Performance in rough seas

Hi Krzysztof with a draught of 1.68 m she is by no means shalow, and stability should not be a problem. However with a large main sail compared with the self tacking jib, reefing early is to maintain directional control is important.

Hi,
I am a rookie in sailing and have similar question;
I have a 301, normal main sail and 130% genoa, and don t have a feeling yet how to sail in 15, 20, 25 knots? (Otherwise, I am a quite good windsurfer)
Len said that he reef at 16 and 26, but just with main sail or genoa also?
Is it possible to have a knock down in 20 kn, and did someone expirience that with 301. I have a iron keel and draught 185cm and sailing on Adriatic sea. Thanks for help,
Ales

Hi,
thanks for your post, we normaly don t have big wawes on Adriatic sea, 1 or 2 meters, but we have pretty gusty wind NW(Bura), and I sail with my girlfriend, so mostly I am alone for all the work(she can grab a wheel for a while or takes down the sail, but she is learning). I know that nobody can say what and how, I would like to be safe with my 301. I have totaly other filling with windsurf(we start in 20 knots till 50kn).
So lets say, generally,
genoa 130 %+main sail till 16kn-18kn(i allready try it, it was sharp angle), first reef and genoa from 17kn-20kn, first reef without genoa 20kn-25kn, second reef till..? and third reef...(have not mounted yet) What do you do in storm 35kn+?
Aha and my main is full battened.
Thanks,
 Ales

p.s. Is it possible to get fence in the water or is that already a knockdown, what is the angle that 301 can take

With reference to sailing in winds  35 knts and above, -  have a look at this link, http://www.landlpardey.com/storm-tactics-video-dvd.html . I find the information very interesting and some people I have spoken to swear by their tactics, I have yet to try them in " anger" as they say, but what they talk about does make sense. I have seen the whole vides and read the book. 

Edited by holby - 01 July 2010 at 10:07

Hi, just to add my 2pence worth. As has been said before - it all depends, but over the past 3 years I have found that when racing with good sails that can be shaped and flattened, up to 20 knots with the full main is fine. Lots of backstay tension, outhaul, cunningham etc. Over that then a reef in the main up to about 28 then a second reef in the main.

The genoa gets rolled away slightly as the wind goes over 18 knots apparent as well.

However when cruising by myself or with a non racing crew, I tend to put a reef in if things stay over 15 knots, just to keep the boat on the level, and stay comfortable.

I must say that since getting new sails in hydranet I don't need to reef as early as I did when I had the original baggy sails the boat came with, so good sail makes a real difference.

BTW here is a link to a picture taken last winter during a race when we were caught out with over 40  knots over the deck in Poole harbour.

http://www.sailingscenes.co.uk/details.php?gid=&sgid=&pid=35824

Mind you, this is all about wind. Rough seas can be a different thing altogether and you don't need a lot of wind to have rough conditions as anyone who sails near headlands can testify. I do find that large seas slow Dragonfly down a lot and can make life very uncomfortable. Larger, heavier boats I have found often take the rough stuff better and don't get stopped so often.