Heavy Weather Sailing
by Cameron and Marianne McLean on 9 Apr 2017
Vancouver Fleet Report – March 2017 Bluewater Cruising Association
More than forty people attended the March 28 meeting of the Fleet. The session was Heavy Weather Sailing presented by Ken and Carol Gillstrom. Ken and Carol left Toronto in 2012 and sailed the East Coast of Canada, the Caribbean, Scotland, Spain, back to Canada, down to the Galapagos, Hawaii and in 2014 came to Vancouver. Based out of Vancouver they sailed to Glacier Bay twice in 2015 and to Haida Gwaii in 2016 and are getting ready to set out again.
Heavy weather tactics includes everything from being prepared at dock to out in the middle of the sea and in general Ken covered outfitting preparation, sail dynamics and tactics. Heavy weather is really about what the wind is doing to you and how you sail in it. Heavy weather is really defined by each individual’s personal perspective and is also impacted by the wind speeds and sailing direction (upwind/downwind), wave height and period (wave against current, mixed pattern, swells including side swells) and your location (coastal cruising, 50 miles from shore, open ocean passage) etc.
The next meeting on April 25 will be a presentation from Valerie and Laurent Devin of the sailing vessel Letitgo. They are back here from Fiji for a brief visit.
This article has been provided courtesy of the Bluewater Cruising Association.
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