does anyone know how far a 27' 1975 catalina can heel or does anyone know about how much a gust it will take to know one down? oohh, one more, out on the ocean when would you suggest to get of the water? 7-10ft, 10-15ft, or 15+ seas? thank you for any info for a newbie!
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Cat 27 limits
Jason, the limit to far over you can heel a Cat27 is only limited by how far it will go before it takes water over the coaming, and ships it down below. reliatically, though, you want to keep the boat moving well, which it's not doing at that angle. The point at which I begin to feel uncomfortable (but not endangered) is when the rail is in the water. At that point it's still moving, but is overpowered and a reducing sail is in order if it's not just a quick gust. And how much to knock down also depends at least in part on how much sail you have up. The old advice is Reef early and reef deep; reef as soon as you first think about it. I've had my 27 double-reefed, 90% jib, beating into 30+ knots, 10-12 ft seas for about 10 hours. We were heeled maybe 20 degrees, 25 on occasion. It was uncomfortable, but we were safe and relatively dry. (I have a dodger).
Jason, the limit to far over you can heel a Cat27 is only limited by how far it will go before it takes water over the coaming, and ships it down below. reliatically, though, you want to keep the boat moving well, which it's not doing at that angle. The point at which I begin to feel uncomfortable (but not endangered) is when the rail is in the water. At that point it's still moving, but is overpowered and a reducing sail is in order if it's not just a quick gust. And how much to knock down also depends at least in part on how much sail you have up. The old advice is Reef early and reef deep; reef as soon as you first think about it. I've had my 27 double-reefed, 90% jib, beating into 30+ knots, 10-12 ft seas for about 10 hours. We were heeled maybe 20 degrees, 25 on occasion. It was uncomfortable, but we were safe and relatively dry. (I have a dodger).
Winches under water.
With enough wind, you should be able to submerge the jibsheet winches
I've not done it intentionally, but during a race on my C25 we had a long downwind run with the 150% Genoa. The wind had built to 20 knots plus, but we only had to round one buoy, and then beat back 1/4 mile to the finish. We should have had the 110% jib up, but I didn't want to loose time changing the sail for such a short distance to the line. But you should have seen the look on my wife's face when I told we were tacking. The leeward winch was under water at that point. Much to her credit, she was able to release the sheet as I luffed up slightly. We finished OK, but were probably traveling as much distance sideways as upwind. As Peter said in the previous post, it's much more efficient to get the smaller sail configuration deployed.
With enough wind, you should be able to submerge the jibsheet winches
I've not done it intentionally, but during a race on my C25 we had a long downwind run with the 150% Genoa. The wind had built to 20 knots plus, but we only had to round one buoy, and then beat back 1/4 mile to the finish. We should have had the 110% jib up, but I didn't want to loose time changing the sail for such a short distance to the line. But you should have seen the look on my wife's face when I told we were tacking. The leeward winch was under water at that point. Much to her credit, she was able to release the sheet as I luffed up slightly. We finished OK, but were probably traveling as much distance sideways as upwind. As Peter said in the previous post, it's much more efficient to get the smaller sail configuration deployed.- Status