Heavy weather sails.

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Heavy weather sails.

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Heavy weather sails.

Posted by David West on November 13, 2000 at 14:12:00:

In the three years I have had my 36 I have not run into any serious weather but
I have learned that the boat can handle winds up to thirty knots on the
Chesapeake with the reefing system installed by the factory. I am not looking
for anything stronger weather than this but I would like to be prepared before
venturing further. The ultimate survival tactic appears to be putting down a sea
anchor if one is unable to reach a safe anchorage. However one could envisage
situations where one would wish to make headway particularly from a lea shore

The roller jib becomes more useless the more it is furled and there are only two
reefs in the main. I have thought of putting in a stonger baby stay that would
take a stay sail but I have been told that the situation is too far aft to be
able to keep a reasonably balanced helm. Some of you out there must have
anticipated how they might deal with a 40-45 kt. wind and sea. Perhaps some of
you have had experience sailing a 36 in these conditions. What sails do you
carry? Can you help me?

Follow Ups:

Re: Heavy weather sails. Bob Johnson 15:45:10 11/26/00 (0)
Re: Heavy weather sails. Jack Coulter 08:38:49 11/14/00 (0)

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Re: Heavy weather sails.

Posted by Bob Johnson on November 26, 2000 at 15:45:00:
In Reply to: Heavy weather sails. posted by David West on November 13, 2000 at
14:12:00:


I have no knowledge of how well they work but you
might look at the Gale Sail. It slips over a
furled head sail. See http://www.atninc.com

Follow Ups:

Re: Heavy weather sails.

Posted by Jack Coulter on November 14, 2000 at 08:38:00:
In Reply to: Heavy weather sails. posted by David West on November 13, 2000 at
14:12:00:


Hi David, maybe I can be of some help, we just took "MOJO" our 36 (hull #78)
down to Man-O-War in the Bahamas. We left out of Beaufort Inlet(NC) on Sat
evening Oct. 21. It's a trip I've made several times but this time I was
accompanied by two other boats that I had sold through our brokerage in the past
8 months. One boat was a Victory 35 cat and the other an older 37' Hunter mono
hull. We had the smoothest Gulf Stream crossing I've ever had, we actually went
due S.E., my normal trek is to go straight across the Gulf to get it outa' the
way then turn South on Lon. 77. First 24 hours were NE winds 8 to 10 with seas
around 6' and the stream was only running about a knot and a half. We got Herb's
1600 report on Sunday and the tropical depression that was supposed to move out
stayed in place. Synopsis for the next three days.. gales, seas 18' to 20' and
winds still N.E. but 28 to 30 knots and gusting. With two rookie boats and crews
this was not comforting situation. We decided to trod on than to try to run back
across the Gulf (which now had 50knots of wind). Everybody got down to a double
reefed main and a hankie for a headsail. The PDQ was spectacular, we ended up
having to "hove to" each day for 3 hours to wait for the other boats to catch up
before dark. Under just the double reefed main and the head sail all the way in,
the boat hove tolike a dream. I had one crew member with me and we ended up
cooking dinner and taking a nap while waiting for the other two boats

Completely comfortable with all this going on outside. I had a 12' Par a Tech
sea anchor with 450ft of rode and chain but never even thought about deploying
it. The only problem was the fact that the forward berths were quite noisy in
these conditions, my aft cabin is unfinished, so we stuck a inflatable mattress
in there and "hot bunked" it quite comfortably. We arrived at the Man O War
north channel on Wed. at noon and surfed through (not recommended) on a 20
footer. We docked at Marsh Harbout Marina around 1400 and will keep the boat
there until April(then N. to Bermuda). Any doubts or misgivings I had about the
PDQ are totally gone, it performed like a dream! If we had not felt resposible
for the other two boats we would have been there on Tues. afternoon, we were at
a constant 11 to 12 knots with the wind conditions we had. My big suprise was
the 4000 AP handling these conditions with no problem, the other two boats also
had Autohelm 4000's, they could not handle the seas and had to virtually hand
steer for three days. Again, we had certainly not planned for three days of
gales, and like everyone else,went on the up to date weather that had been
predicted, but as many know the weather prediction is subject to change! The
skipper of the Victory 35 is a 767 airline captain and also looked hard at the
weather before we set off! My crew member is a very traditional "blue water'
sailer(Tayana 37), all he could say about the PDQ was "what a boat!"! I'll have
to agree. Hope this helps. Jack Coulter/ "MOJO"
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