Hi Judy:
Thanks for the welcome.
You folks out in San Francisco remind me of Vito Dumas in "Alone Through
the Roaring 40s." The difference is that Leeg II was a double-ender built like
a tank. Not so the C27s.
On the '85 I looked at, the chainplates for the forestay and the backstay
were stainless steel straps a couple of inches wide. The chainplates for the
shrouds were L-shaped brackets supported solely by the deck. This isn't
equipment built to take the strain of 35 knots from any point of sail, in my
opinion. On my old C&C 25 (which, for the record, didn't sail as well as a C27
does), the shroud chainplates were six inches wide, a foot long and
through-bolted to the main bulkhead.
To combat this problem, Patrick Childress had custom chainplates built and
strapped them to the topsides because he was frightened by the pulsating deck
where the shroud chainplates were.
Even then, his sail plan for 35 knots of wind was a storm jib.
I briefly traded e-mail with Childress a couple of years back on an
unrelated topic. At one point, I suggested that he write a book about his
circumnavigation. He said he had decided against it because he didn't want to
encourage anyone to do what he did. He said that while the C27 is a great boat,
it just isn't built for offshore-like conditions.
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]on Behalf Of Judith
Blumhorst, DC
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 3:32 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [IC27A] Judy - C27 CE
Hi jack,
Welcome to the C27/270 Association list.
I agree that it's a little crazy to fly a spinny in 30+ knots, but I think
you'd be surprised at how much canvas a C27 can carry sailing downwind in those
conditions. I've been sailing 49 years, and so far I haven't yet lost a rig,
nor twisted any hulls nor put a smile at the front of the keel.
My hubby and I regularly fly a 95% (equivalent to a 110% on a std rig) or
135% (equivalent to a std 150%) with full mainsail downwind in 30 knots from
the Golden Gate Bridge to the Bay Bridge. That's enough canvas to get the
boat surfing on the waves. It's scarey fast. It takes considerable skill to
drive in those conditions, because you steer the boat mostly by heeling one way
or the other as the waves pass under her, with only minor correction with the
rudder. If you over react with the rudder, the boat will round up violently or
round down spectacularly and broach.
I certainly agree with you that a flat boat is a fast boat on a reach or a
beat. We reef and shake out reefs all day long depending on our point of sail
if we wanna go fast and flat. We can put one in and or shake one out in under
60 seconds from the cockpit without even rushing. It's second nature to us.
I'd go even further and say that a well trimmed boat is a flat boat is a
safe boat is a fast boat. Even though we don't race, we can shift gears with
the best of 'em. We play the traveller and the sheet leads to put twist in the
sails, outhaul to control the lower profile, backstay on for upwind to shape
the draft in the jib, cunningham for acceleration or high end speed. That's
probably even more important than reefing.
Fair winds,
Judy B
1977 C27 Tall Rig #3459, "Bijou"
San Francisco Bay
http://www.blumhorst.com/catalina27/catalinahomepage.htm
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