Thanks Wayne, I added a furling jib a couple of months ago, and it has been the best addition ever. Its great to furl and unfurl from the cockpit when you need better control. My biggest surprise was going through the wake of one of the big tankers, just as I was pondering the water being displaced by these giants, I looked up and saw a wake that was easily twice as big as the chop, to me it was like looking at a tsunami coming towards me. I have to say I started to panic and threw my cell phone and handheld VHF into the cockpit just in case, I had no idea what to expect, I pointed her bow into the wakes and held on. To my surprise the boat rose with the wake and dropped with no problem at all, a little extra bobbing and the wakes were gone. Nothing to it, kinda scary being the first time, heck I imagine it would still be scary if it was the second or third time. I imagine a broadside approach to a 5+ foot wake would be worse.
gilbert -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Wayne Yeargain Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 10:04 AM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: Re: M_Boats: crossing the bay Hi Gilbert Sounds like a "memorable" voyage, I sail a Monty 17 in Galveston and Matagorda Bays, and know how fast the waves can kick up in these Bays. (Shallow water + large open area) I found the best way to control my boat is to drop the Jib, it handles rough conditions very well this way, & easier than furling. Wayne ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gilbert Landin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'For and about Montgomery Sailboats'" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:53 PM Subject: M_Boats: crossing the bay > Well I finally got the chance to cross Corpus Christi Bay. I have been > doing > "little" backyard sails 2-3 times a month for the last year. Checking the > rigging and tuning sails, at most 2 hour mini-sails. So I decided to cross > the bay to "La Bahia" marina in Ingleside-on-the-Bay, roughly a 20+ mile > upwind sail in a Bay that averages 12-14 feet in depth. Not to mention a > 45' > deep Port channel that leads out to the Gulf of Mexico, busy with large > tanker and barge traffic. It started out with a motorsail in 5 knot winds, > did this for the first hour and I got almost 1/2 way out when the wind > picked up to 15 knots. I was ok but soon spotted a line of ominous clouds > gathering behind me and coming my way. Trying to avoid a panic later on, I > diligently thought I should reef before I needed to. After about 3 > accidental jibes I finally was able to get her to hove to, only she was > abreast to the waves at about a 90 degree angle to the wind. Of course I > couldn't reach the reef points so I fired up the motor and plowed her into > the wind. I was then able to reef the main and settle down for the wind > increase. It was 96 degrees in the shade, problem was there was no shade. > That was a big concern since without a bimini top you just broil big time. > It took me two hours to beat up the channel the last hour with motor > support > since the traffic increased as I got closer to the turn off channel. I was > using paper charts and a gps (meridian marine w/ navcharts) you really > cant > use those tiny screens, they are ok for general purpose but if you are > single handing in a strange place and concentrating on boat traffic, you > need a chart where you can see the big picture at a glance. I finally got > to > the marina where upon docking a beautiful girl on a "Dolphin Tour" boat > greeted me with a "That's a nice boat". "This old thing" I replied > modestly. > I gratefully took my cooler and sat in the shade. Now I could concentrate > on > the charts and see where I had just come from. Finishing my lunch, Jim > Johnson a local liveaboard came over to say hello and point out a couple > of > short cuts. I felt very good that I had finally made a "big" voyage. After > another half hour of visiting it was time to go. The wind was now a steady > 17 knots luckily it was now coming off my stern. I took the short cuts and > when I was once again in open waters, the next adventure began. The wind > was > to overpowering to sail anything other than a very close haul or a broad > reach, not to bad except for the 3-4 ft waves that would push you into the > wind and then heel you over so bad the rudder would loose its bite for a > split second. That went on for a long time until I got my rhumb line to > point me in the direction of my home port than I was running for about 10 > miles, finally I could relax my grip on the tiller and get circulation > back > into my fingers. I made it home but was shell shocked the rest of the > evening. Next morning I felt like I had been run over by a truck and the > truck backed up and ran me over again. I decided I did not like going out > with this boat in these conditions, problem is that this were normal > condition here. The boat handled beautifully and my confidence level for > its > capabilities have increased. She could have taken on more wind and waves > and > I would still have still felt safe. > > Gilbert Landin > Montgomery 17 Sagita #49 > > > _______________________________________________ > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats > > _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
