Maximum wind speed for racing?

Depends on the sea state, and the skipper to make the decision. Our club who race in the solent will race in a good 6. But the course will reflect the conditions (Not too much beating to Windward). But if the wind is forcast to pick up during the race will cancel. The race officer can always shorten half way through, just by flying the correct flag sequence.

The other key factor is can the commitee boat hold station? I've battled a couple of times to anchor correctly to form a correct line for a windward start. Other than that you could have a gate start like in dinghy racing.

I think it's a boaty-job weekend for us.

If you race the race officer should fly a 'Y' flag... Lifejackets must be worn !
 
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At Liverpool as I remember the maximum wind speed for racing was set at 30 knots. This was done because of a number of fairly serious incidents and by setting a measurable limit the OOD was above criticism. I think it was felt that there could be a "duty of care" situation, a club could potentially held liable whatever disclaimers there might be in the race rules. At the end of the day the club is organising the race therefore could be morally and possibly legally liable. The other factor is that could come into play is the River Mersey is not the open sea.

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My point exactly. The River may not be open sea, but with NWlies over the ebb, it is more dangerous than the open sea. Consequently, 30kts over a 5kt tide on the Mersey is a lot different and far more dangerous than 35kts on the Solent where the tides are FAR less than the 30+' at Liverpool.

It's hard enough to stand on the Mersey Ferry boats in 30kts wind over tide never mind yer average yot beating! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
We're supposed to be racing on Sunday - in a light weight AWB . I have told the crew we will stand down if tomorrow evening we are still expecting gusts over 40 or so Sunday morning. A few weeks back we had a hard time in 30 kt + gusts, I have sailed happily in more wind a few times but trying to race in it was a different matter.
 
The decision to go always rests with individual skippers.

Unfortunately Nanny state is at odds with our sport and says 'someone' must be held to blame if things go wrong. Obviously that 'someone' in this case must be the Committee, OOD and ultimately the club who organised the event in the first place. They would be sitting ducks for press and accident lawyers looking for someone to blame. The plea that it is down to individual skippers to decide whether to join in is not seen nowadays as an excuse for an organisation allowing its members to take risks.

Sad.

But not as sad as losing someone.
 
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............... The other factor is that could come into play is the River Mersey is not the open sea.

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My point exactly. The River may not be open sea, but with NWlies over the ebb, it is more dangerous than the open sea. Consequently,

[/ QUOTE ] My point about it not being the open sea is more of a legal one. It comes under the jurisdiction of the port authority which could be an issue in itself. A club and race officer do have to take responsibility. I'm all for the freedom of the seas but at the end of the day it's a club event and possible consequences have to be allowed for, it is only sensible. As far as people as individuals going out crashing and burning that's their choice and I'm all for it.
 
Its always been the individual skippers decision of course, but unfortunately nanny state and the press always look for someone to blame when things go wrong, and the OOD, Race Committee, and the Club are sitting targets. They organised it, therefore they should have made sure it was 'safe' for participants.

And of course what is 'safe' for an experienced skipper and crew may be downright dangerous for a novice boat. So does that mean the experienced crews must miss out on a challenge? Equally, only by pushing their limits will a novice crew gain experience of bad conditions. IMHO, thats what its all about.

But Nanny state says we must not take 'risks', must risk assess, and impose 'safe' limits on anything we organise for other people to do. So what are we to do? Leave heavy weather racing out of it altogether? have some sort of system for grading crews ability? (Next stop is that only 'qualified' and certificated crews can go out anyway), or hope that 'disclaimers' will be enough to protect our Club from its critics in the event of an accident.

Sad really. But not as sad as losing someone.
 
Are you part of the West Solent fleet, or Hamble?

Surprise, surprise, its still borderline and I suspect it will be until tomorrow morning.

The gribs are showing 45+ knots mid channel, but 28-30 in the Solent. I am still concerned about the funnel coming through Hurst so we shall just have to wait and see.
 
Tomorrows forecast for our area is 35 knots with gusts to 45/55. And up to 25mm rain. So no - I am not going racing. Its supposed to be fun and in those conditions it wont be.

Might take a different view if I were doing well in the series but I'm not. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
.. and I'll be lucky if I see 2 kts of wind at midday!

If you're scared of losing people overboard, tie them on (they'll be wearing lifejackets anyway, won't they?). Don't play with assymetrics and spinnakers if it's blowing and reef down to a sensible level. What's the problem? Think of it like a skid pan - a chance to find out how the boat behaves to forearm you for the day when it all blows up around you and you don't have a choice and somewhere to run.

If you think this post is sour grapes, you are damn right - think of me drifting with the tide wishing we could have a decent blow of wind for a change - 4 out of the 5 "winter" races have had wind on the Saturday and doldrums on Sunday race day.
 
Well they've just canned the Hamble winter series for tomorrow, gusts to 60 kts are expected.

Fair enough....!
 
Play with a few flags toot a few horns then relax with beer and sandwiches until they get back.Thats what race officers do isnt it?

Unless you get a goosewinged fleet of these to go with the 60 knot gusts... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
FR.jpg


One things for sure you wont please everyone,your a braver man than me.
 
Well the outcome was a complete became a no-brainer.

Logged on to my favourite site for West Solent weather at 0645 - wind in the 20's at Hurst and the teens just off Lymington. Bollox - that means we might have to go out, and its peeing with rain too! grib.us and Met office both showing its going to get worse during the morning.

Mooch off down to the boat, instruments on, seeing gusts up to 30knots. Solent CG giving out strong gale warnings, and storm force (F10) gusts. Well that's it, I'm not taking the boat out - regardless of what others think. Drive round to Club to receive phone call "Race Officer says its all Off" . "That's good, because he wouldnt have a committee boat anyway!" I replied.

Sit down to a full fat boy's breakfast, large mugs of tea, and a natter then back home to cuddly bed and warm wife. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

In the past three hours the winds have increased by 50% and now seeing gusts over 50knots.

Ah well, its the only race of the series to be canned, with one more to go, so we've done pretty well really.

Time for another cuppa.....
 
So, with the current highest gust in the immediate vicinity of the original poster's club's race area being 53kts, would you be out there racing? What would your windward sailplan be?
 
Nick,

Yer a big woose, a Hurst Castle, the average wind speed got up to about 50 knots for a 20 minute period and the highest gust was only about 64. Bloody weekend sailors who can't handle local conditions.

In my day..........
 
Well at 11.30 this morning Bramblemet recorded a 2000 knot gust! That would have meant the small kite I think.
 
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Nick,

Yer a big woose, a Hurst Castle, the average wind speed got up to about 50 knots for a 20 minute period and the highest gust was only about 64. Bloody weekend sailors who can't handle local conditions.

In my day..........

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Yeah, right..... and the next thing you'll be telling us you caught a boat load of cod today ...... in your dreams, maybe. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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If race officers start imposing hard rules on wind limits it will gradually erode the strong wind skills of the sailors in the fleet.

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I think that is a key point.

One approach that is used by some clubs here in Auckland (where we tend to get our fair share of 'fresh' breezes) is to never cancel the race due to wind alone but if it's over a certain threshold e.g. 40kts then the results of that race don't count for the series. This takes the pressure off boats who shouldn't really be out there (smaller and/or less experienced) but are desperate not to lose out on points. But meanwhile anyone who does fancy the challenge can give it a go.
 
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