More (near) gale action... May 22dn 2010, Marina Del Rey
May
22
Written by:
5/22/2010 5:07 AM
This is getting rediculous!
Today, Gale warnings were up along the coast once more, with a small craft advisory in effect for the inner waters, starting at 3:00pm.
Someone forgot to tell mother nature what time the wind was supposed to come up. At 1:50 sharp, all hell broke lose on the bay, with the wind suddenly going from a sedate 10 to 15 knots to 25 to 30. In the photo above, an elderly couple is being escorted back into the harbor by lifeguards.
They were not prepared to handle thier boat in such conditions.
I call the above taking a "Baywatch Reef". Once the couple made it into the harbor, they needed a lifeguard to jump aboard to douse thier sails.
Not good.
Below you see Nomad, running for home - Broad reaching under just her 80% jib. When The wind started to blow, I immediately put a reef in the main.
Then I thought "Uh oh - one reef is NOT going to do it!"
So I tied in another. She was still overpowered, so I thought back to my earlier gale sailing, and doused the main completely. Then I played around a little bit, running off, going upwind, and reaching under just the jib. The seas were around 6 feet, steep, and ocassionally breaking, so when I saw the scene above, I decided I'd had enough excitement, and headed home.
Below you can see Nomad screaming down the harbor - at close to hull speed - downwind under 80% jib only. I saw around 5.5 knots in the puffs.
Lessons?
I was NOT planning on gale sailing - it just sorta happened. The forcast was for 20 knots, not 30, and not starting till 1500. Well, sometimes.....
Nature is calling the shots. The earlier practice I'd engaged in stood me well. I wasn't scared this time - more exhillarated. In the past, I'd been terrified, like that couple no doubt was.
Even though I was not planning on force 6, I still had my smallest headsail hanked on, just in case the forecast was wrong. When I returned, In two hours, the barometer had dropped 5 millibars!
NOA A Weather radio did not mention the potential for such sudden strong winds. There was no small craft advisory flag flying from the Coast Guard flagpole on the way out (it was up when I came back in though!)
My Iphone app that summarizes NOAA's marine forcasts was on the fritz, so I had to use my computer to access the (erroneous) forcast.
So again - while you should always check forcasts,, remember they are not foolproof - only predictions. Keep a weather eye open. My first indication something was up came as I was getting some water below while on autopilot. Suddenly stuff started flying across the cabin, and it was having trouble sipping my water.
I stuck my head up and could see the water to windward roiling with foam...
Uh oh!...
=)
.
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