Yesterday we experienced our first heavy weather in our new 35 mk2, and in spite of only being able to put one reef in the main, she handled the sustained 35 knot winds closehauled for over two hours with minimal drama (according to the graph at Trial Island that I checked this morning). A few breaking waves pushed the bow over, before I started steering into them and the wind to prevent being knocked down too far. I didn't like seeing the main flogging so much, but going forward to add a second reef (no line was in place) was an option I quickly discarded as my wife was not confident taking the helm. (although she did a few times when I had to add the first reef around 20 knots, and tighten the dinghy lashing on the foredeck).
I suspect she would have been much easier to handle with a double reefed main and maybe part of the inner foresail unfurled. I considered unfurling a sliver of the foresail but decided to just keep feathering the main and also had the motor going the while time to help plow through the waves. This is one instance where having extra engine power on tap is nice. I'm interested in what tactics work best for sail setup when winds increase to 25+, as these conditions are not unusual around here, and I want to be more prepared next time. We had a bit of water in the bilge, but a 2 liter plastic water jug broke, so it's hard to tell how much was from that, and how much from other sources. I know that some will have come down the windlass. My job of cleaning the decks after 10 days of cruising is now done... just need to spray the salt off :) -- Shawn Wright shawngwri...@gmail.com S/V Callisto, 1974 C&C 35 https://www.facebook.com/SVCallisto
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