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I decided
Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
However discussing the ability of any boat to withstand the sea is a highly subjective subject as in a serious storm any boat can be overwhelmed. And don't overlook or underestimate the knockdown. I've seen this happen on small & medium sized keelboats: the a heavy gust blows the boat over far enough to put the boom in the water, at which point the keel has lost effectiveness as a foil & the boat is being shoved sideways... putting increasing pressure from water flow on the mainsail & boom, dragging the rig under... boat inverts and may have a pretty strong tendency to stay that way. No wave action necessary. Heaving to, for example is a good tactic... until the waves get high enough that they are breaking and you may well be rolled. On the other hand, running off is a good tactic until the waves become steep enough that your drogues cannot slow you sufficiently and you bury the bow in the trough of the wave and pitch pole. And if the drogue *does* slow you sufficiently, then you are being pulled through a breaking crest and being hammered by truckloads of water at 60+. There is no bulletproof "right answer." Furthermore, the sea can be destructive beyond belief. I've seen one of those V-shaped depression gales generate sea conditions that ripped welded steel fittings off a US Navy vessel. IMHO there is *no* cruising sailboat... or racer either, for that matter... which could have survived those local conditions, no matter what her equipment or tactics. The only answer is to be elsewhere when it gets that bad. DSK |
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