I can't drive 55
Tpbnna1@aol.com
Sun, 18 Apr 1999 23:18:35 EDT
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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Hi ya-all, I have read with interest the thread about wind speeds. After I
owned Top Banana a couple of years, and felt fairly comfortable sailing, my
brother (Otherwise know as "Daredevil Bill" and I had a chance to go out on
the local lake in Kansas when it was WAY too windy, just to see what would
happen. After all, isn't a Potter supposed to be super-stable? We emptied
the boat, tied down the keel, closed the hatch, put on our pfds, and went for
it. Since I am/was a newby to all this sailing stuff, at that point I had
only a vague concept of what "reefing" was. My sail is not equipped with
reef points. We were the only boat on the lake, except for some sailboards
going about 80. I don't know what the wind speed was, but having grown up in
Kansas I am used to lots of wind, and am pretty sure it was pushing 40 mph
with gusts. Foam was blowing off the tops of the waves. We had a heck of a
time just getting away from the dock, the chop was 2-3 feet, and the boat
itself caught a lot of wind. With just the main up, we blasted through the
waves with the inclinometer bouncing around 30-40 degrees, and the rail
almost in the water, hiked out as far as we could. I was hoping those little
bitty deck fastenings would hold. It was difficult to get her to go to
windward, I think because the chop beat us back and the windage pushed the
boat too much, but we made it to the other side of the lake, about two miles,
then turned and, wham! the wind caught the main, sucked the main sheet tight
as a guitar string, and away we went. The bow tried to dive under, the main
had so much leverage, so we hiked out the back of the boat. As we raced
back, we discussed how the heck we were gonna stop this thing, as there was
no way to douse the sail under these conditions. When we reached the dock
area, we turned to a broad reach, and untied the keel, leaving it down to act
as a brake when we hit the ramp. We doused the sail as we roared in, got it
down and rode in on momentum as the keel hit the concrete, pivoted up, and
slowed us to a quick stop. I know, not very salty nor a profession way to
beach a boat, but what a day! The boat had a ton of weather helm, it was all
I could do to keep the tiller pulled over, but it never felt like we were
going over, she always popped back up when the angle of heel got so great
wind spilled out, and/or the wind dropped any. The boom was in the water a
few times. I'm sure we could have rolled over, with a mis-adjustment of our
body weight. But as an experiment, it was successful. I feel much more
confident about my boat now. Like someone so sagely mentioned, you learn
something everytime you go out. I'm much better now, and I know what a
reefing point is.
But I still have to grin, thinking about that day.
Butch
Top Banana, P-15
Knoxville, TN