This isn't a big deal for you SF Bay and other coastal sailors, but winds this past Friday at Lake Lanier were sustained at 25 - 27knts with gusts in the low 30's. The tricky part is that the winds are real shifty on the lake.
I haven't had my boat out in those conditions, but an excellent sailor and friend wanted to get out and see how my boat handled. We prepared ahead for one reef in the main (my only reef point). The boat handled easily and we decided to ease out my 135 genoa to approx 100. I admit that I was "puckered" up at the beginning, but quickly relaxed as we were in control and the boat behaved well. As expected, we rounded up in large gusts and played the traveler as needed.
All in all it was a lot of fun and good experience....I do need to improve the reefing set up.
Stephen Kruse
Kruse Control #1428
1995 C-36 MKII SR/WK
Lake Lanier, Ga.
I am impressed at how well this boat handles in strong winds and I can not add big seas to the list from my last trip. We had some building sized ones that convinced us it was time to reduce the fetch and head towards shore.
Reefing is the key and the roller furling main makes this even easier. We were doing 7.5 knots with scraps of sail on a broad reach with 20+ knot winds.
2000 C36 MKII 1825