Steering failing in F8-9

[bubba]

The thing I see wrong about the over healed boat in the photo is there using there jib like a Catamaran in heavy winds and not a reefed main like the Mac's are designed far. We regularly sail in 30 + mph breezes but we have 3 reefs and our M ballances great at no more than 15 deg's heal on the 3rd reef and we have gotten 9.5 mph by the gps out sailing with no stearing problem. My wife grew up sailing with the jib in heavy breases but it does not work good on the Mac's there not designed for it. I am guessing that regular use of the jib only in heavy air will bring down the mast before long. I think you will find Roger Macgregor's advice ( on the Mac's web site ) is to keep the boat heal to 12 to 15 deg for the best performance and to reduce excess wear on the stearing by using reefing on the main sail.

[restless]

The wind was straight aft. The photos were taken at a moment when the steering stuck and pulled the boat round, bringing the wind to beam, for which there is far too much sail up hence the potential broach. The second photo shows the sheet being dumped.
The boat is a standard set up and being sailed single handed. I'm pretty gymnastic but without autopilot I'm not faffing round setting reefed mains on the coachroof on my own.. and the standard sail has only one reef.

[J.Teixeira]

I don't understand some of the comments about blue water sailing...

Bjorn was sailing in protected waters, small waves and high wind...

Near from the mouth of one of the largest natural harbors in the world...

In mi modest opinion: A Mac is just a sluggish king size 470 (concerning to sailing).

If properly equipped and handled it is possible to sail with it in high wind...
(Not in big waves or high seas)

Bjorn was just pushing the limits of is boat.

Some of us like to do it...

Others don't

Recently a Portuguese friend, crossed the Atlantic single handed from France to Brazil in a 22 ft boat...

He was not crazy or suicide, he was just pushing is limits on a BIG well prepared adventure...

http://www.franciscolobato.com/online_e ... ml#transat

Some of us love it

Jose

Ariane - Portugal

[Québec 1]

I also like to push the limits and intend to sail my 26M in the interior pool of a local hotel . I'd sail it it my bathtub but it won't fit through the bathroom door.
Q1

[waternwaves]

am guessing that regular use of the jib only in heavy air will bring down the mast before long...

might be applicable for an M, but an X with a backstay is not very likely to fail in that condition.

as far as the rest.

The only place I have put the mast in the water was off the west coast of vancouver island west of barkley sound where the depth goes from 6,000 to 200 ft in less than 25 miles., Full ocean exposure thankyou. I learned alot about northern pacific current dyanmics on that trip. and even with over 45kts of wind pushing on the side of the boat it comes back up. The bouys were reporting 11 m of swell.

a triple reefed main is not necessary at 20kts of wind. I am more comfortable or nimble than some, and I do put the reefs in earlier when people are riding with me, and maybe I have a different set of go, no go points. But swell does not scare me.(it can make me sick on occasion) Breaking waves do scare me.
IT is pounding, slow and tiring in a mac with triple reef in, and barely making upwind headway. But it is not fatal.

puget sound, straits of georgia, haro strait rarely get above 3-4 meters of swell, with a half dozen feet of wave on top. not as pretty as going out under the golden gate bridge but it can be a similar ride.

there are a lot more dangerous things in life that I am exposed to daily than my mac in 20 to 30 kt winds.

if the ride is too rough, pull all the rags in and motor with a forward speed of only 4 kts

I do not claim that any plastic boat under 80 ft is a Bluewater boat.......any of them can sink in the right conditions.

my 40 hunter, while sailing 40 degrees to the apparant wind feels comfortable....at winds less than 25, but it isnt that much more comfortable than the mac when the winds hit 40. All small boats get pounded.

I still do have small memory of last winter injanuary motoring a 40 ft. into only 40kts of wind. It was something that I needed to get done, moving my boat to a new homeport. The snow and the freezing rain was far more of an inconvenience than the wind.

20kts is not excessive for an experienced sailor

[delevi]

I guess I'll jump in. Everyone has their own tolerance for risk. What is crazy for some is a great time for others. To each his own. Certainly, if some idiot who doesn’t know what he/she is doing purposely goes out in extreme conditions, such a person is a danger to himself and others. But if you know your skill level and your craft, and happen to enjoy heavy weather sailing… hey who’s to say you shouldn’t be out there. Personally, I like to push the envelope. Often, I do get caught in heavier conditions than I would like, but that’s just part of being at sea. I happen to enjoy the challenge as well as the learning experience. The more you and your boat can handle, the more confident and skilled you become as well as learning various capabilities and limitations of the boat, tactics that work, mistakes not to repeat, etc, etc, and if you can do all that and have a good time, more power to you. Heavy weather sailing isn’t for everyone, but sometimes you go out on what seems to be a good day and you get caught in some gnarly stuff. If it ever happens to you, you would probably feel much better having “been there, done that” vs. being terrified. The later is not a good state of mind when you have to make quick decisions which impact the safety of yourself and your crew.

Bottom line: I think we can all agree that we sail for fun. It’s just not everyone has the same idea of what fun is… and that’s ok.

W&W, You’re right 20 knots is not extreme, even for a Mac. I do that with full canvas… a bit less canvas upwind. 20 is kind of the magic number for that perfect sailing breeze in my opinion.

Leon

[waternwaves]

my boat is heavy and slow and takes more wind

but I stand on the hull sides and hold shrouds also

[Kelly Hanson East]

No pictures??

[bastonjock]

I regularly sail my in the afore mentioned North Sea,you would not catch me out there at this moment,40 knot winds from the N.E and minus 4 deg celcius,thats working out at too cold for me

I have had my mac out in winds aproaching F8,its not so much the wind speed that is the problem,its the waves and currents,ive been out in what i describe as "washing machine seas" lots of 4-8ft waves and they can bash a mac to a standstill.We get "square seas" here thats when the winds blowing one way and the tide the other and the whole lot is bouncing off of the shore.I would sail my mac in anything up to an F8 with the winds coming from the South round to the North west,if its coming from the North East,F6 is my maximum as in a wind over tide situation you have steep waves,incidentally Chay Blyth who has sailed into the record books,was asked were he had experienced the scariest conditions,he answered that in a wind over tide situation the Southern North sea was as scarey as the Southern Ocean.

The worst conditions that i have taken my mac through were at Orford ness,I had an F6-7 on the Nose in an area where the sand banks act as a funnell,the tide was against me and i thought that i had over cooked it that time.

I am confident that my mac will handle anything up to an F6,after that any sustained exposure to winds in excess of that will eventually result in equipment failure.

I am hoping that in a couple of years time,i will single hand a small boat down to the Azores,there is no way that i would do it in a mac,my current favourite for doing this is either a Ballad or a Vega,both out of the same stable as Daves Alberg

There are a bunch of sailors in the UK who regularly sail small boats into the Atlantic,its called "the Jester Challenge",id love to do it,some guys do it in boats as small as a 21ft corribee,id never do it in a Mac

[waternwaves]

No pictures??...

none that I know of. But since I wasnt steering, there have been witnesses

[Solitario]

I also like to push the limits and intend to sail my 26M in the interior pool of a local hotel . I'd sail it it my bathtub but it won't fit through the bathroom door.
Q1

It 'simple ... just widen the door joking
Bob.

[Highlander]

OK here's Q1

In his bathtub 10ft-12ft Swells following sea's , running with the tide, he is laying on the cockpit floor drinking my beer !! telling me it looks & remembers him just like his days in the north atlantic when he was in the navy , while I'm steering the boat , controlling all running rigging , navigating our course , & running the wind !! Oh and also shooting this video , while all he has to say is I never seen it this bad out here before !!

http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/ ... 010072.flv

J