My son and I opted out of work Monday afternoon and went sailing instead on Lake Pontchartrain. I wanted to take advantage of the predicted 10kt N wind brought by the frontal passage last night. We got the marina around 13:00, beautiful day, sunny, cool, low humidity and a nice 9-12 kt wind
On motoring out directly into the wind the waves were hitting us pretty hard, they looked 2-3 ft, added together some got bigger, white caps were quite common. The swell was splashing over the bow, which is fine, but I imagined being broadside to them and figured they could easily broach. I was considering turning back and trying another, calmer day, but the wind was similar to conditions we had sailed in before, it was the waves that were the real concern. I passed out life jackets and we plowed on.
Out of the harbor channel the waves were still big but not forced together as much as in between the sea walls, so we raised the main. She handled well so we raised the jib, and whoosh, off we went.
I’d like to say that our finely honed sailing skills made the day enjoyable, but really it was the boat. Sailing on a close reach hitting the waves at 45 degrees was really quite manageable. I’m used to powerboats and I’m amazed at how the sail and the keel hold the boat up nicely. The bow cut through the waves, and instead of rolling down in to the trough the boat just slid down the face effortlessly with just a tug of weather helm.
We got hit with a few gusts, and one in particular healed us over to 25 degrees which caused some hurried grabbing of sheets, but again the boat responded with a calculated twist windward and we settled back to the normal 10-15 degrees.
When we turned to a broad reach we were surfing with the waves, and with the absence of apparent wind the downwind reach was quite anticlimactic. The waves were traveling only slightly faster than we were so it seemed as though we were standing still.
I had read accounts of previous O’Day 22 owners and they all said the boat handled well in rough conditions, as I can attest. Conditions that initially made me nervous did not seem to push the boat out of its comfort zone in the slightest.
On motoring out directly into the wind the waves were hitting us pretty hard, they looked 2-3 ft, added together some got bigger, white caps were quite common. The swell was splashing over the bow, which is fine, but I imagined being broadside to them and figured they could easily broach. I was considering turning back and trying another, calmer day, but the wind was similar to conditions we had sailed in before, it was the waves that were the real concern. I passed out life jackets and we plowed on.
Out of the harbor channel the waves were still big but not forced together as much as in between the sea walls, so we raised the main. She handled well so we raised the jib, and whoosh, off we went.
I’d like to say that our finely honed sailing skills made the day enjoyable, but really it was the boat. Sailing on a close reach hitting the waves at 45 degrees was really quite manageable. I’m used to powerboats and I’m amazed at how the sail and the keel hold the boat up nicely. The bow cut through the waves, and instead of rolling down in to the trough the boat just slid down the face effortlessly with just a tug of weather helm.
We got hit with a few gusts, and one in particular healed us over to 25 degrees which caused some hurried grabbing of sheets, but again the boat responded with a calculated twist windward and we settled back to the normal 10-15 degrees.
When we turned to a broad reach we were surfing with the waves, and with the absence of apparent wind the downwind reach was quite anticlimactic. The waves were traveling only slightly faster than we were so it seemed as though we were standing still.
I had read accounts of previous O’Day 22 owners and they all said the boat handled well in rough conditions, as I can attest. Conditions that initially made me nervous did not seem to push the boat out of its comfort zone in the slightest.