What kind of crazy rule is this?

Don't know about 35kts but I've sailed in 30mph average on both sea and pond and I'd much rather be on the sea. On a pond it's much more gusty and there's no waves to gybe on (Contenders don't granny very well).

Originally posted by JimC   As we sailors are as fond of the big fish story as anyone else, we usually describe 20knots with 35 gusts as being 35 knots, not 20.

Yes. I've sailed for 25 years and only been in steady 35 knots three times (as evidenced by wind instruments). One of those was during a Cowes Week, most boats retired, more than one sank, and several sailors went for unscheduled swims off big boats (all were lucky enough to be picked up by other boats).

I've been in steady 45 knots just once and a sailor drowned during the race following a knock-down. The bottom six feet of atmosphere were full of spray - it almost looked like mist - which is a thing I've not seen at any other time. These are serious amounts of breeze even for big boats and not most people's idea of fun in reality.

 

Interesting little thread this is turning into guys...

For my 4-penny's worth, I would say that first of all there is a difference between "de-powering" and "dumping power". With any rig, as the breeze gets up you want to start to de-power. This is a gently and progressive action, and in here you guys are right when you say that a "skiff-type" rig is more flexible and easier to de-power. However what people usually struggle with when it's windy are the gusts, and this is where hard rigs can be a problem (because of the nature of the hard,fully-battened sail, you get this very on/off situation. Either the main is set and driving, or it's inverted and not driving), so if you ease out in the gusts you simply start to hobby-horse. With soft sails you can "feather" them more in the gusts, allowing them to luff a little but still keeping some drive on.

Regarding your comment about the jib Jim, I used to do this on the Cherub too with good effect, but on something like a B14 (or certainly on the 12ft Skiff), it'll  just bin you straight in because the jibs are so much more powerful.

Hopefully see you orrible lot at the Dinghy show....

Does anyone believe the impressive footage in Higher and Faster of the 800 is really 35knts? That is a F8!

Going back to depowering with the jib, "High Performance Sailing" says a good way to dump a lot of power is ease the jib until it backwinds but isn't flapping. You lose the power without increasing drag too much (in theory!). I have yet to try this though.

I kind of agree with the rule but I do think it should be more of a
combination of things for example at this years and last years 300
nationals the wind was possibly around the 24K speed, but then you put
colossal waves in there it becomes really hard work and the lardy boys do
well although I am one of the lightest 300 B rig sailors.

I could handle 25k winds on a pond but really struggle at sea. The worst
thing is the newbie’s to the boat at a nationals often don’t bother going
out and if you have that kind of wind and waves for two days in a row it
can become very disappointing and more likely to cause damage from
your self capsizing and hitting the main and its buy buy mast track and
your nacked.

I do agree with the minimum wind strength angle tho as I went to a
L**htning open last year a bit over weight and the race officer started the
race on a mirror so low wind limit good max wind venue specific for me.