Well, today was D-day for me and my new wave, I had never sailed or even been on a sail boat.. ever.
Well, when I started out this morning the wind was around 10mph gusting 15, and I quickly got comfortable and got a feel for the boat and was having a pretty great time. The wind was very gusty and inconsistent, one moment im moving really fast, then next moment.. nothing, but still I was having a good time.
Then, it got really really bad, really really fast, the wind picked up to gusting well over 35, my small lake had white caps and rolling waves. So I started tying to head back to shore, into the wind.
I was either in irons, or I was over, the wind was so strong that if I got more than 30 degrees sideways to it I would go over, no matter what. I got flipped 7 times in one hour, one time the wind hitting the bottom of the trampoline actually drove the mast bob down and almost fully hurtled the boat. I figured out eventually that if I shifted my weight to the front of the boat I could get it to turn into the wind and then get it flipped back over.
I lost my hat, and a $600 DSLR camera and its waterproof case. it came untied and fell off the boat and all I could do was watch it float away, I had no ability to maneuver, it took everything I had to stay upright, I didn't even care about the camera, I just wanted to get back..
It took me about 15 min to to get out to where I was, and over an hour to get back. I had to stop and adjust the tension on the mast wires, they became very loose.
I called a buddy on the drive home and told him what all happened, and he told me when its that bad, I either need a reefable sail, or I need to stay home.
Here in south Texas windy days are the norm not the exception, though this days was worse than normal, it got me thinking hard about getting the zipper reef sail, I hate to spend more money considering i just paid full price for this sucker, but it does me no good sitting the garage.
Thoughs? Opinions on said sail?
I learned a lot today, a whole lot, so it wasn't a total loss, but man it was not fun.
I cant wait to try it again