It’s one thing dealing with heavy weather sailing offshore, but what should coastal sailors do when a big blow is imminent? Yachting Monthly’s Theo Stocker set out in 40 knot winds to find out.
Read the full series: https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/tag/heavy-weather-sailing
—-
Subscribe to Yachting Monthly’s Youtube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/user/YachtingMonthly/videos
Subscribe to the magazine at: https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/subscriptions/yachting-monthly-subscriptions
Read more sailing articles at: https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/
Like our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/yachtingmonthlymag/
Follow us on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/yachtingmonthly
Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/yachtingmonthlymag/
29 Comments
This is such an amazing exercise- can I sign up to train in these conditions because it should be a part of a sailors training program-
Not just crew,but crew that can do!!!!🇨🇦😄
This was excellent – more please!
Good show! The crew performed well….better than a touch screen!
I am not sure if this is brave-ity or brevity. I love conditions like this. Stop being so serious.
HT race The Netherlands. 6-7 bft. Full sails and later on with spinaker on the Tirion 21. Fish flushed into the cabin After 3 hours and 10 min. we were on Terschelling. Loved it. https://youtu.be/tSLbYQmhv20
Great viewing. I don’t have the courage or the skill to sail in those conditions yet (or the foreseeable future) but great to see. Keep up the great vids. Ian
Really enjoyed this video. Full of information and learned a few things! Also shows how sea worthy a yacht can be. I know the Contessa's are pretty good boats but there's nothing wrong with sailing in some high winds if you have the stomach for it. I personally love the idea of heavy weather and trying to master my skills in higher winds. Many thanks!
I do it SH & it is b..y hard work. Your video is really good. In my second boat almost as soon as I launched it I went out in F7/8 to test myself in it. It was an experience worth getting. In my currret boat I get slung about an awful lot & have to be very careful of injuring myself. For that reason everything is led back to the cockpit. I stay off the deck as much as possible.My self tacking jib is a boon. I have only been in F9( full on , not just a few gusts) twice in 50 years of sailing & it is NOT fun. My first boat hove to beautifully for 4.5 hours so I could sleep for 3.5 hours. My current boat does not heave too so is really exhausting in heavy weather
Ah yes I remember it well the memory still terrifies me. Force 6 and 7 in a Galion 22. I have now vowed to fill he with foam floatation. I met a man who was in the Fastnet disaster he gave up sailing immediately. Apparently those who sail after that regard everything as nothing.
I'd have loved to have been aboard for this.
Great coverage from basic safety of proper preparation to actual sailing with storm conditions. I found it difficult to understand the presenters heavy English accent as an elder American. Thank goodness for availability of close caption !!! ⛵️ FWCS (Fair Winds Calm Seas)
Awesome video, good tips.
Thank you
Would have been interesting to see a sea anchor deployed, and retrieved, as part of this.
Well covered ! We can all bang on about the storms we got through and lucked out. But it is the lessons learnt and reapplied that count….Everything just takes three times as long to do and is three times harder-And MUST be done with exquisite care. As you so so rightly do, have it all ready beforehand and give the crew a warm , hydrated,fed , safe and easy time of it conserving energy and alertness…The trisail and the storm jib /staysail really need to be set up and ‘ ready to go’..
"I'm going down below. Who's for some breakfast..!!?? Tea?"
A great detailed video on how to cope with heavy weather.
I've been mostly 1,2 or 3 day sailing with group for a few years and we tend to always drop the spray hood before slipping and raise it before going home…… unless it gets windy when on rare occasions we raise it.
So one time after a cut back passage up to Southampton. We beat our way back through wind and tide with spray hood up, dropped sails at Hamble point, rounded up the spit to port, before promptly losing steerage under engine as the wind filled the hood and the wind fueled mid flood hit the stern in perfect 90° unison.
That was a lesson learned.
Luckily, we had a quorum of 3 that mangaged to get the 2 powered-up spray hood straps off in seconds, with yards of sea room to spare.
Gotta say as a "solo" sailor on a 25' sloop my extra hands is Wayne the wind vane. He sits there doing his thing no complaints, bucketing rain, blowing a gale, holding course. Meanwhile I'm bruised, dry and enjoying YouTube.
On that note, racing along in +45knot gust solidifies sailors knowledge and skill.
Assent, this was Bill (willy) Kerrs Contesa 32 right?, I managed the yard at Treluggan Marina Cornwall when he stepped from this vessel for the very last time and she went up for sale at the yards brokerage, what a Legend!! such a famous boat too thanks to his exploits.
I went over 3 times running in the biscay in a 30 ft shamrock…. Glad i put a steel strap over the engine… otherwise no doubt it would have ripped the steering gear out..
You try doing all that prep work when there's a storm just a few miles away…. absolute nightmare I've been there done that… I have a permanently set cutter rig now with storm Sail on it…
Why the storm jib rather than tight reefing the furling genoa?
Thank you . That is sailing !
21:26 Engine running? Why?
“When you have the hood up… “. Consider getting the well proven Sou’wester. It may look old fashioned but avoids the hearing and visibility issues of the hoods.
Outstanding presentation! My personal mantra is "What if,What now,What next?"
All very good and helpful… apart from the fact that as with most people making these type videos you forgot that we can hear you without seeing you! It would have been much more helpful while talking us through the techniques if the camera had been filming the action of the boat looking forward and across to the weather side so we could see the waves coming in and how you steered into and then down them. I got it all from your description but I would have got just as much if you were on the radio, basically you did not fully explore the advantages of visuals over audio!!