Gazereth78 Posted February 1, 2014 Report Share Posted February 1, 2014 Hi all, Big bad Freo Doctor was blowing 25 - 30 knots this afternoon. Took the Foam Windy down the beach for a sail, after sitting watching the water for a while summoning up nerve I gave it away. Any tips for heavy wind sailing? Do I need a windsurfer? Whats the wind limit before things start to break? Cheers Gazereth78 PS - the kite surfers were using postage stamp size kites if that is any indication of the wind speed. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scuttlebutt Posted February 1, 2014 Report Share Posted February 1, 2014 Extra body weight is a great option in extreme conditions. Grab a friend next time! 20 knots is as much as I like but we were out in 25+knots the other day, a bit of carnage and a couple of rigs came down. 20 knots in flat water is very different to 20 knots in the surf. if the rig is pretty new then the foam boats should take the pounding pretty well. Brett makes a good boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darcy1945 Posted February 1, 2014 Report Share Posted February 1, 2014 In those conditions, cat rig is the go, plenty of cunningham and foot tension, and traveller down 20/40cm (depending on wind strength and body weight), weight right back on reaches and runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazereth78 Posted February 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 Thanks all for the replies, Apparently if the wind gets to about 25 knots most cat sailors hit the beach. I didn't really know this so lesson learnt. Cheers see you on the water Gazereth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badboy Posted February 9, 2014 Report Share Posted February 9, 2014 If you really want to go for a sail the first thing to do in WA is to try and time your sailing to miss the strongest of the southerly. If for some reason this doesn't happen the best thing to do is to con someone into coming with you. The boat is much better controlled in strong winds with two on board. If you have a old Dacron main sail hall it up the mast and use it. The old Dacron's are much easer to handle in 25+. If you are racing and cant do that Set your mast rake back a few more holes. Make your sails as flat as you can, head up and block out your main, drop your traveler down to the foot strap, use lots of downhall. Get your crew to hang out so you can see over them, watch the water. When you tack send your crew over first because you may need to reverse the rudders and keep the jib on a bit longer to tack. The reason you need the crew over first is incase the jib try's to tip you over backwards. If this starts to happen the crew can let off the jib and be up the front. Off the wind keep your weight back and when you jibe grab the main ropes and pull the main over to the center early and let it go in a controlled way. If you let it slam over you may end upside down. That may happen anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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