Surfing on a C34

[PaulJacobs]

 I was pleased to note that some folks on this site enjoyed my slightly-longer-than-usual post regarding sail trim.  Although I have been a member for about 8 years, I had never posted before (long story!).  Finally, I thought other C34 owners and sailors might like to read about our experience(s) with respect to sail trim and C34 balance going to weather.  This led me to think about relating a story from a few years ago.  Nancy and I were on one of our summer cruises aboard Pleiades.  We were anchored at Kettle Cove, on the Buzzards Bay or north side of Naushon Island.  This is one of our very favorite cruising spots in all of New England.  It is, to the best of my knowledge, not listed in ANY of the cruising guides, has a beautiful white sand beach, clear water, a sand bottom with terrific holding out to about 20 ft. depth, and yet somewhat amazingly is rarely crowded - although after I write this note it may get more crowded in the future!

Anyway, Nancy and I were swimming, sunning, nibbling, and reading as the breeze began to pick up.  Then, Nancy who went below to clean a few dishes in the galley called to me in the cockpit and said "we seem to be out of fresh water".  During our 10 day cruise we are normally extremely parsimonious with fresh water, so even including taking numerous very brief transom showers, I had finally switched from the aft (44 gallon) tank to the starboard salon (28 gallon) tank only the previous day.  Thus, I was stunned when she said we were out of fresh water only one day later.  Some detective work after we were finally back home led to the discovery that our hot water heater - then about 25 years old - had evidently rusted through and was leaking fresh water into the bilge.  Evidently the automatic bilge pump switch would turn the bilge pump on every now and then, but who notices that while swimming or walking on the beach?  Eventually, we had leaked all our remaining fresh water into Buzzards Bay.  So.... rather reluctantly .... we decided to sail back to our home port of Wickford, RI.   Well, as is so often true in life, events giveth and they taketh away.  Had it not been for the leaky hot water heater (replaced with a brand new SS unit after we got home) the following wonderful sailing experience almost certainly would not have happened.

After weighing anchor, raising the mainsail, and unfurling the jib, we started sailing home.  I checked the tides and was very pleasantly surprised to find that we had a favorable tide in Buzzards Bay for the next three hours, and it would max out just above three knots!  The wind initially was out of the ENE at about 15 knots.  So very quickly our Garmin GPS indicated 9.5 - 10 knots over the bottom.  Then the fun really began.  The wind gradually increased to about 20 knots and backed to the NE.  There were whitecaps everywhere.  We began surfing on 2-3 ft. waves, often hitting 11 knots.  Penikese Island, and the Cuttyhunk Island very quickly slipped by to port. After about another hour the wind further increased to 23-27 knots, the seas built to 3-4 ft and we started to surf fairly regularly at 11.5 to 12 knots, as Sakonet lighthouse quickly slid past to starboard.

Finally, the wind backed a bit more to perhaps NNE, we were just between a broad and a beam reach, with the apparent wind around 120 - 130 degrees.  The wind was now 25-30 knots, the seas (fortunately we had "wind WITH tide", not against, were now around 5-6 feet, and we were regularly surfing at 12 - 12.5 knots, and hit an all time Pleiades maximum speed over the bottom of 13.3 knots on one especially large wave (perhaps 7-8 ft.).  I was amazed how stable Pleiades felt.  There was no tendency to round up, which would be bad, but especially no tendency to round down, which can be a major disaster invoking an unintended gybe, with resulting serious damage or injury.  We had rigged a nylon preventer (plenty of stretch to avoid shock loads), to keep the boom stable.  The apparent wind angle was such that the jib was not getting backwinded, so it did not thrash about on the foredeck after one inevitably surfed into the trough between waves.  Nancy kept looking at me as if to say are we OK?  It was incredible!  We were screaming along in perfect control.  Way back in 1975 I had sailed the Cal 40 "Anona II" in the TransPac.  Of course, Cal 40's are famous as outstanding surfing sailboats, and with a crew of six things are normally well controlled while surfing.  However, in this case it was just Nancy and yours truly.  Nonetheless, in sailing 2200 NM from LA to Honolulu, our peak speed on the Cal 40 was "only" 11.8 knots, although that speed did not have the benefit of a favorable tide.

Although I have never read anything about Catalina 34's being particularly stellar surfing sailboats, I can tell all of you who own one of these lovely sailboats that not only do they surf, but THE highest speed PFJ has EVER achieved while sailing indeed occurred on our beloved Pleiades.

Fair winds and following seas!

Paul

[Jim Lucas]

Hi Paul,
Brilliant sailing experience! At any time did you shorten sails or feel the need?

On a similar vain, I have one reef point in my main and should probably consider adding a 2nd. When deploying a shortened genoa, can some others advise best method?

[ewengstrom]

8 years and nary a word.....? Then you start telling stories like THAT!?!?!?!? 
Keep going, you have some catching up to do Paul!!!! And do count me in as one of those that have enjoyed your adventures so far.

[Stu Jackson]

On a similar vein, I have one reef point in my main and should probably consider adding a 2nd. When deploying a shortened genoa, can some others advise best method?

Jim, I don't quite understand your question.  Are you asking: How to deploy less than a full genoa first, as compared to only letting some of it out?  Or is it: What do you do to reduce sail after the wind pipes up?

As far as mainsail reef points, the answer to that is how deep your first reef actually is.  If you look carefully, you can see the first reef in my main with the bunt lines and the line of cringles further up for the second reef, which I have used only twice in 23 years and once for practice only.

[Jim Lucas]

Hi Stu,
Your first reef point looks very similar to mine. I'd say it would shorten my sail by about 4-5'. Doesn't sound like a 2nd reef point is as needed as it might if you were off-shore sailing..

My (novice) question regarding shortened head sail was meant to ask; if I have a fully deployed genoa and want to shorten it - easy peasy, just roller it in however much.
But, if no genoa is deployed and if in a stronger blow, you wanted to put out a shortened head sail, do you fully deploy and then roller it in? or; slowly deploy until you have your desired amount of sail out? I've tried both options but without flogging the sail dramatically and or have extra hands on board, that 2nd option can be a challenge single handed.
Just wondered how is the recommended (easiest) way... 

[Ron Hill]

Jim : I agree with Stu, as I've never used my second reef!! 

On the partial genoa, I move the cars all the way forward and then roll out the head sail little by little until I feel comfortable.  Doing it the other way around will have the sail flogging about and if single handing - you may not be able to handle it!! 

A thought

[PaulJacobs]

Hi Jim, Eric & Stu,

I think Jim was asking if we reefed during our high speed surfing experience.  The short answer is no, although I certainly was thinking about reefing, and I am well aware of the old adage: "If you are even THINKING about reefing, you should have done it five minutes ago!"

There were two reasons we ultimately did NOT reef.  First, even though the wind ultimately was approaching 30 knots true, we were sailing on a beam to broad reach and Pleiades was swooshing along like a rocket ship on rails.  There was little or no force on the helm, and although I must have had a pint of adrenalin running through my veins, the wheel through all of this STILL only required two fingers!  We did rig a preventer, but did not reef.  The second reason is that while Nancy is a really excellent sailor, I think she was frankly afraid of the conditions and did not want to take the helm.  With the forces at work, and her petite frame I knew that she would have trouble reefing, I would have to do the reefing near the companionway while she would have had to steer.  I had already decided that IF the helm started to get squirrely I would have had Nancy ease the main halyard, I would head up just enough for the mainsail to luff (the snapping of the sails in that wind would probably have taken a few years off the life of the sails!!!), and then have her quickly take the helm while I dropped and wrestled the mainsail to secure it to the boom with sail ties, and then we would have sailed home under jib alone.  Fortunately, we were in an incredible groove, and even without a reef control was never a problem.

I fully agree Stu, we probably employ the first reef 20- 30 times for each time we employ the second reef.  By the way, that relative frequency is the reason I run the first reef line on the port side, so that I can then have the main halyard on the starboard coach-top winch and the first reef line simultaneously ready on the port coach top winch (which I upgraded to self-tailing about 8 years ago).  Then, to reef, standing on the top step of the companionway while Nancy is at the helm, I first ease the main halyard on the starboard coach roof winch to a pre-set mark, haul in on the port coach top winch until the first reef cringle is nearly "on the boom", set the first reef rope clutch and the self-tailer, turn back to the starboard coach roof winch, and while Nancy luffs up just a tad, I re-grind the main halyard until the luff is taut, at which point she falls off and sails properly.  When we are working together, we can accomplish a first reef in about 30 seconds!  Knowing this, makes "reef reluctance" much less of an issue.  Finally, with the jib halyard, spinnaker halyard and first reef line all to port, and there are no more sheet stoppers available, then the second reef line is on starboard, along with the main sheet and main halyard.  Thus, putting in a second reef takes much more time since I have to (1) ease the halyard, (2) set the halyard sheet stopper, (3) unwind the starboard coach roof winch, (4) wind on the second reef line, (5) haul in the 2nd reef line, (6) set its sheet stopper, (7) unwind the 2nd reef line, ( re-wind the main halyard on the same winch, (9) haul the halyard until the luff is again taut, (10) secure the main halyard sheet stopper.... and finally take a breath!  Because of all the unwinding, and rewinding setting a second reef takes MUCH longer - perhaps as much as two minutes.  Fortunately, as you noted, we only need to do this about once every two or three years!

Eric, thank you for your very kind response.  Hopefully others on this site will not be bored by the tales of an old salt.  I am incredibly fortunate; Nancy does not just "like" sailing, she LOVES sailing!  Also, I KNOW that I am phenomenally fortunate that at 82 I can still steer, grind in a jib in a fresh breeze, reef a mainsail, anchor and weigh anchor, do various annual maintenance tasks, occasionally start a balky outboard, and after sailing is done and we are safely back on our mooring, quaff a Dark & Stormy.  Somehow when we are sailing our beloved Pleiades out on the open ocean, I have the wind in my face, and my eyes are glancing from the tell-tails to the horizon, a bit of nautical magic occurs and the two relevant age digits seem to reverse, and in my mind I am 28 all over again!

Fair winds and following seas,

Paul Jacobs
Pleiades
1990 C-34 Mk. 1.5, Tall Rig, Fin Keel
Wickford, RI

[Stu Jackson]

Hi Stu,
1.  Your first reef point looks very similar to mine. I'd say it would shorten my sail by about 4-5'. Doesn't sound like a 2nd reef point is as needed as it might if you were off-shore sailing..

2.  My (novice) question regarding shortened head sail was meant to ask; if I have a fully deployed genoa and want to shorten it - easy peasy, just roller it in however much.
But, if no genoa is deployed and if in a stronger blow, you wanted to put out a shortened head sail, do you fully deploy and then roller it in? or; slowly deploy until you have your desired amount of sail out? I've tried both options but without flogging the sail dramatically and or have extra hands on board, that 2nd option can be a challenge single handed.
Just wondered how is the recommended (easiest) way...

1.  Yes, a second reef would be useful for offshore sailing.  Almost a necessity.  But, also linked to #2 below, is my own personal adage, which I have used over the years:  Our boats are masthead rigs and sail quite well on jib alone on almost all points of sail (except DDW).  In a discussion with a friend who was sailing his C34 from SF to LA, he got caught out off Point Conception, a notoriously windy place, with only his main up!  I wrote this to a respondent on this forum back in 2012:

We had a member sail his boat down the coast of California.  He told me that had big trouble around Point Conception, a notoriously heavy wind area.  "We were running with just the main up and we had a lot of trouble turning back upwind to drop it."  All I asked was if they were able to do it.  What I was going to say, before I realized it would sound rude, was "What the hell were you doing going downwind in heavy wind and seas with only your main instead of just your jib?"  ...I forgot to tell my friend that not only should he have not been sailing downwind with only his mainsail up, but he could have let out some jib, and then just heave to...

So that's another way to say that when the wind pipes up, the first thing to do is reduce and then drop your main.  Our boats will still go to weather quite well.

It also says that if you're even thinking about going to a broad reach, use just your jib.  I know, these islands keep getting in our way here!

Even better cracked off a just tad from closehauled.  I sailed back to Sidney from Roche Harbor my first year sailing here in2017.  There was a heavy ebb with a gusty southerly coming up Haro Strait, so you'll understand the conditions.  I left my main covered and sailed over on my small jib using my meager ST3000 autopilot.  Great ride.

I don't have a roller furling main and am really lazy!   

2.  Many skippers have reported on installing a ratchet block on their furling lines.  My furler comes in on the starboard side and goes to a standard block on the base of the pushpit stanchion, which is where the ratchet block would go.  The ratchet gives you more control when letting it out.  Without a ratchet block, if wanting to only let a small amount of jib out and avoid having it get away from me, I would deploy on a starboard tack and throw the furling line around the starboard winch, and unfurl using the port winch on the jib sheet, holding the furling line in my other hand with the winch giving enough friction for control.  I would try hard to NOT let it all out and flog and work hard to get it back in. 

That said, I've written before that I have only two jibs:  an 85 and a 110.  When I was in SF my BIG jib was for winter and racing, my small one was for the windy summers cruising.  I did the same thing with my Catalina 25 for years before we bought our C34, although I never raced that boat.

I sailed with our treasurer on Lake Michigan one glorious April evening and he popped his 155!  I though it was a blinkin' white spinnaker!!!   

[Jim Lucas]

Thanks Paul and love the stories and advice. Certainly inspiring and I sure hope to be staying as involved as you for years to come.

Thanks Stu,
Great advice and exactly what I was looking for. I was doing it as you've suggested and just confirming to know I have a good grasp on best practises.

[waughoo]

Thanks Paul... an enjoyable read!

[Catalina007]

Although you might want to check which cruising guide you are using.  Kettle Cove is on ALL of them.

[glennd3]

Paul I enjoy your writings only wish I could write as well! Keep it coming.