Most wind to date: 55k southwester. Double reefed main, reefed staysail,
beam reach, boom dragging in the water. Euphoria. In a Westsail 32. (Wet,
all right, but no snail that time.)


"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
With all the recent discussion about wind and wave estimates, I have to
pass along this experience.

It's blowing hard here in Maine today. I went out to the airport to check
my plane and was glad I did. The cabin cover had come loose and was
beating against the sides. The heavy, insulated engine cover had blown
right over the nose and let the oil door pop open. The plane had walked
forward even though chocked. Pushing it back against the wind took real
effort. When the tie downs slacked as I pushed it back, the plane started
dancing and bouncing hard against the ropes. I put a second tie down rope
on the tail and noticed that just the distraction of the wind in my face
made it hard to untangle the line and tie a knot as efficiently as normal.

It was pretty sobering to watch the control surfaces slating and moving
even though they are all secured with gust locks. The tie down area
sounded like a bunch of elves were banging tin cans flat as the rudders of
the many planes with casual owners slammed back and forth in the wind. As
I walked back, the wind was strong enough that I had to lean forward
slightly and push against it. I realized that I will be sailing again in a
few short months and thought, Wow! This was all happening on firm, solid,
asphalt.

When I got back inside, I got out my cell phone and dialed the weather
number in the control tower. "22 gusting to 32" and this is measured 50 to
60 feet up in the clear air above the wind gradient. I'll bet there are a
lot of sailors, probably some in this newsgroup, who have never seen 30
knots of wind while out on the water.

--

Roger Long

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 09:17:42 -0800, "R.W. Behan"
wrote:

Most wind to date: 55k southwester. Double reefed main, reefed staysail,
beam reach, boom dragging in the water. Euphoria. In a Westsail 32. (Wet,
all right, but no snail that time.)

Hey, don't they start to move properly at that windspeed? G

Just kidding: I have great respect for a boat that Ferenc Mate can't
insult and that survived The Perfect Storm without a crew (google
"Perfect Storm and Katana" for the REAL story...never leave the boat
except to step up into the liferaft!)

R.

Hey! That's my quote

An incredible proportion of abandoned vessels are later found floating.
They may be waterlogged but they are a lot more solid than a liferaft.
Schooner Curlew 1962 is another famous example.

--

Roger Long


"...never leave the boat except to step up into the liferaft!)

R.

I didn't get a hit on that google suggestion. I know the real story and
have met some of the people involved but I would enjoy reading the account.
Can you provide a link?

--

Roger Long


Just kidding: I have great respect for a boat that Ferenc Mate can't
insult and that survived The Perfect Storm without a crew (google
"Perfect Storm and Katana" for the REAL story...never leave the boat
except to step up into the liferaft!)

R.

Katari - and the original author removed it from the web. You'll have to do
some extra research to find the story - but, aside from it's being very
defensive and self serving by the captain who let the two girls get on the
radio, it's a pretty good read.

L8R

Skip

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain
"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
I didn't get a hit on that google suggestion. I know the real story and
have met some of the people involved but I would enjoy reading the
account.
Can you provide a link?

--

Roger Long


Just kidding: I have great respect for a boat that Ferenc Mate can't
insult and that survived The Perfect Storm without a crew (google
"Perfect Storm and Katana" for the REAL story...never leave the boat
except to step up into the liferaft!)

R.

Oops. Satori...

http://world.std.com/~kent/satori/

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain
"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
I didn't get a hit on that google suggestion. I know the real story and
have met some of the people involved but I would enjoy reading the
account.
Can you provide a link?

--

Roger Long


Just kidding: I have great respect for a boat that Ferenc Mate can't
insult and that survived The Perfect Storm without a crew (google
"Perfect Storm and Katana" for the REAL story...never leave the boat
except to step up into the liferaft!)

R.

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 21:42:15 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

I didn't get a hit on that google suggestion. I know the real story and
have met some of the people involved but I would enjoy reading the account.
Can you provide a link?

My error: Katana's the name of another boat that hit a storm and lived
to sail again. The boat's name was "Satori" and here's the relevant
link:

http://world.std.com/~kent/satori/

R.

With the benefit of some professional involvement in sailing vessel safety
and accident investigation, I found his account quite convincing. I would
fault him only for failure to control the use of the radio.

--

Roger Long



"rhys" wrote in message
...
My error: Katana's the name of another boat that hit a storm and lived
to sail again. The boat's name was "Satori" and here's the relevant
link:

http://world.std.com/~kent/satori/

R.

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 19:20:29 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

With the benefit of some professional involvement in sailing vessel safety
and accident investigation, I found his account quite convincing. I would
fault him only for failure to control the use of the radio.

Yes, that's what I got from it. He was good on sailing the boat and
keeping his OWN nerve, but for whatever reason (bad judgment in taking
newbie crew aboard in the first place?) he could neither convey this
to the crew nor control them by example.

Whatever the dynamics were (and I can't blame anyone inexperienced for
losing it in appalling conditions), it's a tribute to the Westsail 32
that it rode out the storm and was salvaged by its owner (dumb luck!)
to continue to have a good life as a famous little tank of a sailboat.

R.

That Westsail you speak did NOT survive the "Perfect Storm", for it wasn't
anywhere near the Perfect Storm. That Westsail was off Montauk in 40 knot
winds. No great shakes, even if two inexperienced crew were scared.

survived The Perfect Storm