The answer you want is not simple but I'll give it a shot. First of all,
unless the boat is in absolutely terrible shape, wind alone will not dismast
you. It may knock you down until the spreaders are in the water but that's
about it.

Most dismasting occurs due to wave action. There are two scenarios, first
if you are surfing downwind too fast you can bury the bow in the back of a
wave and somersault. This is known as "pitchpoling". Not a good idea and
many boats would not survive this punishment. Second, if the seas are
breaking and you broach or are lying ahull and conditions worsen. A
breaking sea on the beam can cause a rollover. It's problematic if the
sticks stay or break.

As to what to do in these conditions, there are as many forms of advice as
their are sailors. It is important to understand that you will probably
never, ever, encounter what are called survival conditions. I have been in
squall lines with 50 plus knots. The boat does better than I do. I've also
had entire trips of a few hundred miles with 30+ knots. The boat did fine
with a reefed main and staysail.

There is a video I would recommend. "Sailing in Heavy Weather" it is just
one of the series of videos that are part of the Annapolis Book of
Seamanship Videos. There is not only some good advice but some pretty good
footage off the coast of California.

Hope this helps,

Rich

s/v Drifter
Tarpon Springs, FL
"scbafreak via BoatKB.com" u25927@uwe wrote in message
news:6bfedf6757156@uwe...
I have been reading a lot of articles about peple that got caught in bad
weather. Some of them lose their masts and some don't. Obviously getting
Dismasted is pretty bad so I was wondering about peoples opinions undere
severe conditions. I am new to sailing so i am still learning here.

The conditions I am thinking are that if you have a good strong heavy boat
made well for blue water cruising and get caught in heavy wind and seas
that
may pose a threat to tearing your boat apart what do you do reccommend
doing?
Lets say that the sails have been reefed to as small as possible and it is
still to hard to hold onto the rudder and keep her sailing. I have read,
and
heard, that most boat are better at sailing than the people sailing them,
meaning that many people fight the rudder and try to sail in a particular
diretion when you can try to sail as much into the wind as possible and
fight
the rudder less so that you don't snap a rudder cable. Should you try and
let the boat lead in really rough weather or is that just not possible?
Would it be a good idea to drop all sails, put out a sea anchor and go
below
waiting it out? What are the potential problems here?

I want to assume that all safety gear is on board in working order and in
use.
Also that you are not close enough to land to have to worry about running
aground, say 500NM out. This would also mean that you waould have no way
of
sailing in before the storm hits to ride out the waether on land.

Thanks,
Bill

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