> I never want to reef with the wind coming in over the stern... The conditions I described below were such we did not want to turn into the wind for any reason. The seas were averaging 24' and the big ones were in the 40' range with breaking tops. (Not unusual in June/July south of the Oregon/Calif border, north of San Francisco. This area is often called the "Squash Zone" owing to the Northwesterly winds being "squashed" between inshore and offshore high pressure cells.)
This is the same area that more than a few new cruisers, often an older couple, are airlifted off a perfectly good boat because they have become exhausted and can no longer safely sail their boat. The first time (1977) I experienced the "Squash Zone" was aboard a C&C 39 with the typical mainsail plastic slugs in a track. That mainsail would not reef downwind at any time. We spent a very exciting night over powered, unwilling to head back upwind to reef. IIRC that sail was tough to reef upwind, especially when wet. Sometimes it would take two crew to pull the sail down. One of the things to watch closely when reefing downwind with full battens is how they are located in relationship to the spreaders. In boisterous conditions with the wind aft the sail and battens will be pressed against the spreaders and rigging. On Calypso we will sheet in a little to pull the battens off the spreaders. Sheeting in does load the sail up a little but the Harken Batt cars have so little friction that the extra load does not create the need for more down force. Martin Calypso 1971 C&C 43 Seattle -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of dwight Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 4:06 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Re- heaving to I never want to reef with the wind coming in over the stern...In fact I think that would be a very hard way to do it -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Martin DeYoung Sent: February 6, 2014 7:58 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Re- heaving to > ... I have seldom ever wanted to reef with the wind aft ... On a delivery of a 56' modern fast cruiser (carbon mast/boom etc.) from Seattle to San Francisco we had 20 hours of fast downwind sailing with winds in the 35 to 45 range with seas to match. All four aboard were experience racers and offshore sailors (the owner had seen 250K offshore miles). There was heated competition for high speed of the day while avoiding making a pile of carbon splinters. (I had held one day's speed record at 24 knots on an extended surf in the middle of a 45 knot gust.) The sail plan for those conditions was 1 or 2 reefs and a poled out #3, sometimes partially rolled up. IIRC the boat had an Antal system on the mast with full battens. We were able to add or shake reefs downwind at will to keep the boat moving fast but within the abilities of boat and crew to handle the conditions. With larger, powerful sail plans the lower friction mainsail luff systems (Calypso has the Harken Batt cars) I consider the ability to quickly reduce sail area upwind or down is a safety and seamanship issue. I am able to singlehandedly put the first reef in Calypso's mainsail in less than 3 minutes under most conditions. I did heave to reef once while sailing singlehanded in what started as a nice 20 TWS that quickly became 30 with gusts to 35. I rolled up some of the #3, tacked without releasing the sheet. Once the boat settle in a little I was able to put in the reef (all lines at the mast) with significantly less motion on deck. I do recall thinking to myself that setting out on Calypso, singlehanded in these conditions could be my last mistake and have been more conservative since. It was not the actual sailing, it was the ability to recover from a mistake or equipment failure so close to land that was a concern. Martin Calypso 1971 C&C 43 Seattle _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
