Love My Heavy Sails

[BOAT]

Squall sailing is a B. I. T. C. . . (you know the rest) That's how it goes in Mexico a lot. It sucks. Now, this is only my opinion - when I was a kid I spent a LOT of time in Mexico with my dad squall sailing. Our first trips with his trailer sailboat we would do all the normal things - reefing, smaller headsails, heavy sails, vangs, but then the wind would die and we would sit - go though all the crap of putting everything back and then wam - the squall - SQUALLS AGAIN! Ugh.

After a few years of that we finally just figured on letting the wind squall and the boat heel - nothing broke - we did not die - the sun kept rising every morning.

So, now that's just my opinion on squalls - and that's how I sail them too in the MAC - does it heel? Yes. Has it killed me? Nope.

Really - the proper way to deal with bad wind is the way that Highlander mentioned - if your going to sail in those kinds of conditions often and it's a region where exposure and cold can be a safety issue you really do need to have the hounds and deck shackles to mount a proper storm jib inside of the forestay - the worst place to have a sail in a storm is on the forestay - it just blows your boat all over the place to kingdom come no matter how small the sail is. The only way to get control of the sail is to get it off the forestay and closer to the mast. Highlander has told you the best option for high wind situations and if your area is cold - you really need it.

P.S. I did swallow a grape wrong one time when the boat heeled in a squall because my beer tipped over and I jumped up too fast to grab it before I chewed on the grape. *Lesson - we don't bring grapes on board anymore.

[robbarnes1965]

Hmmm never thought of it that way ..... ok prob a strange question but what is anyone's opinion of adding a 4th reef to the main this is strictly for squall sailing.... I've just recently had a 3rd reef put in the stock main sail and have yet to see how much that helped but already wondering if I should have just went ahead and had 2 higher points .... most say they just drop the sails all together and use motor only.... I want to use my motor as the very last case scenario as i hate having all my eggs in one basket ..... I really would just like to be able to maneuver around in a squall without heeling at 45+ degrees a d rounding up ....so just enough sail to move 2kts or so

My motor is reliable I believe but i hate having only 1 option and I have a sea anchor for if it gets REALLY bad but id really like to find a way to use the sails in quite strong winds if just to barely maneuver and keep the bow as close into the wind as possible ....... since our boats can't heave to I'm starting to wonder if just the smallest bit of main and jib out would just about accomplish the same thing

No to a 4th reef - or even a third....
If you have to put that much of a reef in, the sails need to come down, OR, you need to hoist storm sails. The two main reasons are 1) reefed sails move the CE too far forward 2)Your "normal sails take a beating and will blow out in the long run if you make this a practice.

Now I do like having sails out because choppy storm waves have an annoying habit of popping your prop out of the water too often. So I like Highlander's inner-forestay option but you could also add a ATN Gale sail if you have a roller furling foresail. The Gale Sail also has the advantage of preventing your furled sail from unfurling accidentally at the worst moment ! Our boat now has a hank on forestay so I just swap out for a smaller sail (you don't want to do that with a furler in a storm). An extra track on the mast for a storm tri-sail might be a good idea if you are in an area that is prone to those conditions. It will extend the life of your main if you use it instead of reefing.

Having a set of storm sails beats having heavier main and jib only as most of your sailing is likely to be in lighter conditions in a Mac. Why suffer on those beautiful light wind summer days with the sails worthlessly flapping because there is not enough wind to hold them up.

It is so much more pleasant to sail in control will less canvas up when the wind is howling!

[Highlander]

Here,s my Storm sail on a furler might I add
Here we r drying out our sails on the last day of our 2016 MMOR before de-rigging & headin home Tom already had his boat at the boat ramp as he had the furthest to travel

Notice that 3 of the in this pic all have nice bowsprits
J
PS this was my last sail in Ont. as I hauled the boat out & over the Rockies to the NWP BC coast a couple of wks later !

[Tomfoolery]

Tom already had his boat at the boat ramp as he had the furthest to travel

Nutz. Missed another group shot.

[BOAT]

Here,s my Storm sail on a furler might I add
Here we r drying out our sails on the last day of our 2016 MMOR before de-rigging & headin home Tom already had his boat at the boat ramp as he had the furthest to travel

Notice that 3 of the in this pic all have nice bowsprits
J
PS this was my last sail in Ont. as I hauled the boat out & over the Rockies to the NWP BC coast a couple of wks later !

Holy Crap! There are four head sails on that boat and no waterline!!!

[Highlander]

Tom already had his boat at the boat ramp as he had the furthest to travel

Nutz. Missed another group shot.

Well Tom
Don,t feel so bad I was so busy with getting my house ready for sale & retirement planning I almost did not go ! & then my daughter,s said dad why don,t u go U want to right ? I said yes but just to much sh-t to do , they said "Dam it" dad U,ll regret it ! , then they said just retire 3 wks earlier & get ur sh-t together & get that boat ready & go sailing with ur friends "u,ll never regret it " they were right " smart girl,s" my daughters . I should listen to them more often !

J

[Highlander]

Here,s my Storm sail on a furler might I add
Here we r drying out our sails on the last day of our 2016 MMOR before de-rigging & headin home Tom already had his boat at the boat ramp as he had the furthest to travel

Notice that 3 of the in this pic all have nice bowsprits
J
PS this was my last sail in Ont. as I hauled the boat out & over the Rockies to the NWP BC coast a couple of wks later !

Holy Crap! There are four head sails on that boat and no waterline!!!

Yep eat ur heart out !

J

[Highlander]

Cutter Riggs are so nice
https://www.facebook.com/SailingYachtTV ... 633498707/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_32S9YNMOU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4fjmyDF4_4

Who said a Mac can,t sail !!!
J

[sailboatmike]

Highlander I think your missing a marketing opportunity, maybe you can sell advertising space on the bottom of your boat, you can see more of the bottom than the sides

[1st Sail]

I'm thinking heel stripes similar to the draft markers on freighters.

_____10°
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