Get ready for it to blow! These weren’t super heavy winds but they were on the nose and had Plaintiff’s Rest really heeled over during the second night and day of our voyage to Cuba. Our Niagara 35 proved she was up for the task though, practically sailing herself across the Gulf. Follow along as we share some storm sail tactics in here as well: rigging up of the inner forestay, setting the second reef in the main and checking for chafe on the furling lines. Hope you all are enjoying the Cuba Voyage series!
Great video! I have a sail trim question. I’ve done a lot of sailing but mostly on large bays and sounds on boats with less sail area so making sail adjustments is much easier. The videos tend to distort the foreground so it is hard to tell, but it looked like you guys had a lot of head sail out when you were sailing on the wind with the main reefed. Most of my experience is with hanked on sails so I don’t know how well a genoa rolls up on a roller furler and maybe that is a factor. But you would have felt a lot of weather helm if it was too much head sail. So my question is, did the amount of head sail feel like too much? On my boat, 20 knots can feel like a hurricane if I have too much sail up, particularly head sail.
Hey there Paul. Thanks for watching and writing. Great question. Looking back, Phillip and I do think we had a little too much head sail out that first rough night. Not too much, though, as the boat was handling it well and auto-pilot was holding which means the sails are pretty well balanced (he will not hold if there’s too much weather helm). But we probably could have furled a couple more wraps in before sunset and it would have heeled less. We reefed later in the second day more and pulled the genoa back forward of the mast and that was better. You should have seen us Cuba to Key West. We had a little tiny beach towel out. Ha! Thanks again for watching.
Thanks for your insight. And I hope to join you two (well, figuratively at least!) in the not too distant future. It is great to see actual footage from your trips.
Annie,
Very good video. Really enjoyed watching it. You brought out the reality of what it is like out there on the big blue in a small boat. Well done. Now I’m going to watch it again.
Fair winds and smooth seas
Thank you Rick. That really means a lot to me as I try very hard to share the realities of it all, that sometimes it’s a little worrisome, sometimes you’re tired, hungry, cursing the wind, etc. but it makes those other times when you’re warm, dry, watching the sunrise even better! Really appreciate you taking the time to leave such a nice comment. Thank you!
Annie and Philip: The boat looks so good. What a change from back in the boat yard. Thanks for the Windex footage. We are fitting our Averisera with the same Windex/VHF antenna and will have a stopper after seeing what you went through. Thanks.
Hey Martin! Thanks for watching. You’re more than welcome as we are always happy to share. We couldn’t remember whether there was a stopper on there from the package when we first put it on (we don’t believe so, or perhaps it was blown through in those winds), but next time I climb the mast you better believe a rubber band is going on that thing! : ) Fair winds. Always good to hear from Averisera!
Averisera is glad to read and watch your adventures!