Why We Sail -- "30 Knots"

so why go sailing in 30 knots well because it's exhilarating and it's educational and it reminds us that we sail on two entirely different boats one boat up to about 18 or 20 knots when we put in our reefs and a second boat when the wind pipes up and the spray starts to fly it's different for every boat here are two one flying along with a bone in their teeth and a full mane and the other in trouble trouble that's going to get worse and trouble that we need to avoid I think the best thing about going out on the bus three-day is that we chose that day ourselves in our crew and our head is screwed on straight we know what we're looking for we're looking for parts of the boat that second boat that'll slip or break for most of all fowl and all the lines and gears and fittings that we take for granted that just lie there when it's blowing ten knots and we'll get to know them better and maybe they'll get to know us better too and tell us you know you can't do it that way when the wind is blowing hard I put spectra lazy jacks on this boat they're a big help and a foul whatever we're going out and heavier of course we want to tighten the out haul as much as we can because it reached sail should be flat it's easy to forget I'm trying reef tack down haul lines on this boat but you know they have to go through blocks they have to go through the deck organizer and all of that is subject to fouling fouling fouling and fouling is what we're going to be looking out for fouling and slipping on our second boat that when we're sailing today every winch will take on a new personality where two turns works fine around the boys and heavy air you may need as I do to put on four or five were the maximum numbers of turns to be able to tail the winch to be able to make the self tailing feature work most of this stuff never gets tested in the normal course of everyday sailing that's why we're going out today any clutch older than one year is subject to slipping and they have their own techniques let's keep our eye on those because any time a line gets loose in thirty knots it makes a lot of noise it's a great distraction it can tangle itself into knots seconds there needs to be a winch handle pocket near every winch so here in the safety of our slip we've now gone from a full Spain sail to a first reef we've put in our second reef and we could even put in a third reef if we wanted to which on my boat is the size of a storm cry so the roller furling jib is one of the handiest ways to reduce sail on board and i use this simple cleat most of the time around the boys but today it needs to be cleated down because with a partially furl jib that line should come loose and the jib burr to stream it would be a disaster in 30 or 40 knots in fact I'm sure to clean I'm going to have to put a new cleat on my combing about there I think to be able to secure the end of the roller Ferrar we're down today to about 50% of J that's the measuring from the masts to the fourth day that ought to be alright but here's many of the fouls that occur it's really important to make sure that the jib fairlead is secure they're adjustable if they get loose today it will really foul things up and it's almost impossible to simulate the violence of jib sheets even when simply tacking but especially if something else were to go wrong they can find things to foul on there we can hardly imagine and the answer is to just keep some tension on them all the time don't let anything get too slack every winch on my boat has a different personality and 30 knots some of them slip they all need different numbers of turns and one thing I must never forget to do is take the winch handle out after using it because if you don't you can't reduce or increase the numbers of turns I say I'll sing one-handed most of the time so I'm always clipped in my six foot tether clipped to an eyebolt in the cockpit gives me access to everything there and to go forward it's a double turn of the tether around the long jack line safety harnesses can fowl to going out in heavy air gives me one more chance to practice my moves Mike turns my observations and to wear the right shoes you know I have five pairs of top-siders four of them are death traps we have to test our shoes to make sure they don't try to kill us in the going gets rough this is Santa Monica Bay five miles from where we're going to go sailing the very next day still blowing 30 or so gusting to 35 I think this boat is a merit 24 I think their crew were experienced they seem to have been equipped with the right gear but something as we can see has done wrong and I think in one way or another it has to do with fouls or breakage or slippage there's something wrong with the way the jib is setting these boats are very nimble in fact Ameri 24 sailed several times to Hawaii and back single-handed but the jib won't set you could see a man on the foredeck holding it it seems perhaps the other jib sheet is fouled something is preventing it from setting and when the sail can't set even the fast little boat can't move forward and what they can see that we couldn't was Redondo Beach Pier I would say this is a desperate moment of trying to get a fouled sail to set the boat should be able to sail and tack and escape it didn't it's hard to watch the boat was lost but it's just a boat all four crew got safely ashore and I think one of them was treated for minor injuries you can always get a new boat most of the time and afternoon sailing 30 knots is a walk in the park you almost always break something and you'll always learn something and you're always grateful to whatever you broke or learned happened that day and not some other day in these conditions even a 38 foot boat can be sound like a dinghy it really feels good to get to know that second boat the high wind boat and you know when you play a sport who usually train for it even if you're in the school play they expect you to rehearse your lines so when it comes to sailing don't we need to practice I do you

Channel: Christian Williams

Views: 536,667

Keywords: Christian Williams, Thelonious II, Ericson Yachts, Redondo Pier Sailboat, Sailing, Cruising, high winds, reefing, capsize, 30 knots, crew training, sailing instruction, marina del rey, redondo beach, pacific palisades, Ericson 38, Hawaii, Kauai, yachting disasters, how to sail, how to reef, offshore sailing

Id: HVJYDWkJg_w

Length: 10min 3sec (603 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 07 2017