trailer sailer breaching help

[Karyon]

I returned from Port Vincent to Port Adelaide in my 1991 Austral 20 last Sunday, before even nastier predicted weather!
The seas were forecasted to be 1.5m with a swell of 1m. Wind was to be 20 to 25 knots westerlies.
It felt to me like quit a bit more than that. So it was a downwind run with a following and confused sea.
I have the latest heavier swing keel fitted, and I have added 100 kg lead ballast in the bilges to balance the boat. I set a n03 battened foresail and no headsail. I had my keel pinned in, in case of a capsize.
I had great difficulties in steering the boat, with a particularly nasty breach and extremely heavy tiler. I don’t know if the ‘91 model has the larger rudder, but I feel it would not have mattered.
My question is what else could have I done, apart from reducing my centre of resistance, ie lifting the keel! Would it be safer in avoiding a breach and capsize as well as relieving the effort on my tiller. In case of a capsize, how bad would that be for the righting moment???
Finally, was I asking too much from the boat, i.e. buy a better one?

[Chotu]

First, this is the greatest mix-up of words ever. I’m picturing you breaching instead of broaching.

But I’m always suspicious of people modifying a properly designed boat. Your extra ballast, if placed incorrectly or shifting in those conditions, could cause some problems.

Secondly, do you have a reefing system? If the boat was pushed so hard it was broaching and impossible to control, you should have slowed down to a manageable speed by reducing sail area.

[Searles]

No main and a poled out small headsail make sure the rudder is locked down adjust the helm and overall balance by vairing the keel immersion ,nice little boat ,more experience will solve the problems.⛵️⚓️

[Benz]

Fin keel (swing keel as well)--spade rudder boats are always tough to steer downwind in big seas/wind. It gets tougher with a shorter waterline. It may simply be that the boat is not suitable for those conditions. I'm playing around this summer on a 21' plywood schooner that's great for a quiet bay, but I wouldn't take into open water--one good sea in the cockpit and down we'd go. You can't ask too much of small boats, and you have to be aware of their limitations.

[StuM]

You lost me at:
" I set a n03 battened foresail and no headsail."

What is a No3 foresail if it's not a headsail?

What was your actual sail plan? Do you mean you had a mainsail and no jib? Or a jib and no mainsail.
It sound like you had the former, giving you excessive weather helm from an unbalanced sail plan.

[Karyon]

Sorry about the broach breaching!!! Sorry about the Jib and no mainsail. Sorry about being a bit vague. Must be late..
Yes I am wondering if the boat is suitable to the condition it was finding itself into. The wind was sustained 30 knots and gusts were well over that. It was tough. Wave were well over 2m and some were over 2,5m and coming in quite quicky (steep). I may have reached its limits.
I guess I was concerned about capsizing and therefore making sure I could recover. What I don't know is; should I have removed some resistance (lift the swing keel), and if doing so would have compromise my safety, or enhance it by shifting my centre of resistance aft.
I do not have a smaller foresail, but I feel I did control its power well enough. My only other option would have been to put a drogue out to control the swing. I didn't choose the conditions, the next day the conditions would have been even more severe, so I made the decision to go ahead and get to my base. But you never never know...
The added ballast was suggested to me by people who raced and know the boat well. It is also the reason that later boats had the heavier keel. I can tell how much better the boat sail now.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Karyon.

[Lake-Effect]

Dead downwind in a heavy sea is a handful, especially in a smaller boat. And with no main, and the water occasionally moving almost as fast as the boat, steering could be difficult.

Question for others since I haven't tried this: would dragging something like a warp of line, or a Jordan drogue, help to keep the boat more on track, and less broaching?

[jeanathon]

Absolutely not on lifting the keel. Your boat goes from a 5 ft draft to less than 1 ft. Not something you want in following seas.
The heavy tiller indicates the boat was out of balance. I am still confused what your sail plan was, but your boat probably wanted a reefed main and small storm headsail to be balanced.
Finally in those conditions you need to be steering by looking behind you, and steering to the bigger waves. Surfing a sailboat can be fun, but exhausting.

[SV__Grace]

I've always found going downwind in a blow in a smaller, tiller steered sailboat to be exhilarating and exhausting. The force of the seas on the rudder are directly transferred to YOU, unlike most wheel arrangements.


First, be sure you're not overpowered. Better to have less sail up than too much.


Second, in big seas do NOT attempt to go directly downwind. Surf at an angle and you'll have more control and it'll be safer and easier to steer. (in a small boat, "big" seas can be as little as 5' with enough wind pushing you)

[Cheechako]

Not 100% sure what you are describing but no headsail and a full mainsail will usually giving you steering and control issues.

[TrentePieds]

Maybe, as you say, you are just tired :-) I think you would do yourself a favour if you were to spend a few hours learning the "jargon" so we can communicate with precision.

It seems, if I can penetrate the lexical confusion, that you actually did all the right things. The content of the posts from our members can be summarized, I believe, essentially as follows:

The boat is suitable for the sort of sailing you found yourself doing, if only just, but then - you didn't put yourself in that situation deliberately, did you :-) So the experience if valuable, though it might have been scary. Taking yourself to the edge of scariness and then prospering, is the way you learn practical seamanship, so you are doing the right thing by telling us about it.

Now as a general rule (there are always exceptions to rules) you would never have your board UP when before the wind in a cruiser. In a racing dinghy you would, so don't confuse the two :-)! You need the board to help you balance the boat.

Now as a general rule (there are always exceptions to rules) you would not wear a full or even a deeply reefed main when on a dead run in a boat like yours. You would wear a smallish headsail, (like #3 jib). You'd want a small sail so it cannot drive the boat fast enuff to make her go rushing down the advancing side of a wave and then bury her head in the back side of the preceding one. That will lead to broaching, i.e. being thrown sideways to the run of the waves and then rolled over. And filled with water!

Someone mention a "warp", a line towed behind. The purpose is to create enough drag to slow the boat as a prophylactic against broaching, and also to exaggerate the "lead" to make balancing the boat easier and reducing the need for heavy-duty helming.

You want to slow the boat enuff that the advancing waves will roll under your stern and lift it, but not so much that the waves break over the transom and fill you with water.

Now as a general rule (there are always exceptions to rules) you would not run dead downwind in the sort of weather you describe, but you would keep the wind just a few degree to one side or the other. The reason for that is that it makes the roll and pitch more predictable. You pay for that boon by having to be a little more heavy-handed on the tiller, so you just have to grit your teeth and do it :-). "Tacking downwind" is not usually a problem if you are running under headsail alone.

Anyway, when you've thought about it for a bit, do go out in say, 15 knots of wind, and practice these things. Experiment with different trims and see what your boat (and you) likes best.

Cheers

TrentePieds

[jimboh]

When running downwind in a blow the boat will track much better if it is being pulled by a small storm jib rather than being pushed along by a reefed main. I use a storm jib on my timpenny TY in winds above about 25 knots. I think the storm jib is about 25 square feet.
Keep the centre board locked down. You need all the stability you can get!

[Karyon]

Thank you all, for your comments.
Thank you TrentePieds, that is what I was thinking. It was a dead downwind run as it was my shortest route, but it was borderline dangerous I think, and I won’t repeat that experiment.
My experience has been with dinghies or larger full keels vessels, not TS. Those behave differently, so I guess I will learn my lesson.
And I will try to improve on my lexicon, which is a bit hard when you sail alone. I do know what I mean even if no one else does. Apologies.

[crashley]

Tack down wind in big seas and high winds even if it is a longer distance