Today we went out for a sail on a light northeasterly knowing that the mistral (northwesterly) was forecast for the day. It was forecast at 15 knots . It caught us a little off guard on our return trip (about 5 miles) as it rather built up to 25 knots gusting at 30. We had a longish stretch downwind rounding the island of Molara, and then to beat to get back to our mooring for the remaining two miles. We did so under jib and mizzen as we showed the mainsail already during the downwind stretch. The boat felt safe despite the fact that we had to gybe each time as tacking was not feasible due to the strong wind and waves. Waves, wind gusts, big splashes.... good fun . Our four year old son slept through it all in the shelter of the foredeck....
Thank you John Welsford for designing such a safe and seaworthy boat.
wow, big experience with the Mistral! Would have been maybe better to have the jib and a reefed mainsail?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Enrico, jib and mizzen is definitely the way to go with this boat. She's beautifully balanced and sheeting the mizzen slightly harder helps her point and beat. We were beating at 4.5 knots (GPS SOG) in full safety , no boom swinging, not over canvassed, and able to beat. What more to ask for ?
DeleteLorenzo, this boat handles more than I can. with 25 knots and up i found that she handles even better with fully reefed main and mizzen either stowed or sheeted very loosely. With just the main she performs better because the shape of my main is better than that of the jib for hard winds. I can also control the shape of the main better.
ReplyDeleteHello Rik, thank you , your feedback is very valuable on this. The thought of the reefed main and no mizzen hadn't crossed my mind. It'd probably allow to tack rather than having to resort to gybing. Do you mean reefed main alone, no jib?
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DeleteHave you received my email response re tacking using jib and mizzen? Yes, i mean "no jib". The jib can be "reefed" by not rolling out completely but it is not worth it in my opinion. The reefed main is powerful enough to push her forward. Tacking is also very much easier with the main only. If you do have a mizzen up make sure to easy it completely right before going through the wind. Otherwise you will be in irons and have to reverse with counter rudder and lose expensive height...
DeleteThanks for posting. Very inspirational.
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