To be honest one has to be a little insane to hits speeds above 6 knots on our Macgregors . I was doing the Texas 200 running back to my trailer at our finish line . The wind at my stern end of the day was gusting 25 plus . Then I was forced to run to shore (turn the motor on) as the win hit 40 knots. But I was cool with it because the the channel and bay I was traveling was in just short distance away . Been in a bigger body of water would have been totally different story.
I hit 6.2 knots in the gusts this past Sunday, with 5.5 knots sustained. Winds were 15 knots sustained gusting 23+knots. Tough lake sailing, with swirling winds always changing things. I couldn't get the sails set for more than 10 seconds before the wind changed. We had at least 15 degrees heel for the whole trip, often 20, and several round-ups at over 45. We lost the dishes out of the dish rack on one of them. We kept full mainsail and jib for the practice, but on a real ocean trip we'd be reefed and jib rolled to maybe 80% for those conditions.
Had my two oldest boys with me, getting used to the boat at 45 degrees for our upcoming Bahamas trip (is that really happening???!?). I don't think we'll be crossing if there is anything much over 18 knots forecast, so this session was hopefully a worst-case scenario.
I'd really like to try sailing with consistent winds. Must be a pleasure. Lake and river sailing sucks tbh.
Zee French-canadians, ze are spezial unto zemselves, ne ce pas?
Starscream wrote: ↑Thu Sep 05, 2024 7:08 am
I hit 6.2 knots in the gusts this past Sunday, with 5.5 knots sustained. Winds were 15 knots sustained gusting 23+knots.