Weather, Bravado and all that

[ip485]

For those with larger boats I was wondering how concerned you get about the weather.

With a long keel and over 50 foot I find I dont worry very often, and will plan to go pretty much whatever.

Now that sounds like a lot of bravado, but it is not meant to be. Obviously if it is a slog to wind I will think again, and obvioulsy there are limits, but on the whole it is not usually that much of a concern.

How do you feel?

 

[Poignard]

A friend of mine has a test he applies.

Light a match and poke it up through the companionway. If the match blows out, it is too windy to go sailing. If it doesn't, there's too little wind to make it worth going

 

[[3889]]

Obviously if it is a slog to wind I will think again, and obvioulsy there are limits,

How do you feel?

I thought every passage to windward was a slog in an IP.

 

[KellysEye]

We had a 38 foot heavy displacement long keel with cut away forefoot ketch, long distance sailing you have to take whatever weather comes along sailing boats are too slow to avoid what is coming which we knew from the forecast. It didn't worry us we had been in bad weather many times including when we used to charter.

 

[KAL]

Certainly wouldn't want to be out at the moment!

 

[johnalison]

Size, and displacement, makes such a difference to one's perception of the weather. When I was pootling around in my 22-footer anything over force 3 was perceived as quite boisterous. In my current 34 displacing a fairly average 5 tons, many of our best sails have been in open water in force 6. There are times when I think about what life would be like with a forty-footer, so that I could look at a force 7 forecast for the North Sea and think "that'll be fine". However, common sense and financial considerations never made it happen.

 

[lpdsn]

I do tend to go out, although there are factors that would make me decide not to (or more likely change my destination). The boat can handle a lot. Not a long-keeler but a high ballast ratio with a lot of lead on the bottom of the keel.

It was also brought home to me recently in conversation that I'l also make a trip that involves fighting tide for a while whereas others with boats a bit smaller won't.

 

[RichardS]

It's not the wind which really bothers me .... it's the air temperature. There's no way I'm leaving the marina if I need to wear anything more than shorts and a tee shirt!

Richard

 

[[2574]]

For us it is sea state that matters. Best sailing is up to 30kts on the beam from a windward shore. Wind from seaward though at 30kts would see me talking of going for a coastal path stretch of the legs.

 

[chrishelen]

It's amazing what you can get used to when already out at sea and it blows up a bit, stuff you wouldn't want to set sail in becomes normal. Been out in some bad stuff in my 27ft moody. Cot a motor boat with a wheelhouse now.

 

[Ceirwan]

For those with larger boats I was wondering how concerned you get about the weather.

With a long keel and over 50 foot I find I dont worry very often, and will plan to go pretty much whatever.

Now that sounds like a lot of bravado, but it is not meant to be. Obviously if it is a slog to wind I will think again, and obvioulsy there are limits, but on the whole it is not usually that much of a concern.

How do you feel?

The same way.
Obviously lots of small boats are very sea worthy. But just because a boat CAN handle the weather, doesn't necessarily mean its comfortable or fun.

Generally speaking the bigger the boat, the more comfortable the motion, the less effect the seas have and the greater feeling of safety.
A 60ft Swan driving hard to windward in a F6-7 is probably a fairly comfortable motion, nice and dry in the cockpit, plenty of space to move around. Contrast that with a 24 footer, double reefed main, working jib, spray driving over the deck and getting a bit of a hammering.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

I always think its a decision based on who is on board. If there are children on board or new folk easily worried, then light winds only. If its you and a mate you WANT to worry, bring on the wind and the side deck in the water!

40 knots behind you feels a whole lot less than 30 knots on the bow. Put some wind over tide in that and you have lots of wet and lovely fun. Only gusted 30 in the below, looks fun and dramatic though!

 

[lpdsn]

It's not the wind which really bothers me .... it's the air temperature. There's no way I'm leaving the marina if I need to wear anything more than shorts and a tee shirt!

Richard

For the first time ever I got to sail in the North Channel a couple of weeks ago wearing a T-shirt. Did have long trousers on though as it wasn't that warm. The warm weather even melted the olive oil.

Normal service was resumed not long after and it was back to wearing a fleece or two. Olive oil is still liquid though.

 

[Slycat]

"Gentlemen sail the weather!"

 

[Stemar]

"Gentlemen sail the weather!"

Yeah, but some weather is best sailed in the bar...

I've been 8 miles off St Alban's Head in a southerly 33 knots in my Snapdragon 24 and the boat coped fine, though we needed the engine to make any progress to windward. What made it unpleasant was that everything was grey apart from the black cliffs, which SWMBO found very frightening. She readily admits that the same wind & sea conditions in the sun would have been an exhilarating roller coaster ride

 

[RupertW]

I found the jump from 24 to 31 feet felt more significant than my later move to the current 42 feet. The big difference was a separate sea cabin to sleep in and a saloon that felt like a comfortable escape from the weather, rather than sitting under a lid with waves pounding on it. So off watches became far more restful so on watches were better too.

But that actual sensation on deck of being a small thing in a big sea feels similar in all the boats. Perhaps each step up felt a force less at most, so the 42 footer in a 6 felt like the 24 footer in a 4, but I'm not even totally sure about that. What I do notice is that I kept a very close eye on forecasts in the 24 and 31 footer but much less of an eye in the 42 footer but simply expect to work through whatever we encounter, which has been 55 plus knot gusts sometimes but I suspect no more than a Force 7-8 encountered in 7 years.