Hello everyone. My wife and I have been sailing for a few years exclusively on a Catalina 22. We have only been sailing in inland lakes.
The problem we are having is heeling with wind gusts and how it makes my wife very nervous and tense. I thought it would go away with some more exposure but it has not. Yesterday we were out and when a big wind gust came we became overpowered, I let the mainsheet out to spill wind but not before our railing went into the water. I pulled some of our furling jib in to reduce sail so we had a partial jib and full main sail but my wife was nervous/anxious the rest of the afternoon. We eventually sailed with just mainsail which she liked. She says she likes sailing but it is mainly the cruising lifestyle, i.e. being on the water, enjoying the weather, having a nice cold drink and relaxing. I am similar and can appreciate and respect that. I do want to "sail" though and will want to push the boat a bit more when I am with others or myself.
Is there anything else I can do to reduce the heeling in our sailboat? We still have the original mainsail and last year I had a sailmaker replace the ropes on the edges to keep it flatter. I was told that would help reduce some heel but that maybe replacing the mainsail entirely would help the most. Is this correct?
We don't have any experience on other boats so is the swing keel Catalina 22 just naturally less stable and more prone to heel than other sailboats? If so we have thought about upgrading to a larger boat like a Catalina 28 mk ii or Hunter 295 in a couple of years. These would fit our sailing interests better and be more accommodating for kids.
Are there any other ways to handle wind gusts on a lake besides reducing sail and spilling the mainsail?
The problem we are having is heeling with wind gusts and how it makes my wife very nervous and tense. I thought it would go away with some more exposure but it has not. Yesterday we were out and when a big wind gust came we became overpowered, I let the mainsheet out to spill wind but not before our railing went into the water. I pulled some of our furling jib in to reduce sail so we had a partial jib and full main sail but my wife was nervous/anxious the rest of the afternoon. We eventually sailed with just mainsail which she liked. She says she likes sailing but it is mainly the cruising lifestyle, i.e. being on the water, enjoying the weather, having a nice cold drink and relaxing. I am similar and can appreciate and respect that. I do want to "sail" though and will want to push the boat a bit more when I am with others or myself.
Is there anything else I can do to reduce the heeling in our sailboat? We still have the original mainsail and last year I had a sailmaker replace the ropes on the edges to keep it flatter. I was told that would help reduce some heel but that maybe replacing the mainsail entirely would help the most. Is this correct?
We don't have any experience on other boats so is the swing keel Catalina 22 just naturally less stable and more prone to heel than other sailboats? If so we have thought about upgrading to a larger boat like a Catalina 28 mk ii or Hunter 295 in a couple of years. These would fit our sailing interests better and be more accommodating for kids.
Are there any other ways to handle wind gusts on a lake besides reducing sail and spilling the mainsail?