Meteo Consult; Forecast Force 1 wind with gusts to 9! What rig would you set?

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NPMR

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Flicking through Meteo Consult's forecast for my area this morning, showed one 3-hour slot as having mean wind speed as Force 1 and gusts of Force 9.

Whilst I appreciated that it was only for a couple of hours (and possibly an aberration of the forecasting computer) what sailing rig would you set?

All plain sail for a Force 1 would be a disaster should a gust of 9 come through. So just sit it out, with bare mast?

Got me wondering.
 
NPMR said:
Flicking through Meteo Consult's forecast for my area this morning, showed one 3-hour slot as having mean wind speed as Force 1 and gusts of Force 9.

Whilst I appreciated that it was only for a couple of hours (and possibly an aberration of the forecasting computer) what sailing rig would you set?

All plain sail for a Force 1 would be a disaster should a gust of 9 come through. So just sit it out, with bare mast?

Got me wondering.
Click to expand...

Always rig for the lulls, dump the traveller in the gusts
 
We had a forecast of three to eighteen m/s in Sweden once. We just dealt with the winds we got.

Quite common too in NI that the Carlingford Lough to Lough Foyle inshore forecast covers a weather system or too. I did also get an overlap once with the MoG to MoK forecast, that's the problem with a channel that has bits less than 24m wide, which led me to expect either a F3 or F8. Got a F4 in the end.
 
Well unless its a light day boat you wont get any sailing done at F1 and not much at F3. My approach would be to severely reef the main as ours not quick to reef as has odd roller from handle on mast or not very satisfactory slab reef. Probably set main it for F6 and get ready to let go or round up into the gust if F8 or F9. Then sail on genoa unreefed and get ready to furl or again round up in gusts if furling too slow. Risks sails flogging if you have to round up but should be safe if you keep a weather eye on waves and cloud evidence. I wouldn't believe that Meteo forecast but have had F7 gusts on F4 day
 
F9 is out of my league so I'd prob not go anywhere. But on my boat if I fancied a sail that day I'd hoist full sail, then reef when the wind picks up.
BTW I have a junk rig so reefing from full sail (7 panels) down to 1 panel takes about 10 seconds, and the same to increase sail, and all done from the cockpit.

(I know this isn't going to be relevant to the OP but it is nice to be able to say it.)
 
I never like forecasts such as MeteoConsult or even from national weather services that very cleverly generate texts from computer models. All too easily they come up with nonsense. There can be light winds with strong gusts - near thunderstorms, mainly. It would be rare to get F9 with an average of F1. I am not at all sure that it is possible except as a short term gust. As ever in meteorology, there are caveats and anomalously strong winds can occur through narrow straits and channels. The Bonifacio and Gibraltar straits are two particular examples. My advice would be to use GRIBs from whatever source then listen to what the human forecaster says.
 
Main and foresail reefed for the gusts, plus iron topsail for the lulls ;0)

Actually I have experienced conditions like this forecast: In Croatia when the Bora gets intermittent (read 'when you are in the rotor') and in Tenerife when the Scirocco eddies around Teide...
 
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It wasn't forecast, but once when on a reach in F2 - 3 in the lee of St Kitts I was below but could see the repeater which showed wind force. It went F2 to 3, to 4,5,6,7,8,9 in about 30 - 60 seconds, and then after a few tens of secs 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2. We had full main, yankee and staysail up.

What happened? Nothing! the boat heeled a bit, but the autopilot kept a straight line and nothing broke.

Similar has happened to me off Dodman - so yes, it does happen in Cornwall but rarely I admit - in a NW 5 which went down to F2 in the lee of Dodnam, but then suddenly got up to a 9 for five or ten seconds in one presumably katabatic gust. Similar story: the finger of God just pushed the mast sideways but no noise, no fuss and nothing broke.

So my advice is don't worry too much; boats are much tougher than one thinks, and invariably tougher than their crews.
 
We had something similar on the edge of a thunderstorm once. A pleasant full-sail breeze, then, suddenly we were heeled over to better than 45 degrees and flying along. By the time I'd stopped panicking and dumped the mainsheet, we were back upright and it was time to pull the sheet back in. Nowhere exotic - off Hayling Island, heading for Chi Harbour
 
Rather unhelpfully, Meteo France broadcasts always say “Attention : en situation normale, les rafales peuvent être supérieures de 40 % au vent moyen”

In the Caribbean, we were always prepared to take in the headsail if there were showers nearby. But, there was usually a fairly good wind so that gusts, although strong, were not in the F1 becoming F9 category. Thunderstorms can always give strong gusts and, normally, these can be around the speed at heights of 10,000 to 15,ooo feet in downdraughts. Double the surface speed at times. Just occasionally with a squall line, these strong winds can be sustained for short periods. More usually they are short-lived gusts.

But, back to the OP, use automatically generat4d texts, whether official or unofficial sites. MeteoFrance and MeteoConsult both have such services. Pay more attention to texts written by a human used with GRIB services.
 
NPMR said:
Flicking through Meteo Consult's forecast for my area this morning, showed one 3-hour slot as having mean wind speed as Force 1 and gusts of Force 9.

Whilst I appreciated that it was only for a couple of hours (and possibly an aberration of the forecasting computer) what sailing rig would you set?

All plain sail for a Force 1 would be a disaster should a gust of 9 come through. So just sit it out, with bare mast?

Got me wondering.
Click to expand...

You've asked the wrong question. The question is not what sailplan to set but what boat you should be sailing. The answer is an Anderson 22, good for force 1 to force 11(*) and all forces in-between.

(*) As verified by the TS Royalist.
 
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