A wild ride on Narragansett Bay

[Harry van der Meer]

We did it. We were able to provide a delightful couple of hours on the boat for our, not yet too old, but not very healthy, in-laws last Saturday afternoon. We picked them up in Bristol, RI and had a comfortable sail (genny only - winds around 10 kts) to Potters Cove where we had a wonderful lunch on an illegal mooring. It was their first time ever on a sail boat and they had a wonderful time. Of course I wanted to be the perfect host making sure that they were comfortable and making sure that at all times heeling was under control.

After we dropped them off in Bristol, my wife and I decided to sail back to Allen Harbor where our Mac is kept. We decided to take the route around the southern tip of Prudence Island. Winds were mostly from the west now which provided for a supposedly comfortable broad reach. I wish we would have listened to the weather forecast during lunch as it proved to be one of the wildest rides we have had. When we reached he southern tip of Prudence, winds increased to about 15 kts (white caps appearing) which meant time for the reef (we only have the standard single deep reef). However, gusts must have been well over 20 kts because I had a very difficult time controlling the boat. Some strong gusts caused the boat to heel way too much 30-40 degrees perhaps and then the boat would round-up quite a bit before coming almost to a complete stop. As the wind calmed down somewhat, I could bring the boat back to the intended course but before long a new gust wold hit us and the whole process started over again. The frustrating part was that other similar sized boats appeared to be in a nice and steady groove.

We kept this up for a little while before it was time to strike the sails. By this time the wind had picked up further with heavy white caps and angry looking 3-4 ft waves. It was blowing so hard that I was having difficulty rolling up the furler. I was worried breaking the furler line or the furler itself. Now I had to go up on to the cabin top to strike the main. My wife was trying to keep us pointed into the wind with the motor at 1500 rpm or so and the main luffing violently. We were tossed about and being on the cabin top was no fun. Wearing a life jacket and a tether connectted to a bail on the foot of the mast made me feel only a little safe. After the sail was down on the boom, we now had to motor for an hour or so into the wind beating short but steep 3-4 ft waves. I imagined how nice a dodger would be because the spray was coming over the bow every few seconds and before long I was drenched. Salt water combined with a strong wind may be good for the skin but quite painful on the eyes, particlarly going west a sunset..... My wife was nice and dry in the cabin throughout the whole trip and actually enjoyed watching the captain. I was very happy to enter quiet Allen Harbor (except that we nearly got beached while I was trying to lower the rudders as my wife was slowly driving through the narrow entrance and the strong wind played with our little ship - we made a nice 180 before I had the rudders finally down ...... and I thought I knew what I was doing!).

Questions for the board:

1. Did I experience the limitations of the Mac or was it the sailor (or a combinations of the two)?? (fully reefed main, genny at 90% out, boom vang tight - should have been loose to spill the wind, genoa blocks in aft position, center board about half out).

2. I recently tensioned the rigging with a 2 degree rake and a 2 inch mast bend. Do I need to reduce mast rake further to reduce weather helm or is the fact that weather helm is occuring at 30-40 degree heel a good safety feature? Rounding up is always better that the mast in the water......

3. How much beating can the hull handle? I was going about 7 kts into the wind crashing through 3-4 ft waves. I was worried that the boat would break apart.

Look forward to your comments.

[craiglaforce]

Well, thats the whole determining factor as to where the mast rake should be set. If it rounds up uncontrollably in 15-20 knot winds then it needs to go forward some more.

Actually a tight vang would be slighly helpful I think in high winds. If we had a traveller they say to flatten the sail by tightening the vang and then let the traveller down to depower the main sail.

I would also strongly suggest getting an intermediate reef point added to this or a new mainsail as your wallet and needs dictate.

The hull on the X is a lot tougher than most of us thought initially. I had a Tsunami (slight exaggeration) come at me once (a wake from an overpowered cruising yacht). The floating condo was leaving tom's river from behind me and we were both entering into the bay. Once he got past me he pulled the control rods from his nuc plant and generated this wake while getting the condo onto a plane about 3 boat lengths in front of me. When the wake hit, my mac went fully airborne under sail with ballast when that 10 foot sharp wake hit (a neat trick when the water depth is around 10 feet). I thought the boat was simply going to break in half when it came back down. At least there was still some water down in the trough to land in. The boat slapped the water like a big belly smacker and the rigging twanged like a guitar but no damage other than to my wits.

Even though I could not see under the boat obviously to verify this, I am pretty sure the mac was totally airborne for a second as it dropped about 7 feet straight down off the wave.

[Francis]

Sounds like a pretty busy time out there. I don't have a genny, but the standard jib. With the standard jib and reefed main I can stay pretty steady up to 28mph winds. At least that is what I have clocked them at. Could of had gusts in the lower 30s. But maybe you could of tried rolling up the genny a little more to give you less sail, and maybe when you went over that much let out the jib sheet a little more to drop some air. I know sometimes when I get caught up in a good blow and my main is out all the way and I still go over and can't get up, I let loose of the jib sheet and I pop back up. Also if your getting that much weather helm, work with the center board a little. Maybe bring it up just a bit more. I play with that a lot, and it really helps out. If the boat wants to go to much one way or the other, I just raise or lower the center board depending on the situation and the boat balances out great. I'm no expert, but that has been my experience. So I hope this 2 cents helps. Good luck, and try this out next time.

[mpicanso]

Sorry to hear about your rough time. I also sail on Narragansett Bay and have had a few wild rides. I keep my boat up the Providence river just outside the Washington Bridge. I have hit some strong waves on my boat (3-4 feet) she holds up well as far as I can tell.