It’s situational, depending on the boat and who’s on it. On my 30 MK I, a notoriously stiff boat, I’ll carry full main and 150% genoa in 20+ knots with my racing crew aboard. Leisure sailing with my wife in the same conditions, it’s main only, if she’ll even go out :)
I give my crew these guidelines when they race the boat without me: <10 knots - full main and drifter (lightweight 150%) 10-20 knots - full main and #2 genoa (heavy 150%) >20 knots - flat main and #3 genoa (heavy 130%) My experience with my 30-1 has been that it takes about 25 knots under full sail to bury a rail close-hauled. Twice this summer I tore my drifter when the wind jumped from 10 to 35 with little warning; she tears sails before knocking down. Cheers, Randy Stafford S/V Grenadine C&C 30-1 #7 Ken Caryl, CO > On Oct 30, 2018, at 5:50 PM, Brian Fry via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > wrote: > > After spending a wonderful weekend with a bunch of great folks, Manon and I > sailed back to > Havre de Grace under the strongest conditions we have been in yet. We usually > stay put if the forecast is over 20. The forecast was 20s with gusts to 30+. > I was looking forward to testing my new rig, especially since Josh allowed me > to use his Loos gauge to check my rig job. Turns out my tune was quite true. > We had been out before, but only at a max of about 20. > We set sail at the yellow mark outside Nap with 2 reefs in the main and a > full 100 jib. > Everything was going well, a nice beam reach, until north of the bridge when > the swells got larger and the gusts stronger. The gusts would push us over to > the rails in the water and last for a good 30 seconds, then a swell would > push us a little further. A few times we lost depth indication, a tell that > the transducer was out of the water, or nearly so. Reefing the jib to 50% > made things much more comfortable. We sailed the whole way back under these > conditions. Entering HdG channel was challenging, putting us close hauled and > tacking up the channel to where it ran abeam again. Thankfully my new sonar > allowed for greater tacks outside of the channel, which freaked out the > Admiral. I decided to tack instead of motoring and dropping sail to avoid > turning the sails into rags in the 25 knot winds ( mine are of unknown age). > So now the question, when do you reef? How much wind is too much? > We usually do the first reef at 15, the second at 20, then the jib at 25. I > am thinking 35 sustained would be my limit. But I havent been out in that yet. > > S/V La Neige > 1993 C&C 37/40 XL > Havre de Grace , MD > FB blog : thenext14years > Brian and Manon > _______________________________________________ > > Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and > every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use > PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > _______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
