This was a weekend of pretty hardcore sailing. Saturday I went sailing with some friends on a Farr 56 (pilothouse). This is a new boat to them so they are still sorting her out, but it is a very cool boat. This was the first time (besides the sea trial) that they sailed the boat with the mainsail. It was in the 40 F range out on the Bay and blowing in the high teens to low 20 knot range when we left the dock. We ran out the river under mainsail alone and were moving really well. Once out of the river, we close reached north towards the bridge. Along the way, the wind was steadily building such that we saw gusts well up into the mid-30 knot range (true not apparent).
We were under full mainsail and the forestaysail (not the headstaysail), and the boat felt balanced and completely under control. We were limiting the heel angle to a 10-15 degree range using backstay and vang tension to depower the sails. The in-boom furler and main halyard were hydraulically driven, as were the mainsheet, and headsail sheet making sail trim and jibing a push button affair until we rolled out the staysail.
The staysail was on a normal winch. On one hand, the winches were sized perfectly for the sail so that the grinding forces on the winch handle were very manageable, but it took a lot of grinding to bring the sail in. I felt pretty beat when I got home.
After a while, given the rapidly increasing winds, we decided that prudently, it probably made sense to head back towards home. We got rid of the jib on the way back towards the river, and by then we were seeing gusts into the low 40 knot range.
I have not spent much time sailing boats this size in these kinds of conditions. I was amazed at how nonchalantly the boat handled those conditions. 40 knots on Synergy would have felt like a tough slog. The Farr 56 just shrugged it off in a no big deal, this is what I was made for kind of manner. It was all very impressive.
I was reminded of one of the truisms of distance cruisers. I had only met the boat owners perhaps a couple months ago. We had sailed on Synergy and on their boat, exchanged emails and talked on the phone. I really liked getting to know them, but realized that they are getting ready to head off on some distance passages and there was a good chance that I would not see them again. I have often enjoyed the fellowship that happens during those moments when ships pass and pause for a gam with a fellow sailor. But often wonder whether their passages went from there, and miss some of those lasting friendships made in those short acquaintances even decades later.
In any event, I ended up sleeping really well on Saturday night, that is until I had to get up the next morning. .