Capt. Rob wrote:
It's funny how someone like Jeff could know so little about weather.
LaGuardia reported 17 knots steady Kings Point less, Execution Rocks
quite a bit more.

Well, unlike MOST people here, we actually got on our boat, left the
slip and raised sail.
Many of you, just to try something different, should try this.
Winds were between 17-20 knots and there were occasional gusts to 30,
turning the water green in spots. Whitecaps were constant as we sailed
out further.
Some big boats were out...a C&C 40 or 41 and a few larger J-boats. Like
us, the J's did not hoist their headsails. The C&C was sailing with a
furled down genoa (too much) and wasn't sailing well. Heart of Gold was
quite composed...at least for that moment!
The kevlar main is a like a GIANT BLACK JET WING!!!!! The 35s5 gybed
and Suzanne said "holy sh*t" as the boat accelerated. I eased the main
to calm things as we tacked a few times, watching the battens...and
headed for Execution Rocks. Suzanne suggested we leave the genoa furled
and I agreed. We were making 6-7 knots. I noticed that the #2 batten
was ticking the backstay on tacks, but not on gybes. It's an easy fix.
The Kevlar sail is more like a solid object. There is little luffing or
any indication that the sail is doing anything less than transmitting
maximum force possible. It's silent and heavy looking, though much
lighter than the original main. Off the wind the new main felt
amazingly efficient. I had always felt the 35s5 sluggish dead downwind,
but not now!
And then it happened. A fairly lumpy set of waves caught us on the port
side. Suzanne was about to take a photo, holding onto the furled genoa
and a nice wave broke over her. She was soaked from the belly-button
down. The next wave added insult to injury and soaked her pretty much
all over!
No big deal except she had taken her clothing off the boat and had
nothing to change into. Damn!!!! Well, she went below and warned up and
I sailed back to are slip fast. It was fun while it lasted. Still
waiting for a slightly calmer day to play with these sails....and
running out of time. I'm hauling in two weeks!

Hope her camera was not damaged. you got any new pictures of the sails?

Joe


RB
35s5
NY