2004-10-17; 10:11:56 EDT
Member Since
2002-09-17
Posts: 4946
Well, yesterday was an adventure. The weather forecast called for very strong winds and there was a lake wind advisory for Lake Hartwell. My kind of day, or so I thought. We motored out of the marina and met up with Captain Bob Keller (Yankee Clipper). Being the prudent sailors that we were, the first thing we did was raft up and got a few drinks in us before we sailed. About an hour later, one of the members of my crew received a phone call and needed to be taken back to the marina. I pulled the genny out to about 40% and headed down wind. As we got further into the middle of the lake, it finally dawned on me that we had to much sail out. The winds were pretty steady at 28 mph and the gusts were unreal. I have never seen the lake this rough. The waves were a good three feet high and the crest of the waves were being blown away by the wind. Made it to the marina and my good sense took over and we stayed at the dock. Unfortunately Capt. Bob had to go into the wind all the way home. He put on his rain gear, lowered the pop top and closed everything up as much as possible. He said it was one wet ride, but made it home in one piece. I think I have found the limits of the Rhodes 22. RummySee the original archive post