What conditions are you happy to go out in?

[wipe_out]

I come from the Mobo side of the world where little to no wind and dead flat water is best.. I am happy going out when swell is up to about 0.5m at about 5s interval, preferably without too much chop and up to 10kn wind for a reasonable ride.. Personally I would go out in rougher that that but any more and it becomes uncomfortable with lots of slamming at speed or pitching and rolling when going slowly which means the people with me tend to be unhappy..

So I am wondering if things are different in sail boats being displacement hulls with huge keels for stability.. Obviously you want a fair amount of wind but what about water conditions.. At what point does it start to become unsettling for the crew that haven't spent much time on the water? Do you pitch and roll as badly as a similar sized Mobo?

Sorry if its a daft question, I have no idea how sail boats react in the water..

 

[Lakesailor]

I don't go out if it's raining.

 

[onesea]

To boat type and weather dependent to really answer...

I have had 6 & 8 year olds out in 25 knots in my last 24' loving it....

Same two 20 knots of wind 35' boat and sick as dogs in similar conditions....

I would say for beginner flat water 20 knots of wind. Bit of a chop 16 knots but then that's fairly conservative and on light ish fast ish boat expecting a meter or so waves....

Up wind and down wind also makes a big difference... Judge your crew, boat and conditions...

 

[westernman]

The worst in a saily boat is waves and no wind. In those conditions we roll, I think just as badly as any Mobo, and may be worse. We have a heavy chunk of solid wood which goes up 60ft or more above the water level acting as a pendulum. We put up the jib and sheet it hard in to try and reduce the roll a bit. However, we avoid doing that with the main as it will chafe to much.

However, as soon as there is bit of wind, then when sailing the boat will heel against the sails, but will not roll. For us, if the wind is steady, a F2 is plenty to keep us confortable. If going to windward in the confused chop we sometimes get in the med, we might pitch a bit. If heading downwind, we are generally confortable in any conditions where the wind is in proportion to the waves.

In our area, if the Tramontane is blowing, and we want to head south towards Spain, then we won't hesitate to go out into anything up to and including a F8. At F9 we hesitate a bit, because we don't have enough engine HP to be able to get our boat out of our home port against the gusts (i.e. at full throttle we go backwards). In other ports with a wide entrance and a run up which is sheltered and with no rocks off to the leward side (in case we end up going backwards), we will go in a F9 as well.

 

[NPMR]

Just debating whether to abandon the trip to 'lift out' in our 33' Jeanneau.

Forecast 5-7 perhaps 8 later. Sea state ; rough or very rough.

Trouble is, worse tomorrow (50mph gusts) when we need to get going, so right now, I might finish up going out in conditions I said I would not go out in!

 

[onesea]

I don't go out if it's raining.

1) Cold 2) Wet 3) Windy (or very light winds)

I will happily sail in 2 out of the 3, really try and avoid all three..

 

[MM5AHO]

For me its not so much the current weather but the forecast.
I'll set sail in a F7, maybe worse depending on wave height, provided the forecast says it's going to moderate.
But have sayed in port in a F3 when the forecast is F8.

I think that sail boats have far greater stability with sails up than a Mobo - just witness how much more uncomfortable it is motoring in heavy weather than sailing!

 

[Bodach na mara]

Being relatively slow, the crew of a sailing boat need to be able to cope with whatever develops. It takes at least 4 hours for us to go from Tarbert to Largs, during which time the weather can change from pleasant sailing breeze from the southwest (ideal strength and direction) to flat calm with lumpy confused sea (coming form all directions; absolute hell!) then force 6 on the nose from southeast. We can cope with all of these but there is considerable crew resistance (not to mention mutiny) if I suggest leaving port in anything above force 5, unless the said crew needs to get to the destination that day.

 

[Seajet]

NPMR,

don't do it ! Sailing to a schedule often ends in tears, but there will always be another day to have her lifted.

Wipe_out,

it's not just wind strength to observe, the main thing of concern is wind against tide at harbour entrances, none more so than Chichester.

I'd say 15 knots of wind and the tide going the same way is plenty while you get used to it, so the usual SW wind is OK if one punches the flood tide, not so good once the ebb starts flowing against the wind.

The boat will almost certainly be able to take more than the crew, but sailing is meant to be FUN, not an endurance test !

 

[sailorman]

I don't go out if it's raining.

+1

 

[lustyd]

As others have said it depends on the boat. Mine (20' Vivacity) is pretty unpleasant in a F6 or more but will take it better than I do. In my friends boat (40' carbon race yacht) we've set out in a F9 and had a smashing day, if a little cooler than desirable. A recent trip in a forumites Beneteau 32' was comfortable up to gusts of F8, although it was dark and cold and the engine was on strike
In my dad's 28' Sterling Sabre mobo I felt worried in a F5 as it got very rolly in any kind of swell. Mums 22' Merry Fisher rarely worries me if I keep the speed down, although it did scare the bejeesus out of me once when I realised the depth guage was in feet when it read 2

 

[TQA]

In the Caribbean there is a weather occurrence called the Christmas winds. Instead of 10 to 20 knots we get 20 to 30 knots steady with higher gusts. As they are blowing over 3000 miles of open ocean the swell builds to 3 m or more. It is a long period swell. If you don't sail in this you don't go anywhere. So I tuck in a reef, hoist the staysail and go.

Totally freaks out the charter boat boys and girls though!

 

[jac]

Rain is the big one, it does permeate everywhere.

6 is our limit for setting out, especially if going upwind.

 

[oGaryo]

also a mobo owner but used to crew on saily boats in the mid 90's, loved the experience when the wind was up and the boat heeled over, then had the zzzzzzzzzzzzzz experience of trying to get from Yarmouth back to Gosport without a breath of wind on the motor, the only time I've been seasick. The latter experience led me to buy a mobo when I decided I'd purchase my own boat. like to keep to 1-1.5m conditions up to F5 but have been out in the mobo gusting f9, admittedly turning back after 10 min in a beam sea (couldn't see with the spray coming over the top).

I think the crew enjoy it too if you portray a sense of confidence in those conditions, or maybe they put on a brave face this one taken in my old boat, a 25ft american sportscruiser in a F6-7 if I remember correctly.. bless 'em they were made up ready for a night out in The Folly Inn, had the canopy down so I could judge the waves but that meant for a bit of a damp crossing

 

[Seajet]

oGaryo, are you sure that was a 6-7 not including boat speed ? I don't mean to cause offence but it looks rather calm for that, ie no waves & white horses...

 

[alahol2]

In the Solent, no more than a 5 if going upwind, maybe 6 if going downwind. As said previously, the forecast is just/more important than the current conditions.

 

[KellysEye]

>In the Caribbean there is a weather occurrence called the Christmas winds. Instead of 10 to 20 knots we get 20 to 30 knots steady with higher gusts. As they are blowing over 3000 miles of open ocean the swell builds to 3 m or more. It is a long period swell. If you don't sail in this you don't go anywhere. So I tuck in a reef, hoist the staysail and go.

I remember that in 2007/8 the Christmas winds started before Christmas and lasted until the end of April an unusually long times. Winds were 30 knots+ with huge waves and swells between the islands. The sailing community ground to a halt, nobody moved including us, stuck in Trinidad. As said above most years it's manageable just a bit uncomfortable.

To answer the original question long distance sailors can choose which weather to go leave in but from then on you have to take anything that comes along, it keeps life interesting.

 

[oGaryo]

oGaryo, are you sure that was a 6-7 not including boat speed ? I don't mean to cause offence but it looks rather calm for that, ie no waves & white horses...

no offence taken, pretty sure it was around that but do take your point. I guess the spray being blown back off the wake is an indication. it was over the weekend of June 25th / 26th 2011 in the Solent, in fact, it must have been either the 24th or 25th as we were heading off to do some table dancing in the Folly, can't recall if we made the passage late Friday or on the Saturday... maybe a website has an historical record of the conditions at the time? Not many other boats out at the time from what I recall

 

[snooks]

Any fool can be uncomfortable on a boat.

I doesn't matter a fig what I would go out in, it matters what I feel is safest and most comfortable for my weakest member of my crew, currently my 22 month old daughter. It also matters what the forecasts says and what boat we're on.

If she isn't happy and comfortable neither are we.

55 knots in a Sadler 32 is a completely different game than 55 knots in a Discovery 57 (see this month YM)

 

[Bobc]

Any fool can be uncomfortable on a boat.

I doesn't matter a fig what I would go out in, it matters what I feel is safest and most comfortable for my weakest member of my crew, currently my 22 month old daughter. It also matters what the forecasts says and what boat we're on.

If she isn't happy and comfortable neither are we.

55 knots in a Sadler 32 is a completely different game than 55 knots in a Discovery 57 (see this month YM)

Spot on.