OMG WHATA WEEKEND!
Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 4:12 pm
Most of you know I have Destiny, a none Chrysler sailboat. She's a 40' Beneteau.
This weekend we organized a get together for the Cascadian Sailors Association. This is a group we've belonged to for a long time. Very fun loose group that is a riot to be with.
We left Port of Everett Friday morning 7:00 AM sharp. NOAA stated 30 kts steady gusts to 40 4-6 foot seas. Small craft advisory. No worries. Been there done that. While the waves aren't huge they are short and steep but hey, we're running with the wind the whole way!
I had the furling jib out maybe a 1/4 of the way. Furling main was out more like a storm trysail. Barley to the top of the first spreaders.
Destiny was smoking hot! Just over 9kts SOG motor sailing. Very broad reach or running if you prefer but not wing on wing. Feeling good, I grabbed my phone and emailed EE what a blast we were having!
Then things changed. I thought we were riding the front expected to blow through. Weather man hit it exactly! Blowing 30 gusting to 40! He was wrong. So was I.
An extremely powerful gust hit us! unsnapped all the snaps in the aft half of our enclosure! We rounded up with such a tiny bit of sail out and got laid over!
As Destiny recovered Diane says look at the jib! It was blown out. Shredded. I immediately furled what I could but you can only do so much.
At this point, we had to decide. The nearest shelter was a perfect beam run about two miles away. Sadly the wind was blowing so hard each wave practically laid us over so I opted to just run with the weather. We had a patch of main out and the remnants of my jib flying straight ahead of Destiny.
The battle was on. Trying to keep Destiny's stern to weather for a couple of hours. Watching the anemometer Gust hit 62 knts 3 times as we ran.
Finally some relief, as we rounded Camano Island things calmed! YEs! Head into the wind and huge, did I say huge? I meant FREAKIN HUGE waves and furl the main. Got our 4X6' flag down to as it was tearing itself up and bending its mount!
Once the main was furled and flag down, we turned again and rain with the weather. I looked at the anemometer and OMG! It's blowing 30 kts! I looked at my bride ( who still talks to me ) and said, your not going to believe this, how calm it is? It's still blowing 30kts! My what perspective can bring!
Eventually we entered Swinomish Slough (sp?) This is an extremely narrow channel reasonably protected, several miles long and runs right through LacConner, a small tourist town. Whew! Relief from the waves! Still large white caps but hey, they are nothing now! Yeah, white caps in the slough!
While motoring with 30 kts on our stern through LacConner, white patches of our jib were breaking free and flying ahead of us. I can only image what the folks thought as our rag tag sailboat slowly lost parts of the jib as we motored by!
At the far end of town there is guest moorage. We were able to come about and tie off. There I messed with the shredded jib until I was finally able to unfurl it completely and drop it on the deck of Destiny.
After gathering the jib up we untied and headed off to the 1.5 hours of our trip left to cover. Still in the slough, with no main, no flapping jib parts and limited waves, it felt like a picnic. 30 knts pushing us along we made record time and eventually arrived in Anacortes.
The marine had still 30 kts blowing straight down the slips. We were able to get Destiny Stern into the wind and back into a slip letting the bow weather vein straight back. We got tied off, AC power on, and started picking up all the stuff down below when one of our buddies arrived laughing and said, Nice sail? poking at the jib in the cockpit!
As we settled, more friends arrived and the party was on! We had a great weekend with three boats actually arriving! We usually have many more.
This morning NOAA promised 40 kts of wind gusting to 50. Hmm, even worse than Friday prediction. All three boats decided to stay in Anacortes. Our daughter came and got us in the car. We gave True Blue's crew a lift and came home. "Slow Flight" opted to stay aboard and watch all three boats since we are expecting even more wind storms!
This is the first time I've ever left a boat because of weather! I'm glad I did!
Next weekend we'll recover our beloved baby!
Scott
PS: I'm going to sleep good tonight!
This weekend we organized a get together for the Cascadian Sailors Association. This is a group we've belonged to for a long time. Very fun loose group that is a riot to be with.
We left Port of Everett Friday morning 7:00 AM sharp. NOAA stated 30 kts steady gusts to 40 4-6 foot seas. Small craft advisory. No worries. Been there done that. While the waves aren't huge they are short and steep but hey, we're running with the wind the whole way!
I had the furling jib out maybe a 1/4 of the way. Furling main was out more like a storm trysail. Barley to the top of the first spreaders.
Destiny was smoking hot! Just over 9kts SOG motor sailing. Very broad reach or running if you prefer but not wing on wing. Feeling good, I grabbed my phone and emailed EE what a blast we were having!
Then things changed. I thought we were riding the front expected to blow through. Weather man hit it exactly! Blowing 30 gusting to 40! He was wrong. So was I.
An extremely powerful gust hit us! unsnapped all the snaps in the aft half of our enclosure! We rounded up with such a tiny bit of sail out and got laid over!
As Destiny recovered Diane says look at the jib! It was blown out. Shredded. I immediately furled what I could but you can only do so much.
At this point, we had to decide. The nearest shelter was a perfect beam run about two miles away. Sadly the wind was blowing so hard each wave practically laid us over so I opted to just run with the weather. We had a patch of main out and the remnants of my jib flying straight ahead of Destiny.
The battle was on. Trying to keep Destiny's stern to weather for a couple of hours. Watching the anemometer Gust hit 62 knts 3 times as we ran.
Finally some relief, as we rounded Camano Island things calmed! YEs! Head into the wind and huge, did I say huge? I meant FREAKIN HUGE waves and furl the main. Got our 4X6' flag down to as it was tearing itself up and bending its mount!
Once the main was furled and flag down, we turned again and rain with the weather. I looked at the anemometer and OMG! It's blowing 30 kts! I looked at my bride ( who still talks to me ) and said, your not going to believe this, how calm it is? It's still blowing 30kts! My what perspective can bring!
Eventually we entered Swinomish Slough (sp?) This is an extremely narrow channel reasonably protected, several miles long and runs right through LacConner, a small tourist town. Whew! Relief from the waves! Still large white caps but hey, they are nothing now! Yeah, white caps in the slough!
While motoring with 30 kts on our stern through LacConner, white patches of our jib were breaking free and flying ahead of us. I can only image what the folks thought as our rag tag sailboat slowly lost parts of the jib as we motored by!
At the far end of town there is guest moorage. We were able to come about and tie off. There I messed with the shredded jib until I was finally able to unfurl it completely and drop it on the deck of Destiny.
After gathering the jib up we untied and headed off to the 1.5 hours of our trip left to cover. Still in the slough, with no main, no flapping jib parts and limited waves, it felt like a picnic. 30 knts pushing us along we made record time and eventually arrived in Anacortes.
The marine had still 30 kts blowing straight down the slips. We were able to get Destiny Stern into the wind and back into a slip letting the bow weather vein straight back. We got tied off, AC power on, and started picking up all the stuff down below when one of our buddies arrived laughing and said, Nice sail? poking at the jib in the cockpit!
As we settled, more friends arrived and the party was on! We had a great weekend with three boats actually arriving! We usually have many more.
This morning NOAA promised 40 kts of wind gusting to 50. Hmm, even worse than Friday prediction. All three boats decided to stay in Anacortes. Our daughter came and got us in the car. We gave True Blue's crew a lift and came home. "Slow Flight" opted to stay aboard and watch all three boats since we are expecting even more wind storms!
This is the first time I've ever left a boat because of weather! I'm glad I did!
Next weekend we'll recover our beloved baby!
Scott
PS: I'm going to sleep good tonight!
