16.8 knots in a Catalina 22?

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Colin

I have just read an artical on the Sailnet website about sailing a Catalina 22 and hitting speeds of 16.8 knots while sailing sans rudder in gale force winds. Is this possble in a Catalina 22? I have never seen more than 8 1/2 knots in my Hunter 33', I am sure it would do quite a bit more, but 16.8 sounds very high to me. Anyone else like to tell us their "GPS" verified top speed? I have added a link to the article for those interested.
 
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james rohr

given enough wind , definately

9 years ago we were doing the govenors cup race in md. annapolis to st. mary's city. at the start of the race we had 35knots out of the north gusting to 45. we were going south. so we had a full main, prevented, a 155, our heavy #1 poled out wing on wing. many times we saw boat speeds over 14knots. how much over we don't know because it was an analog knotmeter and it was about an inch past the max reading at 14. this was on a 1979 O'day 30 centerboard. get enough horsepower in the sails and its amazing that you can get 12,000 pounds up on plane.
 
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Justin - O'day Owners' Web

High Speeds

The GPS didn't tell us how much of that speed came from the motion of the water and how much from the boat through the water. It is absolutely possible to make a Catalina 22 surf well enough to hit some stupidly high speeds. The reaason you don't see it as often in your Hunter is that it will take much bigger waves to avoid slamming the bow into the back of the wave ahead and slowing down. Justin - O'day Owners' Web
 
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Pat Spino

high surfing speeds

When moving my Legend 35.5 from the Chesapeake to Barnegat this past spring we encountered building conditions which culminated in 35 knots sustained from the SE. The waves were 8' and larger on the starboard quarter. Motor sailing downwind and north along the Jersy coast while under 135 genny (and a bit of motor), the GPS indicated 11 and 12 knots regularly and topped off at 13.9 knots! The amazing thing was that the boat had absolutely no tedency to broach. In fact you could let the wheel go and she would just track straight ahead like a surf board. When I first purchased the boat I read where a 35.5 did 13 knots while sailing from California to Alaska and I thought it was a bit of a tall tale; until my experience.
 
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Robert B.

Mine did 12.4 !

I recorded a 12.4 on my gps in my Catalina 22. We were caught in an unexpected storm and were surfing most of the way home. Great fun!
 
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Paul Akers

11 knots

Last summer I was passing thru the Cape Cod Canal WITH a 4 knot current and main only. I was steadily doing 7 knots under power, but a quick puff of wind pushed my L37 to 11 knots. On the return trip from Portland, ME to Kittery, ME we had 25kt winds over the left shoulder and large seas. We were consistently doing 6-7 kts, but surfed up to 9 kts occasionally. So I can see how the Catalina 22 did what it did.
 
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ted

Justin's has a point about current

Its hard to tell from a GPS what is actual boat speed from wind and what is speed due to current. My Dad was in the Air Force. He used to tell stories of watching MIGs coming in at Mach 2. (this was in the 50's). The Russians would ride in on a 1400 knot jet stream. The first time he saw it on radar it scared the hell out of him till he realized what they were doing. Ted
 
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Paul K

Steady 13

Racing a season or two ago in a 30 knot Northerly that meant minimal waves for us on a broad reach, we hit a steady 13 knots over the bottom according to the GPS, for about an hour until we broached and took the chute down. I have to think at least 12 of that was boatspeed. We had the full main, 150% jib and spinnaker up on our J/36, trying to catch a J/120 on a night with no moon. We could hear, but couldn't see, the bow wave shooting past the quarter. We later learned our competitor blew out his asymetrical chute and had to set a new one. We still didn't catch him, but it was a lot of fun.
 
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Jim A

Nope!

The auther said, "With speeds repeatedly exceeding 6.5 knots, I saw 10.8 knots on my GPS against an outgoing tide" 10.8 knot against the tide with only 6.5 of wind speed...WRONG! I have been sailing an SJ-21 in the Delaware river for many years and what he is saying is not possible. By the way an SJ-21 eats a C-22 for breakfest!
 
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Justin - O'day Owners' Web

Easy there....

We don't know which way the seas were running and how the surfing conditions were. Sometimes around here when you get a see running against the tide you can surf better than when the two are combined leading to higher speeds - don't know, wasn't there, but its possible. Justin - O'day OWners' Web
 
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Tom

Any boat can go that speed in the right conditions

Hell In a Hurricane of 120 knots I bet you can make just about *anything* fly by at about 17 knots....;-) Just look at surfboarders, they literally fly at speeds above that. So in "surfing" conditions I'm sure a C22 can make those speeds temporarily. Problem is, its not that sustainable as a speed.
 
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MArk

I believe

The Cat 22 has a flat bottom. If you can get over the bow wave by surfing, the hull will plane and exceed hull speed. The only problem is, the boat is not deigned to plane (unlike 26X with fins up) so it'll be unstable and most likely broach. My O'Day 20 does 60 knots... on I-10... behind my Durango! See article on hull speed on related link. Happy sails *_/), MArk
 
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tom

Speed for an instant

The article in sailnet said that he noticed that his GPS recorded a top speed of 16.8 knots. I think that my GPS updates every second so the duration of his top speed might have been very brief. Even surfing it probably isn't possible to sustain 16.8 knots. Anyone know how big a wave would have to be to go at 16.8 knots?? In lake sailing my Helsen 22's top speed was a lot closer to 6 knots than 16!!! Even on a broad reach in wind that terrified my wife and kids we only hit about 6 knots. Tom
 
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