2016 SteepleChase Race

[Bill Roberts]

The SteepleChase Race around Key Largo is scheduled for this coming weekend.
The Marine forecast is winds 25 to 35 knots, temp 60 degrees F Saturday morning and rain all weekend.
A cold front is passing through.
Would you like to sail in this race in the Atlantic ocean?
What should a race committee do in this situation?

I think in beach cat racing needs some weather limits, both min and max, for fun and safe racing.
Registration and Race committees should post weather forecasts as soon as they are available, at least one week in advance
and update them every day. If a race is cancelled for any reason, send all preregisters this information as early as possible.

If beach cat racing has weather limits, then race committees have rules to stand on. No more, " well we don't know what to do"?
"What are your class rules"?

[DanBerger]

That does not sound like a fun race, especially in the Ocean.

We will not run a race if the forecast is over 20mph. We have weather beacons at different parts of the bay so we can tell what the wind is doing all over the place. We look for sustained winds over 20, gusting to 25 is OK, but not desirable. It gets pretty choppy so the committee and chase boats can't handle that kind of wind.

We also won't run a race if the wind is under 5mph and the forecast does not project over 5. We have some pretty strong current that gets up to 6mph in places, so if we can't beat the current, we can't sail.

We would refund the preregistration...that is, if anyone actually preregistered.

[Mac M]

My wife and I found out all about that current on our SC17 last year!

[Bill Roberts]

I like your limits, Dan. I might even cut the upper limit off at anything over 20 knots . In some areas the sea conditions are no fun to sail in at 20 knots especially if the current and wind direction are in opposite directions.
Here are some relationships between wind speed in knots and potential sail pressure if you could hold the boat down.

wind speed knots --- wind pressure lbs/ftft
5 ---------------------- .1 to .2
10 --------------------- .2 to .4
12 --------------------- .3 to .7
15 --------------------- .4 to 1.0
20 --------------------- 1.0 to 2.0
25 --------------------- 2.0 to 3.0
These numbers are from Marchaj's book.

I think we will all agree that we are maxed out sailing to windward at about 12 knots wind speed, double trap.
At 15 knots the wind pressure has increased 50%. What do we do? Our Sails are too big.
At 20 knots the wind pressure has increased 150%. What do we do? Our sails are much too big.
At 25 knots the wind pressure has increased almost 250%. What do we do? Our sails are very much too big.

At 12 knots we were maxed out sailing to windward double trap having a really good time.
At 15 knots we are still at the same max righting moment we were at 12 knots but the wind pressure and overturning moment are 50% greater than they were at 12 knots wind speed. What do we do to not turn over sailing to windward?
At 20 knots we are still maxed out at the same max righting moment we were at 12 knots but the wind pressure and overturning moment are up 150% or 3 times as great as they were at 12 knots wind speed. How do we handle this condition sailing to windward?
At 25 knots? Don't go sailing. This also applies to many sailors at 20 knots.