I’m hesitant to heel over too far (>20 degrees) because I’m afraid of going all the way over. this makes me slower in every race. Presumably the weather helm would pull it into the wind, and the keel would act to pull it back up, but how much water would I take on in the meantime? Clearly the scuppers would handle the cockpit water, but how much water would the cabin take on? Should I close the companionway while I’m racing? Would I take on enough water to sink the boat? Or is there enough flotation that even if the cabin filled with water, it wouldn’t sink?
I tried searching for this topic, but didn’t find anything similar.
Hi Russ, I’m not sure how consistent the wind you have is, but I think your concerns are not really justified whether gusty or not. You have more freeboard than my F21 and I regularly sail at 20 degrees plus with the gunnels in the water. That is because the winds are so gusty on Derwent water. We hit 30 degrees last week and still did not get any water in the cockpit. I have probably been to 40 or so in gusts, when my F21 just loses rudder authority and heads up to wind. However we do not have any big seas the water there is flat. I think the F25 capsize screening formula is 2.24 but that is a bit of a rough measure. They say 2 or under for offshore racing. Even if you get a wave over the cockpit, the companionway is high and I don’t think you would ever get more than a few bucketfuls splashing into an open companionway, at least when inshore sailing. That would hardly make a difference to buoyancy. I’ll post a video of our sail last week in very gusty conditions. I find the best solution if you are overpowered in gusts is to just come up to wind a bit and spill some wind… a dinghy racing technique. You point higher overall this way. I’m not sure about the F25 but my F21 goes well at 20deg and doesn’t mind gusts over that. We were making 6knts upwind at times last week with the gunnels just on the water.
It can be gusty. Sunday the typical wind was 18kt, but 20-22kt gusts were common, and the peak was 24kt. I’ve been told that I have nothing to worry about, but that’s hard to accept when it feels like I’m looking down at the water (I exaggerate). I’ll try going up to 20 and see how I feel, thanks!
I was out in 24K gusts a couple days ago on my 25, first reef in, heeled to the toerail regularly. Head up a bit in the gusts, traveller down more in higher wind. I had mine halfway between the hatch and far end, mainsheet in hand. As far as the fear of sinking thing, even at 90 degrees there is enough boat in the water (displacement) to keep the companionway above water by design. Probably.