Nice sailing on Seneca
- Thread starter agprice22
- Start date
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Yes. Watkins Glen International is 1-2 miles West. When the wind is out of the West, we can hear the cars throttle up as they turn onto the front straight. I am partial to the 6 Hours of the Glen race with the prototypes and sports cars. I have seen many races there, Daytona, and Sebring, and I have thousands of pictures. The Historic Sportscar Race series is also excellent.
WG is a great little town.
Right? Eeek!
We had just come from swimming. Hoisted the sails after a stormed passed to the South, and the wind kicked up. We took advantage of the breeze.
After looking at the video, I was thinking: tune that rigging, trim those sails, which we did later.
The hard thing about Seneca is that you tack every 5 minutes in a fast boat.
My wife thinks so too! That boat gets going in 15 or 20 knots of wind, starts to fly a hull pretty high, and I know I better reef. Problem is, she likes the multihull because it doesn’t heel, but then the speed gets her. It is really not a sedate experience sometimes.
I used to think sailing is relaxing. Now I understand it’s a challenge I enjoy. But it’s never relaxing for me.
Yes. The winds are often NNW, SSW. We end up reaching across the lake a lot. It makes for short tacks. Seneca is 34 miles long, North to South, but less than a mile wide in most places. Sailing North or South usually is a beat or a run, not the forte of the multihull. I do not think she is worse than other boats on a run. She just gives up her advantage. She beats to windward pretty well, and that lengthens the legs a bit.
The boat is fun to sail, and she can pass most everyone on most tacks, and I can match them or pull away a little on a run, especially with the asymmetric up. Strong NW winds that have persisted for hours are rough. The lake gets a short period chop with white caps and breakers that makes the boat pound, and pound. We call it “sailing a basher.” Beating to windward in that situation is... ugh.
We always wish for a long West wind or East wind, so we could reach up and down the lake. It never happens.
There is a guy who owns a F 27 in our marina. He only sails in Winter. We are more likely to get an East or West wind then. He says he drove the boat the length of the lake and back one day during a big blow. However, he has also flipped the boat several times. I think they fold the outriggers which causes the boat to right. Seneca is very, very deep and rarely freezes over.
The wind tends to calm in the evenings. It makes for quiet nights at the dock.