It amazes me all this jawing, already, about how the
bimini is a poor design, that they should have taken it down, that they should not have been sailing/motoring to windward. Sheesh.
Sometimes you get hit with
weather you did not expect, either a squall or a system that develops into something more than
forecast. It happens. In those instances taking down the
dodger and/or
bimini can be more dangerous than leaving it up and dealing with the consequences. I'd say the majority of
fabric dodgers frames are held upright by the tension of the
fabric, and if they are well designed they should withstand 55 knots. It's when they are loose or start to come apart that the trouble starts, like in this case. And yes you can put in hard struts instead of jungle gym webbing straps but that can make taking down the
canvas and frames more complicated. Maybe the
boat is raced now and then, in which case the
canvas would be taken off for those
events. Maybe the
boat was just purchased and the canvas was slated to be replaced after the
delivery. Who knows.
As to
motor sailing into those seas, might have been the prudent thing given the
forecast and the best way to get out of the system. We have absolutely no idea. The boat seemed to be handling it fine short of the canvas situation.