Yesterday on the way back from the Gibsons regatta (another story) we were pushing into 20 knots on the nose. The boat was bouncing around and really uncomfortable. The mast was whipping around… I tightened the… stuffing …out of the topping lift and… WOW, what a difference! The boat settled right down and we went from 4.3 to 5.3 in less than a minute. I surmise that the mast whipping around makes the boat hobby horse and kills boat speed. Game changer tip!
Motor sailing is an option but in 20 knots sailing is the best option
Definitely. But with 5 hours to cover 25 miles there wasn’t much of a choice.
Tightened up the choker, tie the boom off to one side
I find my 26 with a 21 hp engine, 5 knots in flat water is about it.
If you are only making 4 knots due to wind and sea state and are bashing into it, you can easily do 2-3 VMG sailing maybe more depending on the wind angle , you’ll take longer but it will most likely be more comfortable.
My point is that if the mast can’t whip the progress and comfort level is much better. Allegro has a bridle to locate the aft end of the boom. Snug up the topping lift, nothing moves and away you go. Easy and effective.
RonB.
Hey RonB, off topic, but will you be in Pender Hbr in early half of August? I’ll be passing through there to visit friends at Francis Peninsula, and at Garden Bay. I’d be interested to see your boat.
Cheers,
Don
Absolutely! I seldom stray too far from paradise… shhh.
August 7/8/9 is the wooden boat show here. I’m involved for the boat parade on the evening of the 7th and the marine tailgate sale on the morning of the 9th.
RonB.
FYI… 18hp westerbeke, 3 blade Campbell sailor, 5.6 at 2300 rpm, clean bottom.
Yeah, great. That’s when I passed through there last year. Some nice looking wooden boats. Will contact you around that time.
Cheers 
We tend to encounter a lot of chop on western Lake Erie; which being a huge shallow lake has many different varieties of the long fetch building on a breezy day. I don’t feel like I always have a great solution depending on where we want to get. Sailing on a broad reach - but needing to run- towards Leamington Canada this year, we belatedly reefed down to our second reef and were still doing 6+ surfing in 15-20. Definitely found keeping the rig tight helps, but on that day it got unmanageable and after 2-3 boom dips into to bigger rollers we opted to motor the last hour. It wasn’t any quicker but we could go dead down wind, but you had to be on the wheel 100%.
I’d like to hear how some of the N30s form St. Clair got thru the giant squall on the Bayview-Mac.
Had anyone rigged a storm sail or a very short reef in heavy air or bad conditions?
Jonathan
Jolee 86, Michigan