Action in Weymouth Harbour
Today was WINDY...the low passed (which had rained on us for the last 3 days) and a clearing Westerly ensued on the Dorset coast. The breeze built quickly in our first morning session and by the end of the practice, we were feeling a gear in the boat that we had not yet felt (we reckon we were solidly in the low 20's in terms of boat speed). It was scary, it was addicting and it was humbling.
The weather station on the breakwater had the wind averaged at 23kts with gusts to 30kts. It was blowing so hard, that if we were launching at that strength, we would have probably not gone out for fear of breaking our boat and bodies and the lack of a coach boat. BUT we were happy we stayed out because it proved to ourselves that we can handle it (as much as one can when this boat takes flight) and the speeds were addictingly fun. It was an amazing feeling with the kite up, to be hit by these big puffs, you just felt the boat lurch forward (from doing 18kts to 22kts) and then just steamroll over the waves. All we could do was hold on and stay focused to avoid any potential consequential wipeout - complete 'in the moment' focus.
We had one really close call, where we were almost bowled over by one of these mega-puffs and we barely held on to keep our feet planted in the straps on the wing...yikes, still gives me shivers. We had one pitchpole that would have been great on camera, we duffed a gybe in some waves and then planted the bow. I realized the boat was going down, so I bailed out with water surging all the way back to the mast and left Jesse in the straps, trying to postpone the inevitable. Well it ended pretty, with Jesse getting ejected from the back of the near vertical wing as the boat cartwheeled downwind...so much power it is not funny! The bear-aways are another heart stopper, each one today you got that weightlessness feeling as the bow made its way down to our downwind course - a very line from throwing us well forward of the forestay!
Still have lots to learn in these extreme conditions, largely gybes, tacks and mainsheet trim (learning to balance the flogging main and with the steering). It all seems elementary now, but it is another to do it in this boat at those speeds and wave states. Time on the water in stuff like is the key! The cool thing about being out when it was that windy, was that it pushes your comfort zones and it made our 2nd session in 15-22 seem much more civilized than it had been before.
One more day of practice in Weymouth and then back to Bermuda to recharge and get ready for our big breeze practice in Northern California.
-Zander
No comments:
Post a Comment