USCG rescue dismasted Beneteau Oceanis 39 from Alex

[Bowdrie]

A boat that probably 99.9% of forum members would consider as unsuitable for their usage.
In, (IIRC,) 1935, Erling Tambs wanted to participate in the "Across the Atlantic" race, from NY to England.
He got an ex-Norwegian rescue boat, a Colin Archer design of ~47'x16'x7', weight ~30 tons, gaff ketch, a "Redningskoite".
Crossing from Europe, he got caught in a hurricane in the Caribbean, a true "ultimate storm" by any means.
The boat was "pitchpoled", end-over-end in mountainous seas, and then rolled over back upright.
A person in the cockpit was lost, some of the rigging was sprung, but the rig stayed intact, the masts stayed up, and the boat continued the journey and arrived in NY with no further problems.
I can't hardly imagine an end-over-end scenario, the thought of it gives me shivers.
Of course, those boats routinely would tow smaller fishing boats, (sometimes two or three at once,) off of lee shores in F8 or worse conditions in the N. Atlantic in wintertime.
They could work to weather in conditions that I could only imagine in a dream.
It requires the power to carry sail far beyond what most of us, (me,) would consider as necessary.
Ok, probably nothing to do with this thread, carry on.

[MicHughV]

Only time I experienced such weather, I was in my first boat....a steely...thank goodness for that.
We tried a variety of " storm tactics" but none really worked worth a damn.

I finally tied up my storm jib in a big wad, tied it to a 150' long anchor line and streamed it astern. This kept the stern of the boat to the seas, and slowed the boat down enuff to manage some steerageway, while still managing some 3-5 knots sliding down waves.

I estimate wave height to have been in the 15-18' range and winds in the 60 knot range (this we found out later). The waves weren't breaking, but the crests would be blown off and come sliding down the wave.
Myself, and one crew, didn't dare open the companionway for fear a wave would find itself below.

We tied ourselves into the cockpit with a mish-mash of lines to prevent ourselves from being washed overboard. There were moments, we both thought....this is it.

We " hand steered" such as that it was, for about 36 hours. To say we were exhausted to the bone, would be an understatement. Towards the end, we could only manage about 15 minutes of time behind the wheel.

We were sailing in company with another boat, though we never saw them, but spoke to them on the radio later. They got rolled, mast in the water, but that didn't happen to us.

Looking back, I would do the same again. ie, run before the seas with a drogue behind the boat.

I will say this, that makeshift drogue was bar tight at times. When I later retrieved my storm jib/drogue, I could not untie the nylon line, as it had " fused" together and had to cut off. My stern cleats were welded to the boat. I'm not sure how a fiberglass boat would have faired here, as the strain must have been enormous.

At night, it was really difficult, as it was pitch-dark, and raining. Visibility was damn near zero. We couldn't see the wave crests, but we could certainly " hear" them.

When we finally opened the boat, quite a bit of water had found it's way aboard. The vent hole in the dorade boxes, and gaps in the companionway, allowed a lot of water in. The inside of my boat was utter and total chaos.

With hindsight, there were several things I could have...or should have done, but didn't.
Everything on deck or lashed to the lifelines were gone. Everything !

However, I would opt to run a drogue again....makeshift or otherwise. While conditions were miserable and deplorable, they were " manageable" if I could use such a term here.

I have to give a lot of credit to my crewmate. He was sterling thru' out.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

You just can’t say. As each situation is individual. I took a stock Jeaneau through a F10 gusting 11 in the deep Atlantic she took everything handed to her including a breaking wave.

The 393 was under bare poles lying a hull that in my opinion was a costly mistake.

In my opinion even a Swan fling a fast 360 roll will come back damaged.

In conditions bad enough, there are only 2 big questions the boat will answer. How hard will you have to work to avoid breaking the boat, and when things go wrong, is the damage likely to be survivable?