Storm experiences/tactics

[Joe]

Hi Fellow Kelt Sailors,

I've just read Adlard Cole's Heavy Weather Sailing and was wondering if there are any storm stories/tactics for the Kelt 7.6 that people can share.  What strategy did you employ in what conditions and how did it work?

Not having an anemometor on board, I don't know how strong the winds were for either of these, but my two experiences were in what I estimate were 30-35 knot winds.

The first we attempted to leave harbour and head into the wind under engine (8HP Honda in the well).  With steep 4-5 foot high waves with a short wavelength at the shallow and narrow harbour exit, we were basically thrashing and unable to make any headway so we turned tail and ran back into the harbour.

In similar conditions on another voyage we ran with the wind for many hours under just the mainsail.  In retrospect I think we should have put at least the first reef, if not the second, in to reduce the work on the rudder and reduce the risk of a broach but we didn't and we managed to do fine - a testament to the boat...  The GPS logged us at 17 km/hr surfing down the waves at times.  Very crazy but fun ride, and luckily an easy entrance to a safe harbour at the end as we likely couldn't have turned and made headway into the wind under those conditions.

I have a lot more sailing experience since those trips, including on different boats, but haven't had any need to deploy storm tactics on my kelt so any ideas/experiences would be awesome!

Thanks,
Joe

[Mark Williamson]

We have had some similar experiences but have never been out in anything too heavy.  On one occasion we had anchored out in a creek off the Chesapeake Bay and were trying to get to a neighboring creek with a marina.  There was a lot of rolling wave action so we pulled out a sliver of jib to stabilize the boat.  This was really tricky and more jib got pulled out than intended and was a chore to roll back up.  The wind was shreaking through the rigging.  Did not have an anemometer at that time but have been sailing in 25 mph winds and it didnt sound like that.  Finally turned back.  Wind was on the starboard beam and we couldnt turn to starboard with our 8hp outboard.  Had to turn to port.

There was another time we confronted heavy wind and wave action at the mouth of the Potomac.  We were trying to get about 10 miles south directly into the wind.  Tried to motor but the motor, mounted to starboard, kept lifting out of the water due to the rolling.

We have been knocked down only once.  A freak gust of wind just prior to the start of a small craft warning caught us with all our sail up.  It knocked down two boats ahead of us then got us.  When we realized what was happening to the other boats - it took a few seconds - we started to let out the main and turn to windward - but too late.  But not too bad.  Our Kelt 7.6 popped back up and we let down the sails and motored back to the harbor.

Thats about as much excitement as I want to have in my Kelt.