In how much wind have you sailed?

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Nov 2, 2010
114
Precision 28 Ashland, Oregon
Anegada to Jost Van Dyke; 35+ w/ 14' quartering seas; triple reefed main and very tiny part of genoa. It was a charter boat, Beneteau 40cc. Sailed like a bathtub, but actually faired well in these conditions. We did it on purpose. I (the skipper) enjoyed it, the crew not so much. Would I do it again? Perhaps, but certainly not every day. P
 
Nov 28, 2009
495
Catalina 30 St. Croix
4 Days of winds up to 40+ and seas up to 20-25 feet while sailing my J-36 from Virginia to St. Croix USVI. It was the remnants of a hurricane that had passed over Cuba and the Bahamas. 3 of us taking turns hand steering because we couldn't run the engine to charge the batteries. Made it OK and nothing broke on the 1981 J-36. Double reef main and a very small portion of the furling genoa sticking out. We reduced speed to about 4 knots and she behaved splendidly.
 

Les

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May 8, 2004
375
Hunter 27 Bellingham, WA
Fifty-five knots! Really! And I didn't measure the wind--it was measured by the Canadian weather department at that time. It was during the 1978 (I think) Strait of Georgia race at Easter time; the race was run by the West Vancouver Yacht Club. It's an annual affair and the WVYC does it well. Big dinner the night before with an elaborate weather forecast by an official weather forecaster with charts and handouts, the whole works. He said that he was worried that that race might not get started because of NO WIND. He couldn't see any wind in the forecast.

I was sailing my Ranger 29 with five other guys who all knew how to sail.... I forgot what class we were in but I started so far back that my crew were actually upset with me--lots of grumbling. The start of the race was under the Lion's Gate Bridge off a long pier and as pure luck would have it we drifted over the line in first place in class.

The race course was up to Welcome Pass, then across the strait to some islands and then down the east side of Vancouver Island until we were off Active Pass, then back to the Frasier River buoy and then home to the final buoy off a lighthouse. Big time race--first time for me.

Of course we were elated to be first in our division and worked like the devil to get the sails just right for the little breeze we found. We were still in first place at Welcome Pass but big boats were beginning to pass us up. And the breeze was picking up, maybe ten to fifteen.

We started across the strait with twenty five knots of wind, around five PM and I asked the crew if they were hungry yet. No, no, no, we still leading. I had made five quarts of spaghetti sauce, really good stuff with sausages, pork chops, meatball, the whole works. And the boat had a two burner alcohol stove which gimbaled. EXCEPT I had tried the gimbaled part of the stove with empty pots. With a full pot of sauce and a pot of water for the spaghetti, the gimbaled part now didn't work. So I lit the stove and helped the stove to move in the right direction--the guys were all busy working their butts off sailing.

And sailing we were doing. Winds had picked up to thirty-five to forty knots as we approached Vancouver Island. And waves were picking up as well. Winds were from the south east and so were the waves. I remember the turn to the south but I was beginning to not feel very good and told someone else the watch the sauce. I was fast becoming sea sick and laid down on the forward berth. Which was good cause it was close to the head.

It got dark and I remember going on deck once (probably to get sick again) and found the lee rail sort of crowded, several of the crew were now sea sick. Waves were as high as our speaders and when we were down in the trough you saw nothing but dark and the wind was much lighter in the valley of the waves. But when you came up the next wave and reached the top, you could see all these red light off our starboard and green lights off our port. At the top of the wave the boat would give a jerk as the winds hit it and then we sluced down into the next valley. When we came up again the light would be all different as different boats were up at different times.

All the crew got sick except one guy who kept drinking Drambuie (a liquor that he had bought crossing the border to reach the boat--cheaper that way) from the bottle.

Somewheres during the night the sauce became unattended and went airborne. It traveled across the boat to the port aft bunk and my buddy's brand new down sleeping bag. When he got in he said the sauce was warm but he had to keep getting rid of the pork chop bones. Some weeks later he told me that the cleaners had put the bag through the cleaning seven times but were unable to get rid of the stains.

There was spaghetti sauces all over the boat. Someone took one of my wife's good towels and made a coffer damn to hold most of it near the stove.

Around two in the morning there was no one else to run the boat--all but the one guy were sick. We were using jib and double reefed main--probably could have dropped the main as well. And we still going down into troughs and then coming up and getting beat on by the wind. Later on the official word from the Canadian weather was that we had sustained fifty-five knot winds.

Around Active Pass, we quit the race and ran for the WVYC home base. Going with the wind was easier. We lost our man overboard pole, a light that was attached to it. A wave had hit the boat from somewhere and washed those items overboard. We didn't even think about going after them. A serious aside: Having been in those conditions I would never have a MOB pole again. Totally useless. You'd never see the pole and it would lie straight down in the wind anyway. That's just my comment.

A few years later I sold the Ranger 29 and as we were cleaning it up for selling, my wife mentioned that the stainless steel stove was rusting. I told her like an all knowing husband that I was then that stainless can't rust. She said, come look and by gosh, it was rusting, except it wasn't rust--it was dried spaghetti sauce. I'm sure the new owners wondered about red stuff in strange places on that boat after they bought it.

Fifty-five knots and I'd never do it again if I knew ahead of time. I did win second in class one year with a different boat--it's a good race run by a good yacht club.

And, no, I never made spaghetti sauce again for a long distance race. That's another story.
 
Jun 9, 2004
963
Hunter 40.5 Bayfield, WI
Over the last 20 years that we have been sailing and all the boats we have owned we have frequently been out in 25-35kts but I am pretty sure we have never sailed in anything stronger than that. Years ago when we started sailing on our friend John's Starwind 22 on White Bear Lake in Minnesota (inland lake about 2500 acres) the three of us always went out on windy days when almost everyone else stayed at the dock. We scared the crap out of ourselves more than a few times but it was worth it. One year we took our 24ft Seidelman to Leech Lake in Walker, MN. Good sized inland lake. There is a regatta every August that we always entered. The first time we were there on the very first day we went through the narrows with full main and our new 150% racing jib up. When we hit the big lake the wind came up quickly as we sailed the first leg on a broad reach. Pretty soon we were cruising at a steady 7-8 knots as the wind howled along at what we later found out was a sustained 28 with gusts over 32. We hung on as best we could and when we got to the first mark and were making the turn the jib halyard shackle let go with a bang. I had to crawl up on deck, wrestle the monster jib down (the foot of it was almost 15 ft long), stuff it below and haul up the little jib, attach the spare halyard to it and then get back to the cockpit while my husband kept racing. There was a lot of chop and the bow was up and down. The only way to hold on was to ride the bow of the boat like it was a bucking bronco and hang on with my legs. Even after all that we still managed a 3rd place finish that day. That evening as I was changing to go to dinner my husband saw my legs. I was bruised from ankle to hip. He said boy I hope you don't have to go to the emergency room for anything because they will arrest me when they see you.

I love heavy weather sailing up to a point. We go out lots of days when others won't. But there are days when we don't because I just don't feel I have anything to prove. One day we left Pikes Bay Marina on Emmanuel with Saxon Harbor, about 18 miles away, our destination. The wind was on our port beam and built steadily. Double reef in the main, the 130 rolled up to about half and still we took a pounding. The wind was almost on our nose and our VMG stunk. So we turned back. It just wasn't fun.
 
Jan 1, 2006
7,651
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
60 kts. verified by Sailflow. We were no more than 6 miles from shelter. We did not volunteer to be out. A viscious front came thru. It wasn't fun. We had a single reefed main and no jib. We were running the engine which was holding us at about 50 degrees to the wind and holding our position. There was no visability at all due to the rain. We knew there was a fleet of around 100 yachts in the vicinity. You could not look into the rain with your eyes open it was simply too painful.
Later we sailed home in 35 to 40 kts. and it seemed like a day at the beach.
 
Jun 7, 2007
515
Hunter 320 Williamsburg
While teaching the third and final day of a sailing class, we got hit with a microburst of wind (sunny day) estimated at 50 mph that shredded the main and tore the genoa within seconds. The event was during the last hour of an 18-hour course, and the class did great. I had warned them early on that noise won't hurt you, and they got a lot of noise in the event but otherwise it blew over.
 
Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
Windsurfed in gusts to 50Knts, 3.5 meter sail, was pretty stupid, could never really get comfortable in my harness. Best to windsurf in a steady 25knts, sail in 15.
Did a J22 NOOD's one year gusting to 35, no reefs in a J22, we popped the shoot as the leaders did around the windward mark, that baby was surfing down the waves, took all my attention to keep her dead off. Half a dozen went over, but some how we made the finish line in one piece. The hull was vibrating, have no idea how fast we were making, but I would no be supprised if we weren't hitting the mid teens.
 
Feb 26, 2008
603
Catalina 30 Marathon, FL
Last fall we were sailing on Barnegat Bay with the wind blowing pretty steady at 20, with gusts hitting 23-25 with just the jib out (see photo). I was with an experienced sailor, but I was still worried about stressing the boat. She'd really heal in the gusts and had a lot of weather helm. To me she just didn't feel balanced and that had me feeling stressed.

This summer we left the dock late one morning with the wind blowing about 15. The wind builds on the bay in the afternoon and before long we were seeing steady mid-20's with gusts to 28. I pulled in the jib and just sailed with the main. The boat felt balanced and comfortable and we weren't taking a lot of spray over the bow like we did with the jib flying in those conditions. We really enjoyed the day.

That is until we got back to the dock. By then we were getting 30 knot gusts across the slip which definitely made for some high stress docking.

I'd go out in those conditions again now that I know how to make the boat happy. One thing we didn't see though were big seas as we were sailing on the bay.

Jim
 

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May 5, 2006
1,140
Knutson K-35 Yawl Bellingham
The worst was on Oh Joy's maiden (to me) delivery voyage. Forecast to a max of 25, ended up blowing 62 gusting to 78, with two rookies aboard. Nasty, NASTY day. Showed me how good the boat was in a blow. Sailed in 50 knots on purpose once, we did well running offwind with the Staysail and making eight knots. Very good heavy weather training day for those aboard. We even did MOB drills.
 
Sep 29, 2008
1,944
Catalina 310 #185 Quantico
4 Times 30+

1st time was on a US27 I owned when the winds were 25-30 knots. It was a race and I got to the marina thinking they would call it. Boy was I wrong! I get there and everyone is excited and at that point I was not backing down. We had a good time even though we did break a winch.

2nd time was when we were bringing our new to us 310 down the Chesapeake Bay and up the Potomac. After a cold night (it was March and 32) we entered the Potomac is fog and calm winds. Motoring up the river we heard a few distress call to the USCG for the York River (~50 miles away) about an overturned power boat. Did not register. We stopped for fuel and lunch at Coles Point and I missed the two guys on a power boat who told my wife and brother they had just come from Norfolk complaining about the front coming through and how they were trying to outrace it as it had really beaten them up. We leave Coles Point, turn east and the wind smacks into us. Wind built to 30-35 knots and waves started to build. At this point we could not turn broadside to the wave to go to Colonial Beach or continue up the river so we headed to Dahlgren when I had only been once 5 years before following another boat in the dark. My brother was trying to sleep but was getting thrown all over the place, so he took the helm and I went forward to try and spot the entrance. Just as I got my hand on the dodger rail, he mis-judged a wave and the boat got spun one way and then the other. As he is not a boater, he was a bit freaked out (really bug-eyed) and he looked at me when he recovered and I just said "You need to be careful and mind your helm." I said that just to calm him. As I was getting really worried we finally spotted the channel marker poles and as we hit the first one there was enough lee shore the waves subsided. Wind kicked off until 0400 with the weather channel saying 40 knots. We did drag the anchor once. Next morning it was absolutely gorgeous.

3rd time was in a 55 mile race where we had 28 with gusts to 32. At one point on a beam reach we hit 9.2 knots on the GPS.

4th time was in a race about 6 weeks ago where we had 28-33 knot winds. Most people reefed, we did not, but I had great crew who hung in there with me, even when a couple of time I said "I don't know what to do, just hang on for a second" or "never mind" as things would change. Attached are pictures from that race.
 

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RichH

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Feb 14, 2005
4,773
Tayana 37 cutter; I20/M20 SCOWS Worton Creek, MD
About 8 years ago I unluckily had an surprise 'blue hole / weather bomb' develop on top of me. I had entered the Chesapeake and had worked my way up to the mouth of the Potomac in 25-35kts. enroute to Annapolis ... my boat's a 'heavyweight', so she 'enjoys' such weather. The 'atmosphere was straaaaange', extremely humid, lots of blowing fog/mist, and then it suddenly became very 'cooler' - very strange as no 'cold fronts' were predicted.

Suddenly, the clouds 'opened' over me and the sky became startlingly clear deep blue for about 2-3+ miles in diameter right over me and on the 'horizon' there was a visible 'wind wall' of deep thick clouds for '360' degrees, the wind dropped to ~20-25Kts. It was like looking directly up into the sky while holding a tube over one eye.

This 'blue hole' then drifted off over the DelMarVa penninsula on the eastern shore and I 'had' now to cross that 'wind wall' - 30, 40, 45, 50+ and gusts on top of that and I had NO place to go other than 'press-on'. I didnt want to heave-to in the shipping lanes of the bay nor did I want to back track and cross into the mouth of the Potomac a 'notoriously snotty choppy' place when the winds are against the tide. I decided to 'go for it' and attempt to make for the Patuxent River. The tide was with the wind ... and so I 'had' to go to windward. 3rd reef, reefed staysail & close reaching into now 8-12ft.(?) high steep chop with the crests falling over or simply blowing off in spume. 5 hours later by tacking (it seemed like several hundred tacks) through a moderate close reach tacking angle, because the chop was so steep it would have surely totally stopped the boat we finally made the Pax. River while doing an average 1.5-2 kts. SOG because of the close/steep chop. I finally turned into the Pax river, just as my main totally shreaded (leach line failure started it), staysails on a clubfoot are excellent for beam reaching!!!

Many boats that were caught out by this 'surprise' that day were washed ashore or had major rig damage, the CG was extremely busy. The max. winds were probably well into Force 10 (63 kts.) - 'full storm' with gusts into F11 'violent storm'.

What I learned from all this is its not the wind thats the problem, its the size of the waves, and since these were 'manageable' even being so close together (~2-3 sec period) and quite steep they were not a real problem. I did have to wear my diving mask so I could see without PAIN. My boat is a 'heavy' Tayana.
FWIW, the winds at Annap. and Norfolk at the same time were only 20-25 kts. during this whole 'blue-hole episode'. Apparently what happened is that a LOW pressure system developed directly ON TOP OF ME.
I now have a deeper appreciation of the word 'sky-blue'.
 
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Bob R.

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Jun 5, 2004
161
Marlow-Hunter 40 Pasadena, MD
30-35 mph... Pretty much dead downwind, 45 mi in 5 hours flat, no lie. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." The boat did really well, and took care of the crew pretty nicely, too. It's a pretty fine boat.
Paul,
It is nice to hear your H356 handled 30-35 mph wind so well. We have owned a 2002 H356 for 4 years and have experienced 25+ kt winds several times, once surfing downwind a 8 kts in rain and heavy fog.

My personal strongest wind experience was on a charter in the Greek Islands between Milnos and Ios, 50 mile passage, 8 hrs of 30+ kt wind with gusts to 40. The Greeks call the wind condition a "meltemi". We were in a Beneteau 393. We ducked behind a long narrow island for some relief, only to get knocked down when we passed a break in the tall hills on the island and got slammed.
 

BarryL

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May 21, 2004
1,074
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409 Mt. Sinai, NY
Block Island

Hello,

This past summer we sailed from Mt. Sinai to Block Island for a week vacation. The boat is a 1986 O'day 35. The crew was my wife and my three kids -girls 16 and 13, and my son, age 9.

The first day of the trip started miserably. Wind was 15-20 kts right on the nose. Between the wind and the outgoing tide, the seas were short and choppy. Fortunately, conditions improved during the day.

I thought the second day would be better (from Orient Point to Block) but it was much worse. We left early, knowing that a front was supposed to arrive late that afternoon. During the trip the weather got worse and worse. When we were about 6 nm from New Harbor we got hit with 30-35 kt gusts. I was motor sailing with a full main up and no headsail. It was pouring rain, zero visibility, cold, and miserable. My kids were inside, by the companionway. My wife was outside, under the dodger, and I was at the helm. My kids were nervous, my son was scared (I was too, but I didn't want them to see that). It was just awful for the 15-30 minutes that the 30-35 kt winds and heavy rain lasted.

After that, the wind went down to 'only' 20 and we made it into the harbor. The storm lasted another 3 days and the 'vacation' was terrible.

If I have some crew, I love to sail in 20-25 kt winds, but only for a few hours.

I don't look forward to 30+

Barry
 
Sep 25, 2008
544
Bristol 43.3 Perth Amboy
In 1976, we were caught in Tropical Storm Amy off the Rhode Island coast. We left New London and were headed to Newport. My dad forgot to listen to the weather radio. Overnight, the storm took a left instead of a right. Once we were out of the Watch Hill Passage, we had 40-50 knot wind with 60 knot gusts on the nose of our Bristol 40. 6 to 10 foot waves. Deeply reefed mainsail (old roller reefing main, with head lower than the spreaders) and a storm jib that is about 80 sq feet.

The boat handled the conditions no problem. When we got into Newport at Goat Island, we learned that quite a large number of boats were dismasted that day. We had the right sail plan and a fairly new boat.

July 1982 returning from Bermuda: Full Gale in Gulfstream. 20 foot seas. 40 knot winds.
Ran before it with deeply reefed main and heavy weather jib (80%). Long night running before the storm.
 

zeehag

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Mar 26, 2009
3,198
1976 formosa 41 yankee clipper santa barbara. ca.(not there)
when e were sailing the gulf last year, we kept getting caught in t-storms.. the winds in side were said to have been 70 kts-- but i dont know--we were sailing under jib, furled and in seas no larger than 10 ft.. prolly more like 8-8 1/2'-- when they predicted 80-100, we ran into port st joe as fast as we could(we were out 60-100 miles into gulf.water was 228 ft depth..)--in the bay we were blown onto a spoils bank at 41 K kts-- that wasnt fun. sailing the gulf at speed was a gas--we had dolphins and all kinds of fun...hit 10 mph on gps for our speed-- and was dark....LOL.we didnt get pooped until the winds were down and the seas were 8ft--at 0300in morning -- was a bit wet..flying fish hit me in face--LOL
we made it across mobile bay in 4 hours.
we sailed under furled (2/3 was flying) jib alone from cat island to biloxi in 3 hours. that was fun...we nearly planed that boat..LOL
 
Jun 12, 2010
936
Oday 22 Orleans Marina, NOLA
2-3 weeks ago on lake P, 12-15 kts with slightly higher gusts, water choppy. Was prepared to reef and most other boats were but she handled it nicely, no reef, 100% jib was heeling 10 to 15 degrees just under hull speed into the waves. Any higher wind and I think I would reef but it was more fun than scary.
 
Sep 25, 2008
1,096
CS 30 Toronto
Last July we we hit by a storm shortly after start of a long distance lake race. 150+ boat started, 30+ sustained damage and most pulled out. One trimaran turned turtle and rescued by CG.

We were on a Hunter 33 Legend. I wouldn't call that "sailing". More like trying to stay alive. The lake was coming over the free board. Luckily it only lasted about 10 minutes, but the max speed recorded on the wind instrument was 65 knot.
 
Aug 2, 2005
1,155
Pearson 33-2 & Typhoon 18 Seneca Lake
Paloma's 3 Hour Tour (sorry, no pictures)


Hello Members, The following original poem addresses the question in this post. Unfortunately, I could not include the pictures that were used to illustrate the poem, and the format has been distorted because of the missing pictures. I hope enough of the story is clear to let you know how much we respect our 1979 Oday 30, PALOMA.
Thanks for reading, Phil



Paloma’s “Three Hour Tour”
OR
Forget Gilligan & Popeye the Sailor. Meet Pooped Pants the Sailors!
By Phil Correll 11/April/2010
Florida’s beautiful spring weather enticed us to cruise
Instead of watch TV or perhaps take a snooze.
Saturday was beautiful, and the wind pushed us true.
We anchored in Pelican Bay to decide what to do.
After a snack for a late lunch and a short dinghy ride
We paid our park fee and rode to the other side.
We chatted with the volunteer who drove the golf cart.
Our weekend was off to an extremely fine, happy start!
Walking on the sand, talking, and picking shells
We soaked in the sights and breathed in the smells.

Later, we had dinner aboard and each read a book.
There were thirty boats anchored if anyone cared to look.
Finally, my hopes were realized though they weren’t too grand.
We each went walking on the entrance spit of sand.
Back to Paloma for a shower on the boat.
The wind blew the whole night, but we were safely afloat.


 
At nine Sunday morning we hauled anchor for the day.
We heard rumors of showers, but we were early on our way.
Out over Boca Grande the sky looked quite black,
But with the time that was forecast we were sure to be back.
Eileen said, “I don’t like the color of those clouds.”
They were the shade of sad, purple, funeral shrouds!



 
Pressing on seemed quite logical and a safe thing to do.
Most clouds pass on by, and then the sun shines anew.
This time events were different, and what do you know?
A severe weather warning blared out of Paloma’s radio!
A water spout was reported off Gasparilla Island the voice said,
And direct to a safe harbor is where boaters should head!
We glanced over the stern and then past the bow.
Turning back to the anchorage seemed a bit futile now.
The wind hit us hard, and the rain came in a gush.
We had each donned our wet gear and PFDs in a rush.
Keep making progress and stay off Jug Creek Sand Bar.
The motor kept on churning, but we didn’t get very far.
As the waves built to five feet and then on beyond
We felt like a toy boat in a bathtub or in a fish pond!
‘The wind was just howling’ is easy to say.
Its speed went past fifty and kept blowing away!
The peak speed recorded was sixty plus two.
Faith in God and our sailboat was the best we could do.
At just that very minute a bad smell hit my nose.
I checked in my pants, but it wasn’t in my clothes!
Paloma was heeled to the side by the wave’s push and pull.
Her good cooling system was no longer being kept full.
We think that the impeller had begun to run dry,
And that little rubber spinner had started to fry!
Throttle pushed to max helped bring her bow through the wind.
The smell soon subsided, and we each carefully grinned.
The Garmin still showed us to be near the dread shoal,
And the wind stayed above forty as it made the waves roll!
With no land for reference and rain pelting our eyes
We heard radio calls for Boat US and the Coast Guard Rescue Guys!
To get turned about in a storm that is raging
Is a thought that certainly isn’t very engaging.
Off to our port side we saw Boca Grande Pass loom.
At least we had deep water and plenty of room.
As the wind settled back to thirty and just a bit more
We headed our boat toward far off Burnt Store.
At some point in the passage we thought of the dinghy towed on the cleat
It had been twisted twenty times! Now, that is some feat!
While being pulled with its bottom facing up to the rain
It could not fill with water which would have been a great pain.
Progress was slow, and we bobbed up and down.
The looks on our faces were a serious, long frown.
We each fought off the feeling of becoming quite sick
Because “tossing our cookies” wouldn’t help us a lick!
Finally, passing marker “99” was a great milestone.
We began to see other boats, but the sun had not yet shown.
When our course put us inside the sand bar at Jug Creek
We felt we were safe, but we also felt a little bit meek.
Through wind driven rain with lightning crashing about
We relied on Paloma, in that there’s no doubt.

We realized that Seamanship depends very much on one’s ship.
If anyone “disses” Paloma we’ll give them a fat lip!
Our O’Day has passed thirty; some say, “Long in the tooth.”
We say she is a trusty girl, and that is the truth!
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Oct 12, 2009
55
Catalina 22 Buffalo
Many times on purpose inside Buffalo Outer Harbor breakwall with winds 20-25 whipping the tops of lake waves over the top of the breakwall. I used to fly a double reefed main and %40 storm jib but more recently set only the 100% jib. Fast sailing with little waves in the outer harbor.

Once tied to South Benjamin Island in the North Channel, Georgian Bay, had a squall line approach just at dusk after enjoying a campfire ashore with friends. We had our boats (Cat22 & Cat25) tied to rings set into the bedrock ashore with bowline and stern line on opposite banks. Wind speed not measured but the boats heeled past 20 degrees. The wind was strong enough to shower our boats with the embers of the campfire hastily doused because of the fast approaching weather. Our fears the embers damaging our equipment were drowned like everything else in the ensuing downpour. Only the largest pieces of wood were left on the rocks where the campfire had been.

South of Parry Sound, I was tied to shore with one anchor off the stern in a little bay on the south side of Sharpe Island. The evening was tranquil enough and the weather report sounded pleasant enough when we turned in.
At 0330, I was wakened by the hull hitting the rocky shore and instantly in the cockpit, I found the anchor had dragged on the weedy bottom from a wind shift to the northwest. Shore line cast off, I motored into the middle of the bay and set 2 anchors in 15 feet on 100' and 150' scope with distant thunder and lightning lighting the otherwise pitch black harbor every 10 seconds or so.
I stripped the deck and poles of everything I could fit inside as the storm quickly approached and the flashes increased to one every 3 to 5 seconds. Inside every electrical device was unplugged and antennas were disconnected.
The rain didn't start until the lightning was almost overhead and at this point was nearly continuous. I maintained a watch as long as I could stay awake, about 3 hours, but thunderstorms have always had a soothing effect on me and before I knew anything it was 0830 and a partly cloudy morning.
The deck was drying, the anchor rodes were twisted twice, a larger bucket left empty in the cockpit had 6 inches of water in it, and the dinghy was riding low in the water. Later we heard there was only one boat in the area that reported damage, an ionized radio on a 45 footer about 10 miles to our north.
 

Bayguy

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Dec 6, 2010
2
catalina 320 Annap.
Wow, my first thread to post to and this is what I get?

Um. Let's see, caught in a squall gusts to 52 as reported by two boats in the vicinity. Sustained in the high 40's. NWS estimated 70 gusts in that portion of the storm we were in, but I didn't see that.

Passage to the islands years ago; sustained 35 knots, gusts a little higher, seas 15-20 for a couple of days.

Race to Bermuda; saw gusts over 40 knots... and we had a kite up! woohoo!

Highest was excess of 70 but I was on a ferry to Block Island in '96. Microburst did all sorts of damage in the harbor. People puking all around me. I had seen the ominous dark clouds approaching and had gone inside early enough to stake out a nice comfy seat!
 
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