|
 |
 |
          
|
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 8:32 PM Simon and Chris, Great boat. We did get away just in time and missed the worst of the strong NW winds as we had hoped. We are now getting the "backlash" with winds of 25-30 SSE, and a difficult yet fun sea state of a 10-15 foot swell from SW and wind waves of 5-8 feet from SSE, some breaking, and often combining in peaks to launch the boat on a surf., The bows have enough buoyancy to avoid digging into the back of the wave in front, yet are fine enough to keep the boat from stopping. With only the genoa up we were sailing at 9-10 but surfing at 15-20.6 kts. Feels like a dinghy. We are now under staysail jib and 25% genoa unfurled wing and wing to reducing loading, and deliberately to slow down a little. The steering system is great, the feel is critical, and fun to boot, and steering is flawless. Last 24 hours we sailed 224 nm with only the sail combos above, and no mainsail up. And as loaded down as the boat is, it still flies in light air and can sail wind speed at the right wind angle.
This is an awesome boat. I am sure we could push harder and go faster, but no need to this far offshore with our continuing steep learning curve. I cannot imagine a better or more seaworthy cat exists capable of handling these conditions in style.
That's all for now,
11-7-02 This is Rob. I'm not sure if you've done this crossing before but this must be the easiest 6000 miles of ocean sailing on the planet. Granted we're not there yet but if somebody asked what's more difficult: sailing from Cape Town to the BVI or going through Woods Hole on a July Sunday with a following current, Woods Hole no question. The only person who is going to like the 55 more than you will be your wife (I guarantee it). The highlight of the trip so far was the four of us eating dinner while watching a movie in the pilothouse, full main and spinnaker, autopilot on and we're blasting along at 15kts and nobody's in the friggin cockpit. Not too smart but fun especially when we hit 18-19kts, all 4 of us laughing our asses off and still nobody's getting up 'cause well we're eating dinner and watching a movie. You're gonna love this boat.
Stay warm. I know I am.
Date: Saturday, November 09, 2002 3:41 PM Chris- Just to let you know since my e-mail of yesterday we have hit the sailing jackpot. At mid-day the wind finally started to turn from the East and picked up to 14-16kts. The spinnaker had just come down and the big jib and full main were up and like magic the wind came up. Well let me tell ya, this is the best 4-5 hours of sailing I've done in my 40 years and with any luck we can pop through the 300 mile mark. We've got flat seas an apparent wind angle of 60 deg keeping us on the rhumb. At this moment I'm looking at a boat speed of 13kts in 16kts of true. This is sustained speed, no surfing and no crap. We've matched true wind speed on numerous occasions and topped true about once each hour (documented on video). Let me repeat: NO SURFING AND NO CRAP. These numbers are good and GPS confirmed. Take 'em to the bank. Put 'em on your website. I'd stake Penfield's life on these numbers. Talk about sweet spot-JESUS. What else can I say. The ride is as smooth as glass and she is itching for more. We are all in complete awe. I don't think I've ever seen it all come together quite like this. You know what - it's getting better as I write. We're now doing a sustained 15-16kts in 17-18kts of true. Once again; NO SURFING AND NO CRAP. All GPS confirmed. Take 'em to the bank ..... Oh I forgot to include that we have full diesel tanks and nearly full water tanks (340 gal. total water/fuel) and more than enough crap on board. Didn't you say this was a cruising boat? Dave's taking a shower, Robin is cooking dinner and nobody is breaking a sweat. One more thing. Dave and I are looking at sea state. Almost no white caps and the B&G is telling us the true wind is 17-18kts. You know what I'm talking about. We'll stick with the numbers at hand but in all seriousness I think they're a little better than reported. Hard to say how much. I was going to write about my suggestions but screw that. I'm gonna have dinner and go sailing. Later Rob |