Chuck, The year I started thinking about going to the Dry Tortuga's in my M15 I actually went looking for some stronger winds and rougher seas to see the boat was up to it. I have two jiffy reefs for the main and a storm jib. The longest stretch of strong winds was an aborted attempt to sail from Hyannis MA to Nantucket. The winds were 22 - 35 kts for 4 days so I didn't make the attempt. I did however cruise around the well protected Pleasant Bay for most of that time with two reefs and the storm jib. The winds above 30kts were still overpowering but the wind shifts in the gusts were far more troubling than the direct wind. I should have dropped down to just a double reefed main. I venture out into Vinyard sound just for curiosity. The Weather Bouy at Nantuckt shoals ( 30 nm away) was registering 29 Kts with gusts to 35. It was not that strong at Hyannis but I would only be guessing at 22 kts gusting to 27. Waves were 6 to 8 ft. I was so nervous with the waves my knees were really knocking! The M15 still handled very well. I started overtaking a J24 which was towing a dingy and only a had a double reefed main up. The wind dropped to about 18 kts, he raise his jib and took off like a rocket. The M15 gets stiffer the more it heels but will lose steering control past about 45 deg heel, probably a good thing as it rounds up quickly. Bottom line is the boat will take more than I can. I only stayed out about 2 hr even though the wind finally dropped. The waves were beating me up too much. Thanks Doug "Seas the Day" --- LVLakeSailor@aol.com wrote:
Hi all,
Can anybody comment on the behavior of the M-15 in winds of 25+?? Reefed main with jib?, Reefed Main only? Double reef in main?
Thanks,
Chuck
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