H26.5????

[JimInPB]

Well, I had the 26.5 out in "building conditions" today. I reefed the main early, then progressively reefed the jib in 3 different steps, each about an hour apart. By the time I came back into the inlet, it was certainly blowing over 25. Even the ICW was full of whitecaps. At 25 knots, that boat would benefit from a second set of reefing points in the main. The roller reefing on the jib worked well.

All in all, the little 26.5 did pretty well. Weather helm got a little heavy once the jib was less than half out, but that was to be expected. I just had one little unpleasant surprise. The forward cabin had 3 distinct spray patterns on the cushions where water came in, apparently under force. The bilge had about 8 oz of water in it. It looks like I probably have a few small holes around the rub rail on the port side that get water forced into them when the bow comes down in heavy seas. I'm thinking that someone probably replaced the rub rail at some point in the past & didn't plug all the old screw holes correctly, but I will need to dig in a little deeper when the weather calms down a bit.

 

[JimInPB]

Well, I just learned a few things about this little boat. I found out how she responds to a few different conditions. I did a 30 mile race the other day. With no real racing prep, other than cleaning the bottom the morning of the race, we took a second place, using only the Dacron sails that came with the boat. We didn't strip down for racing. We probably had about 200 pounds of "comfort equipment" on board. She sailed well to her PHRF rating in some condition, but not as well in others.

We did very well in the gentle breezes that started the race. We held our own, according to our rating, in the pleasant sailing conditions that dominated the majority of the race. We saw better than 8 knots average VMG during peak conditions, thanks to a little bit of helpful current that we were able to find. When we got hit with heavy conditions at the end of the race, we were unable to see any other boats due to visibility of only a couple hundred yards, so I can't gauge how well we did against other boats still under sail at that point. The one boat that we did see behind us, just before the soup got too thick, dropped canvass, withdrew & motored in, after not finding a way to close the gap. We had already struck our main at that point & then further reduced canvass, crossing the line with less than 20% of the jib showing. This gave us good control In the shifty & quickly changing conditions. We were not in a rush to start the motor after finishing.

Having read that my boat's capsize screening formula result was 2.2, I had been concerned about her having insufficient righting moment for tough conditions. During some of the stronger gusts, before we got our canvass fully reduced, We dipped a spreader pretty close to the water a time or two, but never buried the mast. She came back up in a comfortable & controlled manner.

Like my previous Hunters, the rudder is not a real powerhouse. She looses traction when weather helm builds in strong conditions. This results in the boat rounding up, against the efforts of the helmsman. I expect that this is an intentional safety design feature, to prevent an inexperienced sailor from getting into too much trouble. Like on my other Hunters, I find that spilling some air, by easing the main, keeps me on track in those situations. In other words, even though she is over 26 feet long, I still sail her like a sunfish.

She's a fun little boat. I was fortunate to have hearty & skilled crew aboard that day.

Interesting observation: I did not get the same 3 spray patterns in the V-berth, that I had previously gotten in heavy conditions. Perhaps, the day I got the spray patterns, my forward hatch wasn't latched tightly enough.

 

[SkookumZac]

Good report! Maybe I am naive, but I wouldn't worry about capsizing that boat in any condition other than a broadside breaking wave. A sunfish doesn't have 3000 lbs of cast iron below the bilge. Put the hatchboards in and don't fall out!
-Z

 

[JimInPB]

capsize screening formula results below 2.0 are considered acceptable for offshore work. Since this boat was 10% on the wrong side of the standard, I had my concerns. Having now seen how she handles a tough little squall, my confidence has improved.