Sailing techniques in "uncomfortable" weather?

[jbinbi]

Assuming you have a medium size cat 35-45'. You are sailing say 500mi, say about a 5 day journey. No harbors in between. Forecast is ok, but day 3 calls for 20-25kts and 3-5' seas. You start out, but on day 3, it is a steady 25-30 gusting to 35+, with 7-10' seas, fairly steep chop.

You are on a close reach, say 60 deg off the wind, with great speed, but now pretty much heading into the waves.

Nothing that the boat can't handle, you have 2 reefs into the main and jib furled halfway as well, but hobby horse/pounding into the seas. Just uncomfortable.

You are not pressed on time, if the voyage was 2 days longer it would not be terrible, on the other hand, to run with the waves will definitely add at least 2 more days to recover the time lost in the wrong direction. Falling off to 90 deg off the wind puts the seas on the beam.

Best way to handle this is? (Asking because I have not experienced this, have always been within reach of a harbor).

[danielamartindm]

Give yourself a break; if there's sea room, heave to, and get weather updates until you're ready to resume course.

[gmakhs]

Can cats heave to ???
The weather your describe is just easy fast sailing , I have been sailing on this conditions with my first 26 motion is not that bad .
Above 35 it starts to get uncomfortable but still better to continue with it than stop anyway the weather will help you reach faster .

Now to your options :
Run of in a small boat like mine it's not the best option except if it's the last resort , risking to be on the Lee side of my destination it may mean as well that I lose the destination.
Run in general I don't believe is comfortable I would prefer to heave to and rest if that's possible with a cat .

The worst thing in bad weather is unbalanced sails monohulls may make the mistake to carry to much sail but I have seen a lot of cats sailing with too much reef , this make the boat unstable and uncomfortable , I crossed from Caribbean to gib with a privilege 46 last year and I had plenty of time to practise , plus the owners sailing area to wind information tablet I noticed that reefing too soon made the boat movement worse and proper trimming and sail area made the ride quite smooth .
Go out and test your boat , relie on your sails for all the manoeuvres and make different combinations , write those combinations and observations down and keep testing them until you find the smooth spot.

PS : even on cats I find it issuer to balance the sails if I hand steer for a while.before I blput the autopilot.

[arsenelupiga]

i thought you sold your L38, so why bother ?

Hope you have not turned into paid troll.

Anyway, my answer for conditions you describe and i have been thru:

find angle of attack where pounding disappears. This tend to be around 50 app on one tack and 38 app on the other.

If this does not work, in my case this was the cse in 30 kn true and 3m waves, turn on both engines on low rev to finetune speed not to go too fast to eliminate pounding. With sail it is impossible to go no more than 6.2 kn as already 6.3 kn causes pounding. With engines you can. Your boat and wife will say thank you.

I am sure my post will attract paid trolls, but this really worked and made windward leg bearable, even enjoyable.

[gmakhs]

What is a paid troll???
Can I be paid.for.trolling ?

[mikedefieslife]

Sounds like a normal day in the Med.

If you know that your boat hobby horses and going into the wind isn't comfortable, why even set out knowing that such weather is coming on day three?

My cat will want to do about 8knts in 20knts + at 60 degrees, which would be immensely uncomfortable and cause massive crash into each wave which will stall the boat before it picks up speed again. Better in my case to slow down to 3 knts then the boat just pitches with seas but doesn't crash.

[Sparx]

Consider removing weight from the bows.

One might reach a little deeper on a course headed for less bothersome waves. On a catamaran one could be in a different weather system in a matter of a few hours.

[mikereed100]

We find ourselves in that situation more than I would like. We generally just reef and head up until the speed is down to 4-5 knots, which allows the boat to make progress without pounding. If it gets worse we just heave to until it settles down a bit.

[Cpt Mark]

Having to come up the coast last year in early winter from San Francisco to Portland Or. I encountered conditions far worse that you describe. Slowing the boat down was the answer. In my case I was headed directly into everything so was motoring therefore, easy to do. If sailing options include, pinching higher, drogue, setting the sea anchor or turning back f that is the appropriate thing to do.

[NPCampbell]

Originally Posted by Sparx

Consider removing weight from the bows.

One might reach a little deeper on a course headed for less bothersome waves. On a catamaran one could be in a different weather system in a matter of a few hours.

Removing weight from the bows increases the rate of hobby horsing by reducing the rotational inertia of your boat. This is good for performance but normally comes at the expense of comfort.

[44'cruisingcat]

500 miles? By day 3 we're almost there. Can put up with 35 knots for 1/2 day easy enough.

[Ken Z]

To me, There is zero time limit on a trip. To me progress is survival. Time equals night and day, high and low tide. No sails are safer, drogue if needed. One trip left a cay in 5-6 foot seas, 10 knots, clear skys, 3hours later 40’ seas 25 knots winds on a beam reach for 7 hrs. alone until I tucked in behind a cay. Next day flat no wind motored 120 miles and crossed the gulf stream in a dead calm. Time is timeless to me. RELAX, mother mother ocean. I was in my 30’ texas tri.😎🍸🍸

[Blue2cat]

In my Beneteau 34' Blue II, running before the wind with a drogue aft is the smoothest ride even though headway is lost. However, one must be vigilant due to need to maintain steerage. Autohelm may not be useful often in this condition. Heaving too generally not so good with a cat because balance is challenged and a big wave on the bow can bring her broadside with disastrous results. I think I like the idea of pinching closer to the wind with light engine use resulting in some luffing off sails but again requires keeping at the helm to point that tight but at least headway is not lost. Also, a storm jib called gale sail might be a major assistance. see this site for the one I am going to purchase which does not require an additional stay set up which is no good for a cat with tarp between bows. What do you think on this idea? The Gale Sail | Easy Handling Storm Jib | ATN Sailing Equipment
for a do it yourself series drogue for budgets try this site Series Drogue Kit

[Paul Howard]

Slowing a cat down does reduce the motion and the slam under the bridge deck. On our Manta cat the wave would lift the windward hull, drop it, slam the inside of the lee hull, bounce back to below the bridge deck, slam there and then go out the aft end.

Shortening the mainsail really helps slow the motion, as the leverage of the height of the mainsail causes a lot of the quick motion. I double reef the mainsail before reducing the genoa area. My Manta cat hove-to very well, sat like a duck and drifted about 1 1/2 to 2knots about 50degrees off the direction of the wind as it jigged forward and back. It all depends on how the sails and rudder are set. You won't know until you try. We once stayed hove-to for nearly three days in December, sailing from Casablanca, Morocco, to Las Palmas, Canary Islands, during a Southwest gale and never touched the sails or helm during that time, just found the sweet spot with the mainsail sheet adjustment and the rudder angle.

35knots is not strong enough to set the sea anchor, but heaving-to is comfortable and easy. Heave-to on the offshore tack, especially if there is a current setting towards land.

[CharlesV]

Originally Posted by gmakhs

What is a paid troll???
Can I be paid.for.trolling ?

Exactly. I want to be paid for trolling too, ive been doing it for free long enough!