Sizable wave by stern

[bonati]

Hello , I am a new owner of a Mac Gregor 26X and in the process of testing.

Today I had a combination of sailing close hauled ( or close reach as the wind was changing) at mild wind speed (5-7 k) and sea wave (1-1,25m high)high frecuency , short waves ( Mediterranean typical) by stern .. I was sailing with centerboard down and the sea was twisting me from side to side..
Question : How is it better to cope with stern sea without those rotations , centerboard up or down?
thks to anybody reading me and even more if that deserves a reply!

[Lee Ward]

A following sea will do that to you, especially in light air. I don't really have a good solution beyond trying to balance the helm on your point of sail as best you can and try to anticipate the "swerving" and correct early.
Welcome aboard, where's the pizza?

[dlandersson]

Extra cheese, please

A following sea will do that to you, especially in light air. I don't really have a good solution beyond trying to balance the helm on your point of sail as best you can and try to anticipate the "swerving" and correct early.
Welcome aboard, where's the pizza?

[Catigale]

These are light boats and are easily moved by waves, unlike keel boats

The easiest solution is to sail a broad reach with the seas 30-45 degrees astern and tack to your destination - that will give the helm a chance to top the larger waves and keep the boat more even.

[bonati]

thks to all of you by the prompt and good seense replies....

one more precision in relation with centerboard up or down .. ; is it so important to have it up? may be is just an oimpression but I feel safer and more on control with centerboard down , but may be this produces an undue stress on the ship?

No pizzas in my area , but I can offer spanish paella instead!

[sailboatmike]

The sailing ethos seems to be while running to have the board only partly down, the centerboard does nothing for you when sailing straight down wind except create drag and make it easier for the boat to trip over its self, the centerboard creates lift to assist you in tracking into the wind and reduce side slip, so down wind its of no purpose in reality. the Mac is somewhat like a dingy with no weight in the centerboard, so needs to be sailed accordingly including the centerboard settings (Lots of good books on dinghy sailing), I find the common mistake is people try and sail Macs like traditional trailer sailors or keel boats and then complain they are slow, of course they dont sail well like that because they do not have a ballasted centerboard or keel, sail one like a VERY large dinghy and they do well I think

[Herschel]

Today I had a combination of sailing close hauled ( or close reach as the wind was changing) at mild wind speed (5-7 k) and sea wave (1-1,25m high)high frequency , short waves ( Mediterranean typical) by stern

Your winds were coming from ahead of you, but the seas were following from astern. I can see how that would be a challenging situation. Nearly all the time, the two are going the same direction where I sail. But, since you were close hauled, I would think you would have to have the centerboard down all the way. You said the waves were over a meter and frequent, and the winds light. I honestly don't think there is anyway you can avoid a lot of stern swing, or yaw, in these conditions. The waves are going to catch the rudders and the relatively square transom and push you around. The wind is not strong enough to allow you to use speed to help dampen this motion. The only action I can recommend is to learn how the boat responds to these conditions and learn to anticipate the yaw and counter or correct with helm as efficiently as you can. Even then, in those conditions, you will be a busy helmsman.

[seahouse]

Hi bonati -

There are a lot of times when you have to use the iterative method and experiment, so trying different centreboard heights and seeing what effect they have under those specific conditions is the only way to find out what works to minimize the problem.

If I can't find a heading that reduces the effects of a following sea (and sometimes you just have to go to a destination and don't have much choice) I'll just motor instead. Then you have more choice of a speed that might keep you ahead of the waves and minimize the pushing on the stern, and propeller cavitating.

- Brian.

[mastreb]

Concur with Herschel that there's no way to make that particular situation really comfortable beyond Catigale's recommendation to put the waves at as close to a 40 degree offset as possible, and Seahouse's recommendation to run between the waves using the motor.

That's a tough situation for any boat. If you pull the board up close hauled, you won't make any real headway--you'll just be blown to leeward.

[yukonbob]

Sounds like a perfect time to motor sail closer to windward with a little less board down. At the very least you'd be spending less time in it getting to where you're going.

[Wind Chime]

Hello , I am a new owner of a Mac Gregor 26X and in the process of testing.

Today I had a combination of sailing close hauled ( or close reach as the wind was changing) at mild wind speed (5-7 k) and sea wave (1-1,25m high)high frecuency , short waves ( Mediterranean typical) by stern .. I was sailing with centerboard down and the sea was twisting me from side to side..
Question : How is it better to cope with stern sea without those rotations , centerboard up or down?
thks to anybody reading me and even more if that deserves a reply!

Wind against waves or current, is a potential serious condition to avoid.

You mentioned the wind was light (5-7 kts) and it was changing to almost the opposite direction with waves (4-5 ft). This has now, or could be, producing a serious situation of confused sea state with dangerous high square waves (Mediterranean type waves as you say).

It sounds like a classic "frontal weather change" and all may be fine if the wind is decreasing and veering, and your barometer is rising slowly, but if the wind is backing and barometer is falling sharply (1 mb per/hr) one should become "situationaly aware" of ones surroundings as things could deteriorate rapidly as the beginning of a cold front approaches, and the opposite "new" wind fills in on top of the existing high waves.

Barometer: http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/e ... meter3.htm
Wind see 3.1: https://www.ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/279A ... %20Eng.pdf
Situational Awareness: http://www.soundingsonline.com/features ... -awareness

Darry

[BOAT]

Hmm, I guess I have just gotten used to that - every time I sail into the harbor there is a following swell but last time that happened I decided to put the motor down to see if it would have any effect - after the motor was down I stepped into the well to attach the steering to the rudder control and that's (of course) when a huge wave hit the back of the boat and swamped the well and soaked my brand new Sperry Topsiders - I was so pi$$ off I forgot to even take notice of what effect the motor had on the boat in the swells and by the time I stopped cussing I was already in the harbor. Someday - the next time I get 'boat' stuck in a following sea I am gonna throw out a drogue just to see it it does anything.

[Sea Wind]

Wouldn’t it be better to have about 1/3 of the centerboard out to have more control when surfing down waves?

[BOAT]

Wouldn’t it be better to have about 1/3 of the centerboard out to have more control when surfing down waves?

I dunno - you guys can all come here to Oceanside on a windy day and practice in a following sea right in the mouth of the harbor. At least one power boat every season pitch-poles and swamps coming into the harbor. I do it so much that I have just learned to steer through it. If you get too close to the rocks on the north side the swell will break over your boat. The daggerboard can get in the way if you pick up a lot of speed going down the face of a swell IF you hit the bottom of the swell fast at an angle. If you hit the bottom of the swell straight on it's okay, otherwise the daggerboard will make the boat turn sideways in the "well of the swell" and then it will try to turtle when the swell catches back up to you. If you can't keep the boat going exactly straight ahead then pull up the daggerboard mostly; I think one third is okay - I usually pull it all the way up and then slowly let it down until the boat stops skidding sideways. You can feel it in the helm on the rudders.

[yukonbob]

Wouldn’t it be better to have about 1/3 of the centerboard out to have more control when surfing down waves?

I've found the DB creates too much lift and can shift one side or the other quite suddenly cause it to round up, although less does help a bit. No db when running (except the above noted sailing into the wind in following seas) and take your side slippage into account when plotting your course.