I went out for a sail today with my biz partner. 1/2 day Fridays are great! The wind was 16-18kts out of the NW. Strange direction for Narragansett Bay but good since we don't normally sail North and this was a good opportunity to sail up the Bay and around Prudence Island. Well it piped up to 20-22kts, and then 25kts with gusts over 30kts off Warwick Neck. The 130 Genny was rolled in to the first mark and main to the first reef. Not too bad but really puffy. Got a bit of rain on the North side of Prudence but no big deal.
Rounding the southern tip of Prudence is where it got interesting. The wind had died off to 12-15kts and the reefs shaken out to keep up with a nice looking canoe sterned yacht that passed us in the East Passage. As we both rounded up and headed West back under the Southern tip of Prudence, having a "pointing war" (the E38 was killing him), there was another black cloud on the Western horizon. Really black, and you could see the rain. As the cloud approached, the shore, about 3 miles away disappeared. Not good.
I ran below to use the head and grab a granola bar since I could see that there weren't going to be any breaks in the near future. Just when I made it back the leading edge hit us and 3 other sailboats within a few hundred yards. It was all my biz partner and I could do to get the genoa furled in but somehow we did. The main was still full but since we were close-hauled it just kinda stayed put. The winds peaked at 47kts. Never seen rain fall sideways and then up. Almost zero visibility. Thunder, lightening, the works. The other boats disappeared and right before they did I could see several that hadn't reefed, furled, etc. and they were just about knocked over.
The E38 did great. We actually stayed calm, relatively, once the genoa was in. The boat stayed 15-20degrees off the wind making maybe 2.5kts and the mainsail was not flapping around so it really wasn't too bad in retrospect. Did scare the bejeezus out of us though. It was probably all over in less than 10 minutes but it felt like hours. I kept and eye on the GPS and instruments since there is a lot of land to run into there but it turned out fine.
In retrospect I will surely roll up the genoa earlier. I misjudged the speed of the squall, a mistake I won't make again. I also am glad I had the experience in the Bay, in a relatively known and controlled space and not way out at sea. I realize this may be nothing to many of you however I look at it as a great learning experience. I would rather get my taste of crappy weather in short bursts than all at once when I have no idea what to expect.
Scary as hell but exhilarating at the same time!
RT
Rounding the southern tip of Prudence is where it got interesting. The wind had died off to 12-15kts and the reefs shaken out to keep up with a nice looking canoe sterned yacht that passed us in the East Passage. As we both rounded up and headed West back under the Southern tip of Prudence, having a "pointing war" (the E38 was killing him), there was another black cloud on the Western horizon. Really black, and you could see the rain. As the cloud approached, the shore, about 3 miles away disappeared. Not good.
I ran below to use the head and grab a granola bar since I could see that there weren't going to be any breaks in the near future. Just when I made it back the leading edge hit us and 3 other sailboats within a few hundred yards. It was all my biz partner and I could do to get the genoa furled in but somehow we did. The main was still full but since we were close-hauled it just kinda stayed put. The winds peaked at 47kts. Never seen rain fall sideways and then up. Almost zero visibility. Thunder, lightening, the works. The other boats disappeared and right before they did I could see several that hadn't reefed, furled, etc. and they were just about knocked over.
The E38 did great. We actually stayed calm, relatively, once the genoa was in. The boat stayed 15-20degrees off the wind making maybe 2.5kts and the mainsail was not flapping around so it really wasn't too bad in retrospect. Did scare the bejeezus out of us though. It was probably all over in less than 10 minutes but it felt like hours. I kept and eye on the GPS and instruments since there is a lot of land to run into there but it turned out fine.
In retrospect I will surely roll up the genoa earlier. I misjudged the speed of the squall, a mistake I won't make again. I also am glad I had the experience in the Bay, in a relatively known and controlled space and not way out at sea. I realize this may be nothing to many of you however I look at it as a great learning experience. I would rather get my taste of crappy weather in short bursts than all at once when I have no idea what to expect.
Scary as hell but exhilarating at the same time!
RT
Last edited:
