original Message-----
From: mputnam1 <mputnam1 at aol.com>
To: rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Thu, Oct 31, 2013 12:16 am
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Need advice on basic sailing of an R-22 in higher winds




Hi everyone,
It's been many years since I sent an email to the list, but I need some advice 
about basic sailing techniques in higher winds, and since my questions have to 
do with the R-22, well, I came back to the best source of advice possible ... 
all of you!  
And while I'm sure that the issues I want to ask you about have probably been 
discussed in the archives at some point (for those of you who remember Ed, he 
would berate me, I am sure, for asking what I am going to ask), I have never 
been any good at searching the archives.  So hopefully all of you will humor me 
and take the attitude that there is "no such thing as a dumb question." Or, in 
my case, questions plural.
But first, some background ... 
I had taken basic sailing lessons off and on over the years and eventually I 
bought my 1990 recycled Rhodes from Stan back in '06.  I kept it in the water 
year-round at the Washington Sailing Marina in Alexandria, VA and used it as 
often as work and young children would allow.  Not enough to get very good at 
sailing, but enough to know that I had bought the right boat.  And I used to 
religiously save emails from the list on all sorts of topics for my own personal 
archive.
Most of the time I would go out in winds in the 5-10 knot range.  Once I went 
out in a 15 knot wind and had a hairy time getting the main in and out of the 
IMF ... it was truly frightening to be battling the main in strong winds and I 
have been leery of higher winds ever since.
For the last three years or so, I haven't been able to use the boat at all, so 
it languished in my slip at the marina.  But then this year, we got a small 
weekend place on the Eastern Shore of Maryland with our own dock on sheltered 
water.  I decided to take advantage of this and move our R-22 to the shore.  My 
hope was that with the dock right there at our back door, that I would sail a 
lot more than I had been doing.
Before moving the boat to the new dock, I decided to have Stan refurbish it, 
since it had been sitting in the water since '06 and aging in the elements.  I 
also don't have a trailer, so the refurbishment was an easy way to get the boat 
fixed up and moved at the same time.
One of the items I discussed with Stan was whether or not to stick with the IMF.  
I was remembering that time in the 15 knot winds when I had trouble with the 
main, so I entertained the idea of going to standard old-fashioned rigging 
(whatever you call it), but decided after discussing it with Stan that I would 
stay with the IMF.  It IS so much easier to deal with on many levels.
But ... and here is why I am writing today ... this past weekend, I decided to 
take the boat out in what were light winds in my protected cove, but once I was 
out on the bigger water, it was pretty clear the winds had picked up into the 15 
knot range ... maybe even a little stronger.  Flags on the shore were whipping 
pretty strongly in the wind.  
I left my 8hp engine running and in the water because the engine has been acting 
a little squirrelly lately and I didn't want to have a hard time restarting it 
in conditions I was nervous in.  Plus, I was having to use the engine just to 
keep pointed into the wind long enough to pull out the main.  Because of the 
strong winds, I decided not to use the jib.  But with only the main, I wasn't 
able to hold my course without using the engine, too.  When the engine was in 
neutral, the wind was pushing the boat to leeward, even with the centerboard all 
the way down.  After a few minutes of sailing using the motor and just the main, 
I decided to head back in.  It just wasn't fun being nervous about the higher 
winds and needing to use the motor just to hold my course.
So, here are my questions:
1. What is maximum wind you are willing to go out in in an R-22?  And what is 
your experience at getting used to higher winds?  Any tips on how to improve 
sailing skills and get used to increasingly higher winds?
2. Did I do the right thing by not trying to unfurl the jib?  And, if so, was I 
correct in using the engine to hold my line?  Or was there another way to go 
about this?  
3. Is it normal for it to be difficult to pull out the main in stiff winds?  I 
found that even while using the engine to point the boat into the wind, it was 
still difficult to pull out main.  Being even slightly out of the neutral zone 
made it difficult and the wind would fill what little of the sail was unfurled 
and it near impossible to allow further sail out.  And it luffed loudly and 
strongly as I was pulling it out, which is always unsettling.
4. Should I have gone ahead and unfurled the jib, even if only 50%?  Would that 
have allowed me to turn off the engine?  Or was my caution warranted?  I was 
nervous about severe heeling and not being ready to handle something like that.
5. When in strong winds, is it normal to have difficulty furling the main?  The 
one attraction for me of traditional rigging is that it seems in a strong wind, 
all you have to do is drop the main to get out of trouble (well, and then wrap 
it all up around the boom, which is probably difficult, too, in higher winds).  
The bad experience I had a few years ago was this issue of not being able to 
furl the main in strong winds until I realized that I needed to start up the 
engine and point into the wind.  But dropping the engine into the water and 
starting it up in higher winds can be difficult to do, especially single-handed.  
Just trying to stay on-course with the tiller while dropping an engine and 
starting it is ... well, difficult.
Any advice on all of this would be greatly appreciated.  I figure the only way 
I'm going to become a better sailor is to just keep going out, but if I only go 
out in 7 knot winds (where I don't have these sorts of problems), I'm not 
learning how to handle these higher wind situations.
My long-term goal is to someday graduate to a mid-30s cruising sailboat, but I 
honestly don't know how I'll ever be ready for that if I even have trouble 
unfurling an IMF sail in 15 knot winds.  It seems to me that 15 knot winds 
should be ideal sailing weather, but I find myself very nervous in them and just 
want to head back to shore.
Thank you in advance for your thoughts.  I greatly look forward to reading your 
advice.  And sorry for the long email!
All the best,
Mark Putnam, Arlington, VA




 
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