We’re conservative, at least when it comes to how much sail we have up.
Yesterday, while commenting on one of our posts, Ray included a link to an article written by multihull designer Chris White where he discusses the 2010 capsize of one of his catamarans, Anna, an Atlantic 57. I read the article, and the related inks, with interest, especially after our brisk sail in the squally weather from Martinique to St. Lucia.
Yeah, I am drooling over this boat!
I was reminded of the fact that, while sailing between the two islands, we were passed by a large monohull flying full sail while we were sailing under double-reefed main. Of course, monohull skippers are coached to reef to the average wind speed while multi-hullers should instead reef to the gusts, but still, I thought that the amount of canvas they had up might have been a bit excessive given the frequent high gusts that we were experiencing. In our personal case, I am happy to fly a bit less sail and travel slower because I know we can’t get into trouble being conservative. The opposite is obviously not true. If we’re going to make the headlines, I’d rather it not take the form of “ZTC sailors flip little cat while sailing between islands.” In addition, if we were sailing any faster, we might have missed the entire family of whales playing in the waves off our starboard beam.
As you can see from the short 30 second video clip (no audio), the conditions were a tad “bumpy” between the two islands on Wednesday.
We love to see Rebecca Smile!!!
Mike you have so much to be thankful for, the ability to be out there, your awesome catamaran sailboat, your health, but mostly (in my humble opinion) for the wonderful live you have with Rebecca !!! Remember to cherish her everyday.
I concur, she has a beautiful smile.
Better to reef early and often:D love seeing the conditions out there!
Dani
We prefer it a bit calmer than that but what can you do?
There is nothing wrong with erring on the conservative side where your boat’s safety is concerned.
You knew when you bought her that ZTC was designed as an all-round cruiser, not an all-out racer. Alan Slater never meant for her to carry a full complement of rail meat to balance a tennis court’s worth of sail; he expected that her captain would reef her down so that she’d lope along at a steady, comfortable pace as the weather picked up. It looks like your sailing style is well suited to the boat you chose.
Of course, I certainly wouldn’t turn down an Atlantic 57 if one were offered…. but I wouldn’t want to write a cheque for one.
Writing the cheque is no problem. Having it clear at the bank is an entirely different issue.
Touché.
I know we kid a lot, but that is fascinating information, and Chris White is spot on as usual. We are looking at a R&C 4700 for a number of reasons. The main being we can have a little larger generator, as well as a dive compressor. But we are seriously considering changing the sail so it is ICW friendly, which would mean reducing the mast around 5 feet, and going with a sail that has more roach to make up some.
There is certainly something to be said for leaving port with a reef or two, and then shaking them out later as conditions are better known.
Unless you are planning on doing the ICW over and over, I don’t think I would go to the trouble of messing with the rig.
Unfortunately, in almost all the capsizes of cruising size multihulls, say above 25′ LOA… the capsizes have been primarily human error. Typically, the boat was overcanvassed and in many cases additional human error contributed to the capsize.
One thing a lot of sailors seem to forget is that on a multihull, not only should you be reefing for gust peak wind speeds, but also remember that the apparent wind conditions can change very dramatically and keep that in mind.
For instance, when sailing downwind in 20 knots of wind, if the boat is doing 15 knots, the apparent wind is only 5 knots. Yet, turn that boat upwind 90-100 degrees, and the boat could easily be sailing at 20 knots with an apparent wind of 38 or so knots across the deck.
If you had full canvas up for the downwind run and had to turn up for any reason, you’d be suddenly overcanvassed for the conditions, since the apparent wind would jump from 5 knots to 20 and then climb even further. 20 knots of wind has 16 times the force of 5 knots of wind, you can see how a multihull can easily get into trouble if they don’t take this into account and take caution.
Very true!
In this downwind scenario, why couldn’t you turn to wind, ease the jib sheet and ease the mainsheet as you came about and until you were head to wind. Boat speed would drop and you can furl the jib and drop the main, or reef if that is what you want to do.
Should be a safe approach??
Mike, would you be comfortable with this approach? BTW, I was sailing in this scenario north of Vancouver last September on a Lagoon 400 charter and that is what I would have done. Would appreciate your thoughts. Thx.
When you are running downwind your sheets are typically already eased. As you start to head up the apparent wind will increase, with no additional method of de-powering the sails. If you find yourself already bordering on being overpowered, you will really notice it as you head up. We experienced this once when sailing in the Chesapeake on our trip south. The winds were gusting to gale strength and we already had our main double reefed. There was no way we could have headed up to drop the main. I instead had to go forward to the mast and just wrestle it down.
Duh!! Ya, after I posted I’m sitting there thinking the sheets are eased already on a downwind run. Anyway, I just left it. You’re comment on trying this in the Chesapeake is interesting. Ok, wrestle the main sail down if necessary will have to be in the repertoire for future if needed. Thx.
It got a bit more ugly just after this:
http://youtu.be/rtfdWc1BuDY
For the record, we much prefer sailing while wearing bathing suits than foul weather gear.
Good video. Thx Mike.
Sadly video fails to accurately illustrate the size of the waves. They were BIG!
Conservative AND restrained. Yet adventurous and daring. What a dichotomy!
Kind of the perfect blend for the life you are living!!
I think so too. 🙂
Yes. Chris White is a very good advocate for his designs, and for his forward cockpits. As you would expect.
It becomes doubly interesting when you read the totally different persuasive arguments of some other designer espousing almost opposite philosophies.
Since I could never afford any of them. Nor now would I be able to sail them. I too read, watch and drool over all these!!! 🙂
Mike
Curious to know what the arguments against his designs would be. Anyway, the boat’s only 1.6 million!
What was the wind strength in that nice video please? It looks about F5.
Mike
Yes, F5 with some slightly higher gusts.
I love it when people actually wear their PFD. Great Job.
Thanks Jennifer. To be honest, we don’t wear them all the time (in the cockpit especially) but they are always right there ready to put on. In this case, we had two fishing lines out and with the rough conditions, we decided that it would be prudent to keep them on.
Whenever I begin to wonder if I’m being chicken, I remind myself of the cost of sails and gear breakage in general. Though I may feel brave regarding my own hide, I’m not brave with the skin of others and even less so with my wallet!
Generally, I try to press hard just often enough to maintain the skill set.
🙂
Mike, good post on catamaran reefing and very informative. Always good to learn something more that will help down the road.
We will be sailing a Moorings 43′ charter cat in the Sea of Cortez in 2 weeks. Won’t see the sorts of wind you are talking about here fortunately, but goood learnings nonetheless.
Enjoy the blog you guys do very much. Keep up the good work!
Thank you. What kind of wind can you expect where you will be sailing? It is pretty much 15-20 knots from the ENE to ESE most of the time here. The wind of course does get stronger than that from time to time (not too often fortunately). We especially see higher winds when sailing between the islands. Most people hopefully learn to be prepared for that increase if they’re coming out of the wind shadow of an island.
Checking the grib files and reading, looks like 20 knots and often lower is typical in this area at this time of year. N or NE typically and sometimes swinging around more from the W. There are also the coromuel winds from the W which come across from the Pacific side of the Baja, mostly in the La Paz area and typically late afternoon or early evening and continuing for some or all of the night. These can blow over 20 knots and more common closer to summer. The ‘northers should be over by now.
But, will check the gribs again closer to our sailing date and will keep an eye out cause ya never know what might come along.
Not the steady Trade Winds in the Sea of Cortez like you are used to in your area.
Will reef for the gusts and watch around the islands as you suggest. Not too worried about speed. We just enjoy a nice comfortable speed without setting any records!
Sounds good.
While sailing fast is fun for a bit, it also takes work, and people. For a short-handed crew, like us, sailing along at a respectable 5 or 6 knots is just fine on longer passages.
There is a lot of juxtaposition here… Conservative in sailing, adventurous in travel; conservative with PFD, adventurous with swimwear… 😉
I’m not ashamed to admit that I had to look up the word juxtaposition. 🙂
3 cheers for PFD’s and what looks to be Wicked Weasels.
Conch Republic Bikinis actually. 🙂
http://store.conchrepublicbikinis.com/