I often hit 7+ on the Santa Monica Bay. It's WAY fun, but 9 would be better.:D

Mike

8.1 knots, beam reach in Puget Sound in about 20 knots true wind, full 135 genoa and a single-reefed main, on a calibrated (measured mile in no current) knotmeter. With racing crew that knew much better than me how to get the most out of the sails.

Caution: This thread could get confusing because of the variables in knotmeter accuracy. No discussion of speeds can be worth anything unless we're talking about knotmeters that have been calibrated. Just like no discussion of engine rpm can be worth a damn unless the tachs have been calibrated.

i have hit 7.2K beam reach in around 18k winds, based on gps. this is on a lake so no current.. i have found if the boat is healing excessively then i am better off reefing..

13.5+knots surfing over powered between Ano Nuevo and Santa Cruz.
Just me and my son aboard, exciting and hard on sphincter.

8.5 with full 135 genoa and full main on broad reach, surfing down 3-4 ft waves. according to SOG on GPS, in 18-20knots of wind. Not smart as we had a heck of a time getting the sails back under control when we bore off to enter the harbor. The wind increased over the last hour of our trip and we were just sitting there stupidly enjoying the speed. Lesson learned to be especially aware of wind speed when reaching.

I've hit about 8.5 knots SOG according to the on-board GPS, verified with two iPhone GPSs. I don't trust my knotmeter worth a damn. Wind speed was 22-25 knots. I was on a broad reach, sailing Eagle Harbor to Elliot Bay, surfing down some of the waves.

11 knots in the East River heading up to Hell Gate .... under power and I know that's not what you were asking about but still... that's the fastest!

Depends on how you measure your speed. Paddle wheel knot meters can give a wide variety of readings depending on waves and direction, and they only measure speed in the water. GPS will read speed over ground (SOG) which can read current as well.

My experience has had 8.5 or 8.7 highest reading on the knotmeter, but around 12 or 13 on the GPS. There was no current (Lake Michigan) but it was good surfing conditions with breaking waves.

Realize that when a wave breaks, the water on the top of the wave is falling forward at a pretty good rate. I was doing around 8.5 through the water, but the water was falling off the wave was probably doing 5 or more relative to the surrounding water, so when the boat was sailing downwind in the surf it was doing more than 12 SOG as measured on the GPS. I couldn't stay on top of the wave but there was a really fun surge of acceleration with each wave. It had been blowing south at 25 to 30 for the last 14 hours so the waves had a good fetch (300 miles) to build up. A great solo sail.

Hi All, Sailing Long Island Sound from Oyster Bay to Mount Sinai Harbor on a beam reach, southwinds 18 to 21, hit GPS speed of 9.3, very exciting. Boat handled beautifully. Tall Rig, Fin Keel, RF Main and 135 Genoa. This boat has surpassed all of my expectations.

Lonnie Cardinuto S/V Celeste C36MKII #2140
Home Port - Mount Sinai Harbor, L.I. N.Y.

Hi All, Sailing Long Island Sound from Oyster Bay to Mount Sinai Harbor on a beam reach, southwinds 18 to 21, hit GPS speed of 9.3, very exciting. Boat handled beautifully. Tall Rig, Fin Keel, RF Main and 135 Genoa. This boat has surpassed all of my expectations.

Oh Yes, I forgot to mention outgoing tide of about 1.2 knots :)
Still exciting and fast.

Lonnie Cardinuto S/V Celeste C36MKII #2140
Home Port - Mount Sinai Harbor, L.I. N.Y.

Sailing this weekend hit 8.3kts (gps); broad reach, full sails (135 genny) with winds 17-18 kts.
We've been at 8.7 +/-, highest so far under sail - but we've been 12.5 knots under power when we slightly miss-timed the current in Surge Narrows last year (running with the ebb). :eek:

Over 10 in the bay no current, kite up single reefed main,30knts true

On our first sail on the C375, delivering the boat from Sydney Harbour to Lake Macquarie, with two experienced Catalina sailers onboard.
With 20-30 knot winds and swell up to 5m, we hit a maximum of 11.2knots, using the calibrated paddle wheel and the GPS. But was more impressive was the overall time for the trip. The trip was 50Nm, and it took 6hrs!
The wind made it a broad reach, with the swell behind us, pushing us along.

The only downside... I was so seasick. Just glad I had two very competent sailors to do all the work.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I saw 8.2knts on Lake Huron last fall in my 1994 MKII Standard Rig indicated on my GPS. We had about 20 Knts of wind. I motor easily at 6.5 Knts. I have hit 7 with the motor.

Blasted downwind back to Channel Islands Harbor from the Anacapa arch at well over 10 knots, GPS. Don't know how much current effect. But we were back in about two hours.

Dan

S/V Tao, 1983

We averaged 8.5 knots in 20+ wind on a beam reach, no reef and with a 150 headsail in Boca Grande Pass, Florida. Quite exciting.

Also, we have also hit 12 knots in quartering seas, with 3 foot swells, in the Gulf.

David S. Power
Two If By Sea #1687
Punta Gorda, FL

Frist time taking the boat to Block Island I hit 9.9kts on the GPS surfing. the winds were out of the south south west at 20-25kts. One reef in the main and the jib rolled into 100%. It was an interesting ride because I was the only one who knew how to sail out of the 3 of use on board and it begin the first time I had the boat out in those conditions.

[QUOTE=drdanj;17905]Blasted downwind back to Channel Islands Harbor from the Anacapa arch at well over 10 knots, GPS. Don't know how much current effect. But we were back in about two hours.

Dan

S/V Tao, 1983[/QUOTE]

Ha! Me too. From Santa Cruz Isalnd. Down wind surfing 8-10 ft seas in about 30kts, pegged 11.5kts on GPS. Headsail only. Quite a sleigh ride.

Hi Blair,
We have several times sailed at 7min to 8max knots for several hours at a stretch, but usually reef further at about 7 knots boatspeed.

Out fastest was unintentionally surfing 12knots and touching 13.5 for about 10 seconds in 45 to 55 knot gusts in Cook Strait, New Zealand... just before our steering cable broke. Triple reefed main, storm jib on inner forestay and we were considering dowsing the main altogether.

Reef early.
Check your steering cable :-(
Wind Star is not built for racing.

Fair winds,
Rob

I hit 9.1 beating to port on the tail end of a storm front with following seas on Lake Erie. How you may ask? The wind blowing a constant 28 kts. shifted in less than 20 min., but the 7-8 ft. waves hadn't caught up with it yet. I was praying hard and headed for shelter. Not something I want to do everyday since it's so hard on the boat. I developed two porthole leaks afterward from the flexing.

Robert Perkins
[I]Andante[/I] #450
Cleveland, OH

I was sailing back from Annapolis (Ridout Creek actually) on Thursday, single handed as usual (wife at work). Small craft advisory for several days. It was blowing 15-25+ all day right on the beam. I was reading 8+ for most of the day, maxing out at 9.4 (probably a bit optimistic), pulling the stern wave onto the swim platform :eek:. My GPS track had me well over 7.5 most of the way, against the outgoing tide, so probably fairly accurate through the water speed. I have a tall rig; double reefed main and the genny rolled up to maybe 90%. Wished I had a 3rd reef in the main when it was gusting at 27 or so. Boat handled it well, but when the wind's from the west, it blows several miles directly down the Patapsco River from Baltimore. The swells fan out into the Bay, so you have them on the nose, then the beam, then stern quarter, 5 ft swells about 1 yards apart. Once they hit the stern quarter, the wheel pilot couldn't deal with it at all, so had to hand steer for several hours. Maybe a below decks pilot could handle it????

Wouldn't want to sail like that all the time, but it surely was fun..!

Due to the reflection, not sure if this says 8.3 or 8.9.

Wouldn't want to

I think many of us have read similar threads on the "How Fast" subjects over the years.

Has anyone come across a response that goes something like: [I]"It ONLY counts or should be limited to when you're sailing closehauled, 'cuz just about everyone knows that other than DDW, all the REST of the points of sail are gonna be faster [/I](see "polars," right?)." :)

Just bought my (half restored) 28yr old Mk1 2 weeks ago. I think it topped out around 55 mph :)

[IMG]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-77cxdpzq26c/UmSKA7vwE9I/AAAAAAAAHO8/_...

Ha Ha Funny! :)
I believe the fastest speed recorded on my GPS is 8.9 but can't tell you when or where. As to close hauled I have seen 6.1+

Hey 36'ers
I am glad I stopped in today.
We came back from Santa Cruz island this past Sunday and the wind topped out at about 22kts. The swell was about 3-5 ft on the port qaurter rail. We sailed most of the way across the Santa Barbara Channel doing about 8.5 and surfing to about 10. regularly.
We had our 155% head sail rolled out about half way with a full mainsail and we were rippin! :eek:
In retrospect I could have rolled the head sail all the way out for more speed at the cost of some of the comfort and we were cruising this weekend not racing.
Not sure about those that talk about reefing the main on our boats. I think the main is so small that I would think that reefing time is around 25kts or so.
This Cat 36 is my fourth boat over the last 18 years and I have to say she is as fast as any of the others (way faster than my Ericson 35) and well capable of sailing to her 144 rating. I took 2nd place in her first random leg race a few weeks ago and was constantly up in the front of the pack on Wet Weds beer can racing.
Have a great day!
Captain Bill
Maverick
1989 MkI fin keel
hull# 1015

Bill,

I continue to suggest that folks sailing downwind use as little mainsail as possible, none if quartering seas are strong enough.

Jibing or mainsail control is wasted effort. Why bother?

Went out for a quick sail today - nothing flash, no swell, just a steady 20 knots.I took a few pictures of the chartplotter - because nothing is true without pictures.

Now, its not as fast as before (over 11kn - surfing down waves - 30knots of wind and 5m swell), or 60Nm in 7hours.

[QUOTE=stu jackson c34;20134]Bill,

I continue to suggest that folks sailing downwind use as little mainsail as possible, none if quartering seas are strong enough.

Jibing or mainsail control is wasted effort. Why bother?[/QUOTE]

I totally agree, Stu! Works great for us.