Telstar in 35 knots

[vancouver]

Our winter race series started today. As we left the harbour winds were in the high teens and built to the low 20s at the start. During the race we saw gusts consistently into the low 30s, with the peak of 35 knots. After the finish, we had a gust of 42 while stowing the sails. You can see the state of the ama during one of the gusts.

[escape]

wow! nice picture. I just come back from vacation in the Caribbean on a Neel 45 trimaran, we had a lot of 30s but the ride was smooth. Did you have a reef on the main? I am glad to see that the boat can go into heavy seas, I never done it myself yet. How was the boat handling?

[vancouver]

I had both reefs in the main and between 4 and 6 turns on the Genova. Definitely overpowered on the gusts. We were heading up on the gusts to power down. The downwind run was with all the reefs out. Great ride at 10+ knots. The wind was off the shore so not much fetch. Waves were smaller but with a fairly short period.

It was an upwind downwind race. 15 minutes on the run 60 minutes for the upwind leg.

Terry