[quote=mattson][quote=spfx]Yep, I'm taking the P19. Should we bring something to slide the hulls above the high tide line?
Bill Matson is still making crossings to the local Channel Islands and has wild stories about encounters with heavy winds this past summer. On his most recent trip to Santa Cruz Island, he sailed back his H18 on jib only doing 12 knots in 10 ft seas.
Marek and Bill had a Mr Toads Wild Ride adventure a couple of months before during another Santa Cruz crossing.[/quote]
I'm gonna walk back those sea heights a tad, after checking buoy data. Probably in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 feet. Steep as hell though, right on the beam. (I've got some GoPro video of some of it, but video flattens conditions, and a fisheye flattens them even more. ) On the big ones, had to head down and surf them to prevent a broach. When my tiller arm got tired of that, I tried heading up instead. The problem there was that as the bows left the water, the wind would blow them downwind, so I went back to surfing figuring I'd have Ben Gay for the arm when I got home.
The decision to sail on jib only was after the experience I had with Marek at Scorpion on Santa Cruz. Winds where 30+ at the ranger station. The blowing sand took the windward registration sticker off the boat. It was the first time using a custom reef point on the new sails, and there were issues with that, but we left the beach away, on a run. As soon as we hit the wind line, with are weight as far back as we could get it, we pitchpoled both hulls to the crossbar. Broke the gooseneck pin, which caused some very interesting issues on capsize, and also had a rudder problem too detailed to get into here. Left the boat there, took the ferry home, then came back a week later with parts. Had a wonderful sail home.
Didn't mean to get into war stories here, but what I determined from both experiences here is that if you've got really heavy conditions, and your destination is anywhere from a beam reach to a run, sailing on jib alone is very doable. I was getting 12 knots of boat speed, and had good control. The downside is raising the main at sea which can be challenge depending on the sea state. The real solution for me is to get my reef point straightened out.
Sorry for getting wordy. I need to frequent this forum more as you guys have some interesting stuff going on. I wish I could join you on the Catalina trip, but I've got weekend commitments through Oct. Maybe next time.
Will anyone have SPOT beacons on board? I'd love to follow you guys on your trip.
Bill Mattson
Hobie 18 "Cheap Thrill"<!-- editby --><em>Edited by mattson on Oct 11, 2015 - 01:33 PM.</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]