water over the rails!

[eliems]

On the close reach with the main reefed we needed to move to beam reach to avoid land but the gusts would come up every 30 seconds or so and 25 knot winds laying us over until the rails were in the water and I would turn back into the wind again.

let the traveller go to leeward and let out the headsail (110 Genoa) But couldn't master the gusts and lulls so packed the sails in and motored.

Still on a steep learning curve but loving every minute!

 

[Dan Johnson]

eliems...

in that sort of wind I would have rolled up the headsail (or taken it down) and considered putting in the second reef if the first one was still too much sail exposed.

Dropping the traveler to leeward was the right thing as it puts twist in the main top, causing the sail top to be less exposed to the wind, lowering the center of effort, and allowing the boat to sail more upright.

In the gusts you would still have to play the mainsheet to take the increased pressure off the sail temporarily. Apply vang to keep the boom down and allow the mainsheet to do the controlling.

Until you got this down, motoring may have been safer, but with all that rolling, it could stir up sediment in your tank and clog the filters, putting you back on sails.

Good learning experience all the way around.

 

[eliems]

Don't like the sound of that, clogged filters?

I think my fuel tank has been flushed out every couple of years. This happens a lot?

 

[Dan Johnson]

eliems...

If you get your fuel tank "flushed out" every couple of years, fuel filter should not be a common problem for you.

Condensation and water infiltration into the tank are the most common causes for the microbial build-up at the fuel/water interface that can become emulsified with agitation then sucked into the fuel pick-up to ultimately clog the filter.

You should have a Racor water-separating filter between the tank and fuel lift pump to take care of this sort of problem and not rely on the engine's filter alone for protection.