Re: [Scoaa-members] Heavy weather tactics
- From: Joe Siudzinski <siudzinski@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: scoaa-members@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:36:07 -0700
On Jun 9, 2010, at 8:19, Steve Ellsworth wrote:
Pam and I will be sailing south to Mexico at the end of October in
the Baja HaHa. I am looking for input as to the best source of
information on storm tactics for catamarans. We have put a lot of
miles on Barramundi but most have been in fairly mild conditions
25kts of wind or less. Any information would help in our preparations.
Hi Steve,
The Baja HaHa is a fun event, although we found it a little crowded
and really needed to stay awake with all those boats around.
To answer your question: presume you've latched onto a bunch of
multihull sailing/cruising books, as they all offer some words of
wisdom regarding heavy-weather. You will find a variety of opinions,
and just need to formulate your own plan. I haven't read it for some
time, but I recall liking Gavin LeSueur's "Multihull Seamanship".
Coastal cruising is a very different experience than crossing oceans:
doing coastal, YOU choose your weather and thus you'll never need to
use any "storm tactics". :-) The secret is to never have a schedule
and thus you'll never have to venture out into "iffy" weather.
Crossing oceans is a very different story: you WILL get whapped
occasionally, but IMO the Seawind is a wonderful platform and I
personally have great faith in the boat.
FWIW, my own approach is very simple:
Reef early, reef often. Practice so you can get a reef in VERY
quickly if you screwed up and didn't see an approaching squall.
Monohulls reef to average windspeed. Multihulls reef to peak (gust)
windspeed!
IMO the biggest danger we face is broad reaching or running in an
increasing wind and being caught with too much mainsail up: at some
point you simply cannot lower the main, and bringing the boat around
in order to head to wind so you can lower the sail can be a very
frightening experience (try that on a Hobie 16 on a windy day and
you'll see what I mean).
Reef early, reef often.
I added not just a third but a also a fourth reef to KatieKat and
modified the boom to enable easy use of the second, third, and fourth
reef points (eliminated the outhaul adjustment). I rig the first reef
only if I'm going a long distance in fairly steady 18-20kts true. I
added a winch to my mast for the main halyard so I can singlehandedly
very easily and quickly reef the main.
Reef early, reef often.
Sail to true wind, not apparent wind. It is very very deceptive when
broad reaching, especially in our well-protected Seawinds. When
cruising (not racing) I already have the second reef in at 20kts
true, third at 24kts, and fourth as soon as I'm uncomfortable. We
spent many days crossing oceans broad-reaching or running simply on
the jib and yet with great boatspeed. Real peace-of-mind!
Reef early, reef often.
I don't like sailing with a reefed jib because the furled sail gets
badly distorted due to the improper sheeting angle. I've experimented
with using my aft anchor cleat as an attachment point for a snatch
block to provide a better angle for the partially-furled jibsheet. I
consider partially furling the jib only if I'm beating in winds
greater than about 28kts. Reaching or running, the jib stays full in
all winds until it's time to put it away. When running, I attach a
snatch block on a loop to either the pulpit or first stanchion and
wing out the jib. It makes a lovely mini-spinnaker and is so easy to
control in heavy winds.
When the winds get over 35kts, why bother bashing the boat (and
yourselves)? The Seawind heaves-to wonderfully and will happily sit
there while your relax. Need to practice practice practice your sail
settings to determine exactly how much of each sail to have exposed
and where you'll have the (backwinded) jib and main/boom and rudder
located for various angles to the wind/waves and whether you want to
stop dead (simply rocking back-and-forth) or gradually fore-reaching.
I find locking the rudder with my two autopilot levers (autopilot
off) sufficient but you can always tie off the wheel as well.
I'm a firm believer in carrying both a para-anchor and a drogue for
ocean crossing. Hey, when you know you're going to be whapped, it is
so easy to deploy the para-anchor early and then simply relax. If the
wind will be behind you (direction you want to go in), then running
under bare poles still gets you great mileage and if you start going
uncomfortably fast then simply deploy the drogue.
Be comfortable, relax, and be well-rested.
Again: reef early, reef often.
Have a great HaHa experience, and don't come back up the coast in
April :-)
Joe Siudzinski
--
http://www.KatieKat.net
Other related posts:
