Force 12 in a 36-footer Mark Slats describes sailing through the most devastating Southern Ocean storm of the race on 20 September: "First you get the north-westerly winds, and it goes up to 50 knots, 55, maybe gusting 60, but I was still sailing really fast and going good. Then the front comes over, and within two minutes it's a south-westerly and it builds up to maybe 20-30% more than it was before. "This time, I had the middle of the low pressure on top of me so my barometer went from 1010mb to 968 in five or six hours - I was looking at it thinking: is this real? I made a safety call to Don. He told me to get prepared for 70-80 knots. "Then a big wave smashed the back of the boat, and took the sprayhood off, broke the door, the windvane, and it just filled the boat up with water to above the chart table. The boat went on its side, and kind of stayed there because there was so much water inside, at an angle of about 30-40?. I had no steering, but I had to prioritise, get the water out of the boat first. "When the water was under control and I thought the electric pumps would catch up, I went outside and began hand-steering. I got very violently thrown overboard in a big knockdown, but the boat came back up and I got thrown back into the cockpit, all within 20 seconds - boom, boom! "I said to myself this is not safe, so I threw lines out the back of the boat, so the boat would stay with the stern to the waves, still with the storm jib up, and went to fix the wind vane. "Once I'd put the wind vane on, I immediately knew that it was doing a much better job than I had. It was dark, it was the middle of the night, you're sitting behind the wheel and you hear one wave breaking on the starboard side and one on port, and you're just waiting for the next one to break right on top of you. "After that I had another four or five storms in the race, but they were all never more than 50 or 60 knots. You can have these storms that are just great, you know? Everything is just on the edge of control, and you're in the middle of nowhere. I love that feeling, pushing everything to the maximum."
Read more at www.yachtingworld.com/features/2018-19-golden-globe-race-lessons-learned-120622#xja6YbUtQ1LoYC6h.99

MorningBird said..
I found 12 hours of steady 40 kts with gusts above pretty terrible/challenging. We ended up with an 8 metre sea and swell with waves breaking against the hull like shotgun blasts.
Another 10 kts would have had me giving the game away.

shaggybaxter said..
I purposely bought a heavy air boat, so I could be an outlier data point I think, but not by much.
I find it's not the wind strength, it is the accompanying sea state that gives me pause.
30-35 knots on flat water, or running reaching on a long ocean swell is just incredible, there is no other experience I've felt to match it, it's like riding a big ol' malibu surfboard.
30-35 knots beating into a nasty swell just sucks big time.
Or even worse, a crossed swell at night. Eww.

Ramona said..




The winning boat had no problem. By carefully selecting the 4 different coats of antifoulings to suit the various stages of the race the winning boat crossed the line with a clean bottom.

Interesting quote from Are Wiig who capsized and was dismasted in the last GG race.


"Wiig's advice to those planning on doing the 2022 race is to have furling jib or genoa and cutter stay and reefing lines in the cockpit; he believes it is a lot safer than going out on deck.Read the full report in the full report on Storm Tactics From The Golden Globe Race in the Summer 2019 issue of Yachting Monthly - Available here: mags-uk.com/browse-by-title/yachting-monthly.html
Read more at www.yachtingmonthly.com/sailing-skills/lessons-from-the-golden-globe-race-are-wiig-70554#qymiSzdhD8uh7Hgx.99"

Zzzzzz said..

I am never looking forward to going forward to change hanked on sails but I dread the thought of fighting the roller furler when it's stuck fully out when all hell has broke loose.
i have my lines all coming back to the cockpit, I do not find it more convenient it is harder to pull the main the main up, the only reason I have not changed it is so many say it's the way to go and I am trying to make it work, my cockpit is a bloody mess of ropes .