broaching in the colne yesterday

simonfraser

simonfraser

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i dunno how much wind yesterday 2pm, but there was a lumpy quarter wave running on the way in to the colne.

with the main up the speed was way too much, heading for the mersey flats on a reach, not good.

took the main down, she still broached a bit with a few turns on the genoa, maxed out at 9 knots going down one wave.

would the boat have been more balanced if i had left a small main up ? or is there some other way to make her more stable ? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Sounds as if you were over-canvassed, period, and by the time you thought about it, it was too late!

It would be facetious to suggest you start with bare poles and work your way up, but seriously, one of the snags (or delights) of sailing is anticipating the next leg of the course. I see it every day as people come home to Chi in an offshore breeze: they reach across Hayling Bay going great guns, luff up round the Bar Beacon and come hard on the wind to find themselves overpressed. You can almost hear the think-tank working: Damn, I should have put a reef in. Perhaps I can get away with it by spilling wind, it's only a mile to the marina . . .

With a following sea your 'broaching' isn't necessarily caused by an imbalanced sail plan but by surfing down a wave and digging in. So you have to go slower and let the waves overtake you .

Most people would come in under (very) reduced headsail only, but there are those who support running under just a reefed main sheeted in hard. Please don't start that debate here!

To conclude, drop the main before getting to the dodgy bit and adjust the size of your genoa until you're comfortable.

Oh, were you singlehanded? That means taking action much earlier. And was the ebb running? Then more sail to make progress. And once inside will you need your main to manoevre? Then keep it up.

Which contradicts the above! Morton's Fork old son!
 
Chuggin,

why would a small main sheeted in hard be better ????

surely the further foreward the sail pulls the less broaching there is going to be ?

going slower than the waves, obvious now, that would have settled the boat

p.s. i reacon i did reduce sail early enough, else i would have been on the mud !
 
Re: broaching in the Colne yesterday

Sorry Simon, in the days before forums (can you imagine that?) people wrote articles, books even, to educate us in the ways of seamanship. Fortunately Hiscock, Coles, Illingworth et al were seasoned sailors who had covered more thousands of miles than you or I have had hot dinners.

I was groping around that heritage when mentioning a deep-reefed main sheeted in hard. There are advocates, but not me. Besides, I suspect such a technique will be found under "Making harbour before the typhoon catches up with you" or some such situation which I have bust a gut to avoid for the last 40 years. Don't think of going down that path, you'll probably come across advice on streaming SMBO astern to reduce the risk of broaching. Did you consider that?

Statistic: of the several score boats running into Chi yesterday in WSW 5/6 most had headsail only, one had deep-reefed main, and the rest were under iron topsail. (Cue Thread: Are REAL sailors disappearing from the Solent?)

Re what makes your boat broach, there are wiser experts than I waiting in the wings. I recall my first ever cruise on a Sigma 33 and wow, it was a sharp learning curve! Coming out of Ile de Sein at dawn, too few people on deck and them too fuzzy to think about reefing, just hanging on as every gust had us screaming round upwind towards the rocks. We were VERY lucky!

It took months to learn how to sense the broach coming, even longer to know what to do to prevent it (releasing the kicker being far more effective than dumping the mainsheet).

Add a few big waves and the parameters are much more complex, with bow burying in and/or stern being pushed round to cause a broach whatever sails you're carrying.

That must be more worrying in your tri with less buoyancy forward than a conventional monohull. Of course, you have the option of hoisting the kite and screaming in faster than the surf.

I'll watch from the shore if you don't mind.
 
Re: broaching in the Colne yesterday

Hi Chuggin,

thanks, don't be sorry, no offence taken.

ok, she does not realy "broach", that would be bad news, there is plenty of boyancy foreward.

what happens is she catches a wave, luffs up, then starts to reach, aparent wind increases & off she goes !

i'll stick to sailing in with a small head sail, iron sail, what's one of those ;-)
 
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