Wheeee!

Wheeee!

Doing up to 9 kts with 33 kts of wind on a deep broad reach as we round Point Vieux on the southwest corner of Guadeloupe.

Credit to Peter Wraa for reminding me how crazy the wind gets here. He knows of two cats that have been dismasted at this spot.

We are sailing with a double reef in the main and a single reef in the genoa and Ad Astra feels so stable. Really drives home how important it is to reef and get awesome comfort and stability.

Out in the channel it was just 15 to 18 kts of typical trade winds. But with just 5 nm from the Saints to Point Vieux I decided to cross with the reefs already in place. No real sacrifice of speed through the channel, still did 6.2 kts average. Sure full canvas inside the channel would have delivered 7 or 8, call it 8. We would have covered the 5 nm in say 35 mins instead of 50 mins. 15 minutes faster? Nope, then you have to take into account at least 5 minutes to poinr up to the wind to reef the sails and then accelerate back up to speed. Net difference probably zero on time, and clearly feeling more smooth and pro right now.

Originally posted on Facebook on May 16, 2017.