Top end limit finally reached..

Originally posted by G.R.F.

Thursday last we knew it was due to come up, but there was no immediate sign, clouds were n't exactly scudding along and it looked pretty light.
Time the course was laid and the gun sounded it was around 3-4 bft, certainly no more and as we set off it puffed up a tad but nothing other than to assure us a fun race was about to ensue and my new crew would get some fast three sail action in a reasonable breeze for the first time.

He's not that much heavier than me, probably 75 kgs so we're around 145 all up and were happy to be showing our rivals in their Merlin a clean pair of heels and pulling away nicely, only the Contenders had the better of us, but their initial lead was being reeled in every leg we got the kite up.

I'd set the course this time so I'd done my best to make it Contender unfriendly, nice deep reaches, keep the buggers off their wires, but the first big puffs shifted the first reach a bit more beamy for them so they were wiring like the sons of unmarried parents that they are.

We'd done the first triangle sausage when the first of the big gusts hit, they were solid, bloody walls of wind initially about 25 knots, we dumped the kicker hauled the downhaul til my fingers bled, but the next set of gusts just stopped us dead, first head to wind, then even fully sheeted out, over we went, crew fully out on the wire, me hiking for all I was worth, the main sheeted right out, we still went over in the flap drag.

Must have been thirty, thirty five knots, we got it up, went down the next two reaches, didn't bother with the kite and at the end of the second reach, the shore was beckoning my sense of what was the right decision to take, but crew boy gives it the 'who dares wins Rodney' so we harden up and go for another beat..

Big mistake, half way up we're over again, massive gust just flattened us, then he noticed the rudder drifting off just as we're righting it, swims off to get it despite me querying where's he going now just as the boat rights then with me in it and full of water just gets blown straight over again and away downwind from my man who's now struggling to catch up swimming with the rudder.

Half an hour later... After much trauma, losing the rudder, a bent Gnav we came in under bare poles, still blowing over again just as we come up the beach. There was chaos everywhere, the rescue boat had to be beached after being flooded, I had to get it back up the coast full to the gunwales and the water up to the engine cowls, we'd gotten everyone ashore and safe and the marks back, but what a night...

So, nobody tell me they can sail in any control in wind over 30 knots, it's not possible, even winching the boats up the beach with bare poles we still had a Contender blow clean over...

30 knots is definitely the top end limit, I certainly don't want to be out there in that again..

Edited by G.R.F. - 24 Jun 12 at 5:37pm