Boats that can Handle a Blow?

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by sv-Mystique

The real question is how much can the skipper take..

Careful here: the next question will be "How
many skippers can handle a blow?"

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Rubbish!

Jim

Well said in reference to riding out a hurricane on a surfboard. No measure of "balls" or bravado will mean anything. You would be a helpless piece of debris flying in the wind without assurance of your next breath or your grasp on the board. It's a poor service to others to suggeat that a person's confidence would suffice having them exposed in a hurricane.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by tropicalescape

Why so?

I've never been unlucky enough to be at sea in a hurricane but I've been out in 40-50 kt winds and the seas looked like the inside of a washing machine. A surfboard would be rolled and tossed and flipped and generally thrown about like a Kleenex in a tornado.

[Hudson Force]

I've been fortunate enough to find a safe anchorage for three hurricanes while we remained aboard. I guess a man on a surfboard could have done well in my protected anchorage if he stayed downwind, ashore, and was wearing a wetsuit with a mask and snorkel, as long as he was not hit by any of the flying debris!

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Tia Bu

The crew said the tops of the genoa winches were sometimes underwater.

Submersion of the primary winches is not generally an indicator of a boat's stiffness.

[westwinds]

Originally Posted by Bash

Submersion of the primary winches is not generally an indicator of a boat's stiffness.

Or the ability of the crew in shortening sail.

[MLOI]

Originally Posted by Tia Bu

And then the winner of the Pursuit class came in- a 1964 Pearson Vanguard! They had no damage at all. The crew said the tops of the genoa winches were sometimes underwater.

In a race with an experienced racing crew? Almost anything could handle 40 knots. Mostly people just come unstuck because they are trying to go too fast.
Last christmas we were reaching across the bottom of Tasmania in a south westerly blowing high 30s knots, gusting over 45. With no tucks in the main and a ~120% jennaker up on a Farr 52. Only time it looked like going wrong was after we turned to the north and dug the nose in when we pulled the headsail down.

The first 40s behind us had a day of 40 to 50+ knots on the nose, they all managed it OK.

(as for the surfboard in a hurricane? I've been out windsurfing in Southern Tasmania in wind gusting to 70 knots - measured by a handheld anenometer and confirmed by the BoM (They saw saw 90 on Mt Wellington). Flat water behind a spit with not much more than a hanky tied to the mast. There was quite a lot of breakage that day...)

Mike

[TacomaSailor]

"The winds started out in the 20-25 knot range, quickly built up to 30 knots, and ended up blowing 40 knots. The course was offshore. "

Sounds like a typical winter race day in Puget Sound, Straits of Georgia - been there done that dozens of times and thought it was normal- in boats from 28' to 40'.

Straits of Georgia race north from Vancouver seldom has less wind that described by the OP.

Swiftsure race west from Victoria out to Swiftsure Banks in the Pacific ocean typically had considerably more than 40 knots at some time during the 36 or so hours of the race. We did it several times in lightweight dedicated race boats.

I haven't raced for 20 years and am not trying to brag on my experience but I've got to ask: - have things changed that much that 40 knots is note worthy?

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by MLOI

In a race with an experienced racing crew? Almost anything could handle 40 knots. Mostly people just come unstuck because they are trying to go too fast.
Last christmas we were reaching across the bottom of Tasmania in a south westerly blowing high 30s knots, gusting over 45. With no tucks in the main and a ~120% jennaker up on a Farr 52. Only time it looked like going wrong was after we turned to the north and dug the nose in when we pulled the headsail down.

The first 40s behind us had a day of 40 to 50+ knots on the nose, they all managed it OK.

(as for the surfboard in a hurricane? I've been out windsurfing in Southern Tasmania in wind gusting to 70 knots - measured by a handheld anenometer and confirmed by the BoM (They saw saw 90 on Mt Wellington). Flat water behind a spit with not much more than a hanky tied to the mast. There was quite a lot of breakage that day...)

Mike

I and carloads of others have driven from Cape Hattares to Va. Beach chasing waves as the hurricanes move up the coast line ,the main part of the storm was about 30-40 miles off shore,I have dropped in on 20-25 ft waves in Merizo Guam when typhoons come thru, 3 days later the waves are 2 ft high until the next storm comes thru a few weeks or a month or so later..I have been out when there was 4 ft of seafoam blowing on the beach and the winds were building faces that seem to never stop..We parked a volvo station wagon behind a block wall once and came back and it was smashed by the blocks being blown over..The winds were well over 60 mph and gusting to 80..There are surfers that have been chasing hurricanes for many years just to catch a good wave..

[Tia Bu]

Originally Posted by TacomaSailor

"The winds started out in the 20-25 knot range, quickly built up to 30 knots, and ended up blowing 40 knots. The course was offshore. "

Sounds like a typical winter race day in Puget Sound, Straits of Georgia - been there done that dozens of times and thought it was normal- in boats from 28' to 40'.

Straits of Georgia race north from Vancouver seldom has less wind that described by the OP.

Swiftsure race west from Victoria out to Swiftsure Banks in the Pacific ocean typically had considerably more than 40 knots at some time during the 36 or so hours of the race. We did it several times in lightweight dedicated race boats.

I haven't raced for 20 years and am not trying to brag on my experience but I've got to ask: - have things changed that much that 40 knots is note worthy?

Interesting. Check out the Charleston Race Week website. I don't race much, but I gather that racing (racing boats?) has changed over that time period.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by tropicalescape

I and carloads of others have driven from Cape Hattares to Va. Beach chasing waves as the hurricanes move up the coast line ,the main part of the storm was about 30-40 miles off shore,I have dropped in on 20-25 ft waves in Merizo Guam when typhoons come thru, 3 days later the waves are 2 ft high until the next storm comes thru a few weeks or a month or so later..I have been out when there was 4 ft of seafoam blowing on the beach and the winds were building faces that seem to never stop..We parked a volvo station wagon behind a block wall once and came back and it was smashed by the blocks being blown over..The winds were well over 60 mph and gusting to 80..There are surfers that have been chasing hurricanes for many years just to catch a good wave..

All quite correct. Chasing storms for surfing is a long tradition. However, I think the OP was implying (perhaps rhetorically) that something as small as a surfboard would survive a hurricane at sea where conditions will be quite different from storm induced shore break.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Don L

I think this by far is more about the decisions the captains made while underway and before leaving the dock.

+1000!

When its blowing hard, a little seamanship is required on any boat.

[Cheechako]

Shouldnt this be titled "skippers than can handle a blow"?

[westwinds]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Shouldnt this be titled "skippers than can handle a blow"?

Well, yes, but it's good information and some have even mentioned the something about the nature of the sailboat they were using.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by skipmac

All quite correct. Chasing storms for surfing is a long tradition. However, I think the OP was implying (perhaps rhetorically) that something as small as a surfboard would survive a hurricane at sea where conditions will be quite different from storm induced shore break.

aah...