First off I'm not a H20 sailor. Second, this thing is a brute. We were a measly 17lbs over minimum weight, (312lbs, min is 295lbs) Thursday in Yankton I was sure I was going to die. Maybe not, but it is honeslty the most anxious I have ever been on a boat. Going up wind wasn't that bad. We had downhaul maxxed, rotation all the way in, and sheeted bloody hard. We just pinched hard and everything was fine. Downwind was a different experience. On a sailboat without a chute I have never been moving that fast. I don't honestly know how long it took to go from A-mark down to the gate but if it was more than 5 minutes I'll eat my mouse. With that in mind I have never had so much go wrong in such a short amout of time. Twice we had both rudders kick up, and I don't think they were poorly adjusted, just not quite tight enough for those kinds of speeds. Losing helm at 20+ knots, and 30 knot wind gusts is not cool. I bet we almost pitchpoled a half dozen times in that leg. We just about tipped over an equal amount because the rudders don't grab. Now the worst thing is those rogue waves, the ones that somehow double up and are twice as tall as their brethren around them. The kind you see 15 seconds before you pile into it, and you know its trouble.
"Can I turn down?, hmmmm, nope I'm DDW. Head up? eek, that's certain death, oh well, here we go." There is nothing to grab onto on the 20. On the FXone there is a hand hold everywhere, the 20 is clean. As a skipper you can grab onto the rear beam and that is about it, as crew you've got your hopes and dreams to cling to and that is about all. I typically won't and don't yell at crew, but I was yelling, "BLOW THE JIB!!!", quite a bit on that downwind leg. After going through the gate we were on our first tack back to A-mark when we met a boat with a skipper but no crew. The crew was swimming behind trying to rejoin the boat, that was the point when I decided to hit the beach. The two dis-masted boats, and half the fleet turtled should have been a clue prior to that. I told my 15 year old crew that if he's nervous, or wants to go in say the word. I actually think he was dissapointed we went in.
Good times......