In how much wind have you sailed?

[OldCat]

What's the strongest wind you've sailed in? Did you go out on purpose in this wind or get caught in an unexpected blow? Where were you at the time? What kind of sail configuration did you use? Did you continue with your sailing plans or head for the nearest harbor? When it was all over, was your reaction 'never again' or 'yee-hah'?
Share your wind stories (with us).

1. Dunno, no wind meter
2. Caught 'unexpected' in a thunderstorm microburst.
3. Twice, Lake Dillon and Carter Lake, both in Colorado.
4. First Time: Got the main down in the middle of the bombing, should have reacted faster, ran and reached off under the J22's class jib. Second time: Got the main down before the bombing, broached the J22 with only the class jib up ; dropped it and hove too under power.
5. We came in the first time (no wind) and kept sailing the second (was nice once the bomb passed us by).
6. I try to be much more careful about thunderstorms, probably why the above was a few years ago. The Rocky Mountains make weather prediction a "challenge":neutral:.

The most fun that we had this year was upwind at 6.5 kts (5.9 hull speed) with the C22's head sail and main both reefed. A small lake keeps the waves down...

I am glad that I have never gotten caught in the worst of a down slope NNW wind. We had a gust at 111 mph last spring. At least these Chinook winds ARE easy to predict.

OC