When sailing in gusty conditions, things certainly get exciting quickly. I sail in the upper reaches of the River Tamar, which has nice calm water, but the wind does tend to gust somewhat, and with the ballast only in the bottom of the hull, [ie not in the keel] the first 10 -30 degrees of tippiness can happen very quickly sometimes. Other than be quick to release the mainsheet, itself no mean feat sometimes because of the angle it is cleated, and reefing down early, I don't suppose there is anything one can do about it? I have absolute faith that the boat will come back upright again :o :D
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Paul
[Ex 'Crackerjack' - 26M]
We also found this while sailing in France on the Morbian trip, the other Mac owners seem to have got quite use to heeling at 30deg without batting an eyelid.
We made sure the Main and Jib lines were in easy reach when we thought there could be any gusts, got the hang of spilling the wind rather hanging on for dear life !
Guess it's all about getting use to the Mac X
It's a learning curve alright!
In the first year or so, I spent time on Windermere trying to get the hang of controlling the boat in different winds (and practicing docking etc which is another story). I thought it would be better to learn on a lake rather than at sea. Well partly yes. But partly no - because the winds are so changeable inland.
At first the tenderness of the boat in gusts is very discumnockerating (K Dodd:c1975). Then she rounds up and stalls. Then another gust hits a bit harder whilst she is virtually stationary. Scary! I thought it was me doing it all wrong!
Being properly reefed is the obvious starting point. Then being ready to spill some wind (but not all of it) helps with control. Also pointing into a gust briefly and then bearing away again helps to lose some of the wind. I guess the trick is to lose some of the wind but to keep going.
Gradually the control improves and at the same time confidence builds - so you are willing to take her to the edge - I don't mean the edge of her capabilities (although some do!) - I mean the edge of her staightline controlled handling for the given amount of wind/sail.
Also, if you do get rounded up and stall, having 50hp at the ready is very useful for getting things back on the road again quickly before that sucker punch second gust comes in!
Cheers
Mike
Rounding Up! Yes, I had that happen on a broad reach last year, just as I was passing a moored catamaran, I did miss hitting it, how I'm not sure though. My fault really as I wasn't reefed down when I should have been, part of that learning curve, which is pretty steep with a Mac isn't it?
Paul
[Ex 'Crackerjack' - 26M]
I find I watch the water for gusts as much as I do when sailing a dingy, I'm sure as Mike say's it's just a learning curve.......I knew there wasn't anything to worry about when I saw he was grabing a 40 winks while we were heeling at 30deg on the low side of the cockpit while i was spilling the wind ! :lol:
When you can see the water covering the lower windows, it must be slightly more than 30 degrees of heel, I wonder how far it will go before it falls over? [With full ballast of course!]
Paul
[Ex 'Crackerjack' - 26M]