35 knots
This Saturday I left the marina on my Cat 36 with my 13 year old son as crew. The wind was only 15 kts from the south and as we headed for a proctected bay on the north end of an island 9+ miles away. About 1/2 way there the wind picked up to a steady 28 - 32 and peaked at 35. The main (tall rig) was not reefed. The 135% headsail was rolled a little bit. When reaching became uncomfortable we jibed the headsail to port and put up the whisker pole. With the main prevented down hard and the geneo poled out on the opposite side, we ran down wind with ever increasing speeds. The waves got bigger and looked as if there were going to flood the cockpit. As we rocketed along we began to catch the big waves in front of us. The bow would bury, the anchor and fordeck disappearing under water as we plowed through and then up on top of 10-12 foot waves. Then on top of the wave, with the wind blowing full strength, we surfed down the front of the wave into the next troth. Our max speed through the water was 10.4 knots--honest! When we arrived at the bay (Port Madison) we shortened the pole, rolled up the headsail (had to use the winch) and tacked into our anchorage. I have yet to see 40 but 35 was a lot of fun.
