Mic wrote:

But do you actually have a point to this?

yes the generalization of average winds as noted would not necessary
apply to these regions.


My point was the the generalization of average winds applies to very
little when considering how strong something has to be.


How many people do you see go out when it is 30 knots sustained. Near
zero.


This is total nonsense. While I don't often leave the dock in high
winds, at least once a year I find myself out in strong winds. Last
year's episode had lighter wind than our normal max - it was about 30
but on the stern - it was the 10+ foot confused sea that annoyed my
wife.


There is a big difference in being out when 30 knots of wind occur and
going out when there is that much wind, it not nonsense...it is fact.
As you said yourself you dont often go out in such conditions. And
many in pleasure boating and even passage making dont either.


There is a difference in the intent, but 30 knots is 30 knots
regardless of the intent. This is a discussion about design, not
intent. While daysailors have the option of never leaving the dock
unless the short term forecast is perfect, passage makers have made an
commitment to take whatever the sea offers.

Boats must be designed to the most severe weather they might
reasonably encounter. For this consideration, the "average wind" is
meaningless.

So what would you think is a reasonable design point? In all of the
larger boats I've owned, I've been out in 40+ knots, anchored in 50+,
and had 60+ at the dock. All of them have made Atlantic crossings
(not by me!), including the 25 footer.

There is, of course, a flip side to this. I have friends who bought
heavy weather boats for the security they offer, then found its not
worth raising sail until its blowing 20; others have light air boats
that need to be reefed above 15. But this is a somewhat different
design issue.

....

Simple I take the "statement" as reasonable fact based on experience
and practically every cruiser log published on the net.
That the average sustained winds are usually less than about 21 knots,
certain geographically noted exceptions excluded.


Yes, this is true. Just not relevant to the discussion.



As I said, my current boat has two complete systems, including two
rudders.


How are they configured? Are they production original, is one a
homebrew or off the shelf?


Off the shelf, standard configuration, 100 built, plus another 100 of
related designs. On most boats of my design, the rudder is a balanced
spade, and I've know of one case where one of the rudders got jammed
and had to be disconnected. My boat, and about a third of the newer
sisterships, has a skeg hung rudder. Handling under sail suffers a
bit, though I'm not sure its really a downside, since I don't use it
for "round the buoys" racing.

BTW, many of the other boats I considered had similar setups. The
sailboat next to me in the yard had twin rudders, and one of the other
sailboats on my dock, of a completely different style, also has twin
rudders.


....
I see a lot of spade rudders out there....at least the boats I am
noticing.

But its leads you to worrying about emergency rudders. This is not
the path of simplicity.


Not necessarly. Alot of factors of necessary force on a tiller has to
do with sail balance and rudder design, current,wind, etc/


Yes, you have to look at the whole package. My previous boat had a
rig that was prone to being unbalanced and overpowering, so I was glad
to have a balanced spade. Before that, I had a full keel that tracked
"on rails" so the spade wasn't needed.