Anybody Want to See a Bruce Roberts 65 Surfing at 20 Knots?!

[Ozbullwinkle]

Originally Posted by goldbeard

I refuse to believe no one has a video of some excitable weather. Come on ya'll!

Ok here is some footage of me skippering a Leopard 47 cat in 30+ knots - no photoshopping just the raw footage. We are definitely going faster than the 8 to 9 knots the guy filming said. Just look at how the heavy tender is bouncing around - shame that this boat didn't have davits as the damn tender was slowing me down. That is a Seawind 1000 that approaches on my port side. Hope you like it.

Catamaran Sailing Fast in 30 Knot + Winds - Leopard 47 - YouTube

[msponer]

Originally Posted by goldbeard

I was under motor. Motors actually. There are two 100 horsepower turbo diesels pushing us along and she does squat, HARD! It was a last minute delivery and my crew were good seamen, just not skilled with handling sails. And, it was a new rig that had not be completely tuned, so, therefor not to be trusted,

Well thank you for posting the link to your video. I've learned that I may be way under estimating the wind with the Beaufort scale, though it's probably for the best; I don't think it's meaningful other than to compare notes afterwards, since the best way to sail is by feel rather than a formula with prescriptions based on numbers. I did, however, feel at times that the folks on the radio were being a bit hyperbolic when they stated the wind speeds (and suspected they were remembering the gusts), but now I think I might have been the one was off.

It's too bad that you had to motor downwind in a gale. I don't know if you are looking for feedback, but if you were not confident in the rig enough to really sail, running downwind at 15-18 knots means that your jib was only seeing ~20 knots. So while the boat was happy with the full jib out with ~20 knots apparent, I'm not so sure it would have been as happy with the boat off course and the jib pressed under the weight of the gale. I, personally, am a bit conservative about this and have evolved a personal style that makes sure nothing will break even if the boat gets off course-- I learned this by breaking a boom on the way South from San Francisco many years ago, probably in similar conditions at your video (it would have been funny if I knew that was my first gale, and not years later!), so it's not like I know what I am doing. Only that I've learned from the past and now make sure that an out of sync wave or autopilot that gets behind itself doesn't break anything. Racing folks brag about pushing the circumstances to make good time, and their best stories involve breaking things (though always with surprised tone that is hard to believe -- "Really, you were flying a spinaker in 30 knots and are surprised you broke things?"), so there are of course other personal styles -- no value judgement here.

[goldbeard]

YES....YES.....Great videos keep them coming!

I hope this inspires some of you to get the waterproof GO PRO cameras! I think we should start putting together a "Crusiers Forum Force" scale!

eh.....eh....what do you think?!

[Yachts66]

So....no response? Curious minds would like to know!

[goldbeard]

Yachts66 what does your curious mind want to know?

[Bash]

Originally Posted by goldbeard

What do you think?

I think the waves always look a bit bigger when the foulie hoods are up.

[SkiprJohn]

I think Yachts wants to know why the jib and main were sheeted in while going downwind. If sailing they should be sheeted out. I think it was explained that they were motoring and not sailing?
kind regards,

[Fr0zen]

Originally Posted by rubyjean

Sorry, on a 26' boat in a storm have better things to do than take pic's. To me, it all looks than same, cresting waves w/ the tops blown off. This past summer was particularly pissie off the west coast. We rode out 2 storms 45-55Knts & 5 gales 25-35 Knts. Sat in harbors to wait on serveral to pass. We alway's feel safe though, I have years of off shore experence. Try sails & storm jib and the boat heaves to nicely. Good sailing.....Michael.......

What about taking photos on a 27 foot?
Just kidding
Sailing….. No engine. 12-14 occasional 16 Knots wind.
Carrying a big wide smile

Hey this is fun, sailing at Avernakø.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

I guess video can be misleading, but to me that doesn't look like anywhere near 20 knots, nor do the waves look big enough for a 65 foot boat to surf on.

Here's a video where the waves do look pretty big, and speeds are confirmed by GPS.

That's pretty nuts. Those wave look like the kind we get around here in a gale, but higher frequency.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

I think Yachts wants to know why the jib and main were sheeted in while going downwind. If sailing they should be sheeted out. I think it was explained that they were motoring and not sailing?
kind regards,

He said the delivery crew were great seaman but didn't know how to sail.

[Yachts66]

Yup John that was pretty much it. With 200HP they ought to be able to bury the stern on that baby. That's a lot of power for that boat. I envy their fuel budget. LOL

[savoir]

6 gph ?

[Ozbullwinkle]

Originally Posted by goldbeard

I refuse to believe no one has a video of some excitable weather. Come on ya'll!

Ok, here is another video for you on the monohull racer that I crew on this time. This was from a race we did off Sydney and we were hit with a Southerly storm at a solid 50 knots with gusts to 60 knots. The footage starts off a bit shaky but it gets better - the boat loved it by the way she really comes into her own when the conditions are heavy & right on the nose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hci-ypO1JGU

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by goldbeard

You guys are fun! Hee...Hee...
I put the whole thing together in photo shop one frame at a time! Just Joking!
I was under motor. Motors actually. There are two 100 horsepower turbo diesels pushing us along and she does squat, HARD! It was a last minute delivery and my crew were good seamen, just not skilled with handling sails. And, it was a new rig that had not be completely tuned, so, therefor not to be trusted, YET. Truth be told, I think the anemometer was calling the winds a little high. AND, in the video I first say, "14-16", then, if you listen close, I say, "ah, 12-14 occasional 16". What I do believe is accurate is when you can see the SOG surge up to 17.5 knots in the second video. It is kinda hard to argue with satellites! Unfortunately, I didn't catch the peak of the blow, cause I was concentrating at the helm. It was pretty exciting to surf up to 20.3 knots, 1.34 times the square root of the waterline......hahahahaha! We only hit 20 knots twice over the course of 24 hours, we would surge up to about 12-14 knots, and then speed would fall down to 6-7 knots on the back side.

What I think is interesting, is that no one has mentioned that it is interesting that I am headed south in January. This is winter, winds should be coming from the south! This was a wonderful window to get a boat from the Columbia River to San Diego in a week.

Moving on, the take away message here is.......I showed you mine, now you show me yours! I want to see a cooler home video! What do you got?! You know video of waves look crappy, I thought this one was pretty strong!

I, for one, believe you. Video from a high vantage point unbelievably flattens waves. In that kind of wind, just a scrap of jib will drive the boat to incredible speeds (don't know why they had the main up, however - seems dangerous).

I spent a whole morning sailing like that in 40 to 45 knot winds. The waves were gigantic, although you can't tell on the video. We didn't surf - a steady 13 knots of boat speed, mostly hanging out on the crests - we seemed to match the speed of the waves. 60 miles made good by lunch - it was a real rush. Blasting Mahler in the cockpit. The video looks rather like that. It was one of those orgasmic sailing experiences I'll never forget.

[Surfer Girl]

Hey Goldbeard, thanks for posting your video mate! Don't worry mate, there are a lot of people on this forum who's mission seems to be knocking people down, being negative, spouting opinions without substance and carping like old fish wives...

Dockhead is spot on. Video and photos often don't capture the full perspective, depth, height etc. I have plenty of photos of wild conditions at sea from my yacht and they always look way calmer than the reality. Another example is skiing steep black runs. You get to the bottom and take a photo looking up at the gradient and when you look at the photo later it looks like a training slope.

Anyway, it's a cool video and if your crew weren't familiar with the vessel, the rig and not experienced sailors, then motoring with those powerful donks was the safe and proper thing to do. And BTW, you can be an experienced seaman but not sail - unless, you are suggesting that tug boat crew, fishing trawler crew and your own US Coast Guard are not seamen?!?