Aloha, That guy was me...finally connecting with a chance to sail on an M15. Thanks again Daniel for a "spirited" introduction! I was *very* impressed with the seaworthiness of the boat. A mostly dry ride even in pounding wind chop and whitecaps...if we got splashed it was wind-blown water, not the fault of the boat. Despite some intense conditions and being overpowered in the gusts even with the double reef (due to the standard jib being too much sail at that point), I was never actually worried that the boat was at risk of swamping or capsizing, and the hull (and deck) construction was clearly solid as a rock. I think we did experience what I read about here some thread back a while, regarding rigs with no backstay: rounding up in a gust softens the forestay, which softens the jib, which then catches more wind than it would otherwise when falling off, which leads to getting blown down some, which needs rounding up to avoid more blow-down, which softens the forestay...and so on. In the windiest part of the sail - when we determined it was safest to drop sails and motor - this was a cycle that we couldn't get out of with the standard jib. Sounds like with the storm jib, it is little enough sail that this problem goes away? cheers, John S. On 08/17/2013 05:23 PM, Daniel Rich wrote:
Montypals:
Let's talk heavy air. Today I sailed with a nice guy interested in M15 boats. He was a pretty good sailor. We sailed out of Nick's Cove Tomales like I often do. The wind really kicked up as it can. I eventually double reefed, and had my standard working jib. The gusts must have gotten to at least 20 knots plus and the wind waves were quite big. Nonetheless, the M15 stayed quite dry despite pounding down the waves. Very impressive. And it was really pounding. But, I definitely struggled. Eventually it got to the point where even with the jib honked down I could not make progress to windward where I needed to go back to the dock. And I was getting closer to the windward shore. Every time I tried to point the boat would heel pretty good and rather than move forward would just dump air. At this point I figured that I could douse the jib, but would not be able to make progress to windward that way. Will a double reefed M15 point at all with a doused jib? I needed to go straight upwind to get home, so pointing was important. I don't have a storm jib, but even if I did, I would not be confident going on the deck under bare poles and hoisting it. Without the jib up I can't heave to. Defeated I dropped the sails and motored back. Even that was a challenge with heavy waves and windage. I steered straight into the wind so that the boat would track well, and it did. My 2HP Honda had no problem. I was worried about what to do if the motor conked out. I guess I would have anchored quickly so that the boat did not end up on the shore, and waited it out.
I did feel very confident that the M15 would not swamp and keep me safe, and it did. Very good boat. In the future I will make sure to bring more fuel, although I did have a full tank, and noted it to be about 1/2 full when I returned. In thinking about it I do believe the anchor is an important safety tool to have on board also for just this reason. A learning experience today.
Daniel Rich M15 #208 "Kestrel" danielgrich@gmail.com
-- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com