OK, enough with all this talk of motorboats, let’s go sailing in a bit of breeze on Morgan’s Cloud. We made the video below a few days ago in a solid Force 7 blow (near gale, 28-33 knots).
John With Egg On Face
By the way, look for a timely reminder from Phyllis at the halfway mark in the video—I’m suitably ashamed of myself.
Environment Canada With Egg On Face
Also listen for the weather forecast wind speed at the time we were shooting and then compare it to the windspeed indicator (left-most gauge).
As I always say, “a weather forecast is only the most likely of several possible scenarios“. Or as Phyllis likes to put it, “It’s a forecast, not a prophesy”.
This is a good example of why (even if you are only out for a 25 mile daysail as we were) it’s so important to have your boat rigged to snug down easily and to have the required manoeuvers well practiced.
Please view the video and then scroll down for some more notes.
I have imbedded the video below, but you can also watch it in a larger version here.
Reefs
We had two of our three deep reefs in when we took the footage. We had started out that morning with one reef and progressed to three reefs a bit after the video ended, when the wind started gusting to 35 knots.
These reductions are easy to do using our downwind reefing technique, and I didn’t even get wet. This is the key to safely handling a boat the size of Morgan’s Cloud with just two people: reef early and often. The boat’s design makes this work well since she is so easily driven that even after putting in the third reef we were still doing 8 to 9 knots.
Lazyjacks
You will also note that we didn’t tie the reef points in and that the bunt of the sail is nicely retained by our lazyjack system. If we were going to be out for the night we would have tied the points in and rigged a safety strop.
A Proper Preventer
Also, note that we have our end boom preventer rigged even though we were planning to be at anchor in a couple of hours. In this kind of breeze this is the only safe option for boom control.
It’s Great To Be Back
This was our first sail in any significant breeze after my rehab from my broken leg and it was great to find that everything still worked well, boat and crew.
Hi MC! Nice to see you out there again!
By some mistake I have anticipated that MC is a small boat. Now I can see that it is rather big. This explains better to me many of your comments in the past.
And Phyllis is damned cool.
I hope your leg can take the swell.
Svein
Thank’s Svein, I relieved to find that my balance at sea seems to be just about back to what it was before I broke my leg. A great relief since even in May, when sailing with the guys from Boreal in France, I was still more than a bit wobbly, and that in smooth water.
Congrats on getting back under sail!
I’ve envisioned the stainless hoop at the aft end of MC’s cockpit as her boom gallows/crutch, but am struck now by how much lower than the bimini it is. Am I mistaken? Or does an additional piece mount on those short posts to reach boom height?
J
Hi JH,
Yes, you are right, an additional short crutch mounts in the sockets you mention. When sailing, we stow it in a cockpit locker.
beautiful sailing!! more videos and commentary please – this is wonderful stuff to actually show your teachings in practice.
It was hard to tell, but it looked like you might have had, what – about 1/3 of the genoa rolled up? might be wrong. curious as to the choice of headsail in this situation.
I was out for a wee romp on Friday in 24-28 true as well, ended up with a similarly reefed down condition… but I was running a full staysail in front – admittedly I was trying to make it to weather for much of the day.
now I am definitely putting in lazyjacks. the bunt of our sail was flopping around and bugging me until i finally tied in a few reef points.
thanks!
bg
Hi Ben,
Yes, we had about 40% of our 100% high cut yankee out, which works better than the staysail would with the wind aft because the sheet lead is further aft and outboard resulting in a much more open leach. This is one of the huge advantages of a cutter rig: a high cut 100% yankee jib (jib topsail) makes a much better blast reacher, even when rolled up, than the overlapping lowcut jibs that are so popular today.
John, I have found very much the same with my similar sail plan with the wind aft of the beam. I am getting closer to having a new main cut; may I ask what percentage of total sail area is reduced by each of your reefs (if known, or just approximately). I was considering a 15% first reef, and a 50% second, with no third reef, but perhaps a trysail. Clearly, you find three reefs a better number of “gears”.
And yes, the sound of chastisement for failing to clip in is not unfamiliar!
Hi Marc,
Sorry, I don’t have the sail plan with me right now. But I can tell you that if your deepest reef is only a 50% reduction, you had better, as you say, have a trysail and be ready to set it. Even then 50% to a trysail, is a big jump.
OK, thanks for the advice. I’m cutter-rigged and will have a reef in the staysail, a relatively (as I understand it) uncommon option. That’s why I was thinking of two reefs instead of three in the main. Perhaps 25% and 60%. I’l talk to my sailmaker and other owners of relatively heavy displacement motorsailers for ideas/experiences.
Hi Mark,
I would strongly discourage you from trying to have a reef in the staysail, that is if you are talking about reefing points and a separate clew and tack. One of those things that sounds great in theory, but works very poorly in practice.
If you want to be able to shorten down the staysail, simply put it on a furler.
By the way, I have made a note to check my sail plan for reef sizes when next it and I am in the same place. If you don’t see the answer to your question within a few weeks, rattle my cage.
Hi Marc,
See my comment below in answer to Bob.
Hi John,
Great video!!! On June 28 of this year I was involved in a motor cycle accident that shattered my right ankle. Currently going through PT and it’s coming along. We had big plans of painting the whole boat and heading south by Sept. 1st but that didn’t happen. My wife has been overwealmed by this whole ordeal and seeing your video just now has really cheered her up! Reading about your recovery and eventual return to sailing has helped us to cope. We haven’t been out since last November and I think we’re going stir crazy. But thank you again for the video and it’s nice seeing your safety practices in action. It would be great to see more video demonstrations on your sailing technics in the future.
Thanks again, S/V Golden Echo
Hi Ron,
Sorry to hear about your accident. The “roller coaster of rehab” is no fun. Glad the video provided inspiration.
Very refreshing video and article!
Thank you very much