25-30 Knot Winds 31N 79W 10-20 foot seas

Sailing "Last Detail" (Irwin 34') with Dad and Uncle Marty (and Otto) from Ft. Lauderdale to Beaufort NC, we ended up ducking into Charleston when a Gale warning popped up. We spent a very rough night and woke up to find ourselves in 10-20 foot seas. There were definitely some 30 footers too (we weren't filming during the worst of it).

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Sailing
• weather
• Irwin
• Yachting
• Running

[baddogtoo]

Great video. It's hard to get a good sense of the weather on video, but you did a good job. I sail a smaller (7.5m) boat in Nova Scotia and know what it's like to surf down the waves.

Weren't you worried about Otto downwind? I got nervous just watching when Otto was in charge and the boat would follow a wave action and potentially shift for a boom swing. Or, were you on head sail only?

Thanks for sharing this cool video.

[sailfly2008]

@baddogtoo Yes, headsail only. in these winds we had about 1/4 of head sail unfurled. No main. Not a single accidental "jibe" on this configuration with the Autohelm 2000. We did wear out a drive belt on the otto though. But that was after 24 hours of this.

[infinitefx]

Nice! I've shot in 6-8 feet and it looks almost flat in the video. Video always downplays the size. You're sailing in some respectable sized waves! Well done!

[sailfly2008]

@infinitefx I watched some videos here where the waves are claimed to be 15 foot. Nothing like what we show here!

[MattB221178]

Reaching a big boat like that with one crew i'd chose to surf those beast and get to where i'm going.. Are you goose winging it i'm very curious about the sail plan. I'M used to a 23 footer. 12 foot waves would be the limit. u lucky bastard.

[sailfly2008]

@MattB221178

We were running with about 25% of jib unfurled. Doing 10 knots, didn't need (or want) anymore sail than that.

[rlocke1027]

Great Video! A thing people often forget to factor in estimating wave heights while watching a sailing video: Platform elevation from the water (in this case the cockpit) - 2-3ft + operators height (say 6ft, just to keep an even number). That means that is takes a 10ft wave to make the operator tilt the camera up. You seemed to have a lot of tilt, even after waves picked up the transom!

[kenfo0]

@infinitefx i think you overestimate the 50% overestimation by at least 28%, making it...er....what were they talking about?

[kenfo0]

@infinitefx yeah, isn't that odd? I've been out in some HORRENDOUS crap and took short vids, but the water looked like nothing on the vid. Now, when you saw how much and how often water came over the bow , you understood how bad...

[guanader]

Great video!!

[infinitefx]

@sailfly2008 Most people over estimate the size of waves by at least 50%. 10 feet can make you feel like you're in the perfect storm! :) Nice video!

[sailfly2008]

@FatCatAnna Thanks Anna.  Next time!