I has been a while since I have visited the site.
Just this last summer in my second season of sailing TF 88, I was out at Port Weller with WSW 18-20mph steady winds (measured) with full sails doing 6 or 7 gybes at a time while on foils hitting 35 mph regularly.
Over a couple of hours the winds built significantly (to over 25 mph). I decided to wait it out and stay out there as winds tended to fall near sunset in another hour. I did not want to beach in that wind with full sails up and lots of people at the beach.
With eased sheet I was hitting 35 to 38 regularly as seen on GPS. Note that my GPS Log of 10k points filled about 10minutes before the following event so I don't have exact data but here is what I observed on the analog (hydrodynamic) boat speedo that I find accurate to within 1 mph of GPS above 25 mph.
As I was making one of the high wind runs, the speedo was mechanically pegged at what would be interpreted as 37 mph on the 35 mph scale. Just before I was going to gybe, the wind increased a bit as did the boat speed. Then, as I was falling off to enter the gybe, the boat significantly accelerated and I held the "faster" heading for about 10-15 seconds. I picked up 5 to 6 mph in the first 2-3 seconds by conservative estimate (~43 - 44 mph boat speed) and really scared the stuffing out of me as things were really howling and creaking and I was hoping it would all stay together given I had the extra mechanical stresses of having full sails up. Rudder was intermittently mushy and needed a lot of input to maintain heading.... . possible ventilation? Falling off for the gybe this time did not increase boat speed and pulled over a G on a wide 180. I did anther dozen mile long runs with eased sheet with speedo just pegged most of the time. The wind subsided on schedule and I beached safely with the sun setting. Best outing ever in terms of adrenaline generated.
What I have learned from other TF owners is, that in the higher winds, reefed sails can actually get you higher boat speed with less stress on the boat. Amazing boat. I was real thankful that I had those rear stays secured by the heavy duty hardware.
Frank Neuperger
_________________ Trifoiler #88
Trifoiler #95
HC 18 Magnum
Last edited by FN on Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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