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Hard sailing on Chesapeake Bay

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5895 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/22/2007 : 10:04:33

Because the weather has been so warm this year, lots of boats were out racing Saturday and Sunday, to be sure they catch the last, best winds of the season. But the wind was coming up the Bay both days, creating bigger waves, and it varied from almost no wind at the start to 25 in the gusts. As a result, the boat repair business is booming today.

After finishing second on Saturday (we were racing a Pearson Triton 28, one-design), we found that our gooseneck was broken just before the start of the race on Sunday. On Saturday, an Etchells (about 30' racer) broached, then pitchpoled, and then buried its bow in the mud, and stayed there with only about one foot of it visible above the water. It finally filled completely and sank. The next morning, divers were trying to raise it. On Sunday, we heard that a Melges 24 also pitchpoled. We also heard radio transmissions about a 22' boat that was dismasted, with 2 crew in the water. We saw a spinnaker explode. Our genoa started to come apart in places. Another of the Tritons broached while flying a chute in strong winds, stuck one spreader in the water, broke the spreader and had to retrieve his spinnaker from the water. I'm sure there was a lot more damage on other boats that we didn't know about.

On Sunday, we tried to motor about 30 miles south to our Marina, but the boat almost came to a stop when each wave hit us squarely on the bow, and we made such little progress that we decided we wouldn't make it all the way with the gas that we had, so we turned off the motor, turned north, rolled out the jib and sailed north for about 10 miles, and left the boat at a friend's dock for a few days, until the winds are more favorable. If we hadn't broken the gooseneck, we could have sailed back to our marina, because the Triton, with it's full keel, likes a lot of wind, and it's sail can power it through the waves, but, with only a jib, and only enough gas for a few hours more motoring, we knew we wouldn't be able to sail or motor-sail the rest of the way. You always hate to give back ground that was hard-gained, but we'll probably bring the boat back mid-week, and the gooseneck will be repaired, and we should have a good sail by then.

In any event, we had one good race and a lot of excitement, and nobody got hurt! That's a day that will replay in my memory during the cold winter ahead!

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

Edited by - on

Justin
Admiral

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502 Posts

Response Posted - 10/22/2007 : 11:18:59

Yeah, it was pretty windy out there on Saturday. I had a nice sail from the West River north to the bay bridge. Winds were in the high teens, gusting to the mid 20s. We had a lot of fun. Here is a nice photo:

Of course I try to get exciting photos showing the most heel, but most of the time we were around 20-25 degrees.

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/22/2007 : 11:42:57

I read 35-40 in that pic... Yeee Haw!

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Justin
Admiral

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502 Posts

Response Posted - 10/22/2007 : 12:04:46

Yeah, 35-40 sounds about right. We had some gusts dip the rail a couple times. I took my dad out sailing that day. It was only his third time ever sailing and the other two times were really mild; my mom said she found it boring. In the future I'm going to try to get my non-sailing guests more involved in the activities. I told my dad that Saturday will not be boring with the forecasted weather and that it should be an exciting time. He had a great time and was at the tiller the entire trip except for me getting us in and out of the marina. It was his first time steering the boat and he really learned how the boat reacts to the wind gusts and waves.

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.