Rough Conditions
I have a 87 D model that I sail in most any conditions. I sailed the boat (and heavily laden) into winds of 20 odd knots gusting to something larger. The body of water was Yellowstone Lake, and there was sufficient fetch to get a pretty good swell going. I sailed DDW with the main only, and a close watch on the mainsheet. Still, I rounded up from DDW and here is how: during a particulary large gust, a swell made up of 3 smaller swells co-incided at the aft end of the boat. I had allowed, at that same moment, the boat to turn a few degrees off of DDW and that was what it took for a complete round-up from DDW. I have an Idasailor dboard and rudder which helped in the recovery, but once it started, there was no stopping. I let the mainsheet go, and got the boat under control again, and took off DDW again as I was making toward a small island. I cleared the headland of the island and swung in behind it, in it's windshadow, and coasted up to the beach. Should I have had the working jib up? It might have balanced the boat but I had enough canvas out. I was very concerned about the amount of power on the sail, and because my family was below, I could not reef the main. I should have reefed the main at the dock, as there was plenty of power to go over 9 knots when sliding down the swell faces. If I had another adult ondeck as good as I am (and I am not all that good), I could have handled this situation differently. I especially did not want to flog the mainsail in that kind of wind velocity, so I adopted a wait and see attitude. As far as riding the swells, the 26D rises up nicely on the overtaking swells and I never really felt any problem there. If I had to beat to windward on that day, I would have dropped the main and motored or hove to and just observed the wind and waves.
