Offshore E-38

I"ve owned my E38 for two years now and while I have sailed a friends boat from Sidney BC to San Francisco I am wondering how the E 38 handles in the typically large quartering or following seas . Has anyone out their taken their E to San Fran or other similar offshore jaunt that can offer how she handles in these sustained conditions?

Thanks
Frank

No one answered so I will tell you my limited experience in the conditions you describe. Large quartering or following seas cause my E38 to slew around unless I reduce sail appropriately. Once sail is reduced the boat handles much better. RT

sailing in large following seas

We often sail in following seas in the 4 to 10 foot range and about 6 to 14 second intervals cruising the Bahamas. Cruising though, we almost always run the engine even with full sail up because we need the electrical power for autopilot, fridge, radar, etc. Actually 12-15 knots behind the beam and following seas would rate as one of the conditions we prefer.

I would echo Rob's comment on sail trim although anticipation counts a lot. Kismet surfs very well and we have seen momentary GPS speeds above 10 knots when we catch a wave.

I would venture that the E-38 is better behaved than most fin keel sloops in her size.

The boat tends to slew about a bit more under autopilot at times especially in the shorter interval stuff, maybe every fifth wave or something. We found that slowing the rudder response and gain helps but there's no substitute for a helmsman that can anticipate. Increasing the gain and response seem to aggravate the steering; it always seems to be over-correcting.

Steering by hand, the rudder is big enough and the wheel powerful enough that you can correct the beginning of the slewing when you feel it happen.

I would qualify my comments by saying that we haven't done any racing longer than 30 miles and we tend to be chicken sailors. We generally don't go out when it blows over 20 or if the ocean seas exceed 8 feet. We make short coastal hops and spend our nights at anchor for the most part. Maybe once a season we'll do an overnighter. We seldom venture more than a 100 miles from the beach.

Been there, done that, have the scars.

Gentlemen don't go to weather.

e38 in following seas

I sailed a feeder race from Oxnard to Newport, around 100 miles, all downwind, with seas in the 10 to 12 foot range from the north, and 4 to 6 from the west, with winds starting around 18, than sustained 25 to 32, and then back down to 12 to 15 after rounding San Pedro. My start time was 1 pm outside of Oxnard and my finish was approximately midnight! 11 hours and about 100 miles averages 9 kts. We, my crew consisting of one other guy and I, started with full sails for a short time, and started broaching, so we kept shortening sail until we had a double reefed main and tiny rolled out jib. At that point, it was very calm for me, but my crew kept yelling every time he saw these huge rollers behind us, but we never got wet the entire time. So, from my experience, no problem in the Ericson 38. We hand steered the entire way due to the cross seas and wind strength, but it wasn't that bad. We did get passed by Magnitude 80, which I was told had a delivery crew of 22, and which was flying a huge chute and hit over 25 kts, never mind the rooster tail!!!
Neal
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