Conference unifix::sailing

    Don't know of many boats that won't heel with 30 knots hitting.  On the
    other hand, 30 degrees of heel shouldn't be considered uncomfortable
    for those conditions.  If you are sailing upwind you are going to take
    heavy spray over the deck and into your face too.  Part of the deal.
    
    Thirty knots feels like a lot, but it shouldn't be dangerous.
    
    Dave

    30 deg of continuous heel is a bit much.  It may occur in gusts
    but it should be possible to reduce that to something more comfortable
    for the mean wind speed.
    
    If going upwind, drop the traveller all the way and trim the mainsheet
    hard.  Steer to keep the boat at a comfortable angle of heel.  You'll
    soon learn to anticipate the puffs and feather up when you feel
    the rail going down.
    
    Beam reaches are more troublesome.  If your boom is strong, crank
    on the vang and ease the sheet to just shy of the point at which
    it begins to luff.  Or just ease the sheet and let the boom rise.
    The sail tends to be fuller this way and some part of it may always
    be luffing.  Weather helm in either case tends to be tiring.  If
    yor're still heeling too much, take in another reef if you have
    one.  Or try taking the main down altogether and using only a small
    jib.  It doesn't take that much to keep a boat moving forward on
    a beam reach.  A jib tied off on deck with a few feet of the head
    showing is enough to provide forward motion.
    
    If the geography permits it, a beam reach can be avoided by heading
    close hauled, then falling down to the destination on a broad reach.
    I use this technique often when the "mooring wind" picks up as
    I'm returning to my mooring and I don't want to reduce sail for
    the short distance remaining.
    
    - gene

Less sail area generally means less heeling when sailing upwind. Just reduce 
sail area until you're comfortable. But sometimes it is actually more
comfortable to carry more sail than less. Our boat pitches less and is faster
in a chop when a bit overpowered. In 30+ knots a double reefed main and a jib
less than 100% might be about right, though it depends on how stiff your boat
is. One suggestion: If you decide to change to a smaller headsail, do it while 
running downwind. This minimizes the apparent wind and boat motion and also 
puts the headsail in the lee of the mainsail. Keep the headsail sheeted in 
hard and it should come down on deck without much fuss.

Keel configuration per se doesn't make all that much difference -- more
important is the shape of the hull and how low the ballast is. Since a wing
keel reduces draft, I'd expect, all else being equal (ballast weight, hull
shape), that a wing-keeled boat would heel more than a boat with a deeper
keel. 

re .0:

One more thought: By the time the wind is blowing over 20 knots, it is
definitely advisable to be wearing sea boots, full foul weather gear (unless
the air and sea temperatures are very warm), safety harnesses, and maybe even 
lifejackets. 

    I agree with the last couple of noters. Less sail area means more
    fun in windy conditions. If you only have one set of reef points
    in your mainsail, take it to your favorite sailmaker and have at
    least one more cut in. It's one of those few relatively inexpensive
    things for your boat. With 30+ knots, you'll not only have more
    fun and control, but probably sail faster too.
    
    If you need to go forward to take in a reef in those conditions,
    I hope you have and are wearing a harness. That's no time to be
    practicing man overboard drills.

    I am new to this conference, although not new to sailing.  By all means
    reduce your heal angle.  The thing most people don't realize is the
    tremendous amount of leaway slippage you encounter when healed at 30
    degrees.  You are better off to reduce sail, depower, and even point
    down wind a few degrees(improved velocity made good).  If have reduced 
    sail area as much as possible and are still experiencing considerable 
    healing, try easing the backstay, the vang(only a little), and setting 
    the traveller to windward with the sheets eased out.  These settings 
    have the effect of putting a lot more twist in the sails and dumping a 
    lot of air out of the sails high up where the velocity is greater.  I 
    have raced on Cal 9.2Ms and Catalina 27s extensively, and we NEVER raced 
    with more than 20 degrees of heal if we could help it.
    
    							Dave Berry
    

>  and setting 
>     the traveller to windward with the sheets eased out.

Hmmm, if beating I think you'd be better off putting the traveller to leeward
and cranking the sheet in to flatten the sail and depower it.  Traveller
to windward and sheet eased out will really power up the sail, unless you're
luffing the sail.  Still, you'd have to luff it a lot to depower it to the
point where it would be if flat with a leeward traveller position. 

Oh and make sure the outhaul is cranked all the way.

Either way, I agree about reducing the heel angle.  30 degrees consistenly
mean that you are not only slipping (although on a winged keel this won't
be as bad) like mad, but you'll have wicked weather helm and will have your
rudder acting like a sea anchor.  Shorten sail and you'll probably go faster.

This reminds me that this summer a friend of mine and I tried to get out of
Provincetown with 30Kts. blowing sustained, in one of Boston Harbour
Sailing Club's Albin 28s.  My friend was steering, I was on the foredeck
(harness on, considerable seas out there), putting up what I thought (and
was labelled) the smallest jib.  Surprise!!!  We put it up and it was a nice
130 jib.  The boat was totally overpowered, we reefed the main way down, the
boat was out of balance and we were spilling air out of everywhere.  We
went nowhere but had a lot of fun doing it.

    You would put the travelor to windward when you already have all your
    reefs in, you smallest headsail up and have done everything else to
    flatten your sails and your still getting heeled too far.  The idea is
    that with a lot of twist even though the sail is a little fuller, you
    dump a lot of air out of the top of the sail.  Since the top of the
    sail is higher up and consequently getting hit with higher velocities
    (wind gradients) dumping air out up ther more than compensates for the
    fuller sail a little lower.  You are either right on the edge of
    luffing or luffing a little bit at this point which is hard on your
    sails, but if you want to continue to point and get there faster it
    does work.