NONE! The boat loves winds of 25. While still fun in lighter winds, the strong the wind, the wider the grin.
I will never forget the regatta last year at Lake Eustis, FL where the wind was 45 knots. Then the Wave was a handful. Not a problem upwind.., you could feather up in the huge puffs, but as soon as we turned downwind, we would pitchpole. There was simply no way to get back far enough to counteract the big winds. And despite the great bow buoyancy, the bows were just not long enough.
That was when I developed a new downwind technique.
With high-tech cats we sail at 45-degree angles off the wind while sailing downwind. This picks up more speed and is actually a faster way to get to the leeward mark.
In Waves, we found it faster to head for the mark, as sailing the higher angles did not give us enough speed to make up for the distance. This is similar to monohulls.
Well, in the big winds, I let me sails all the way out and sailed at the 45-degree angle. When a big puff hit, instead of heading down for stability, I headed up and the wind dumped out of the sail.
Only the jibe was hairy.., so you did it quick and headed right back up after the turn.
So, 25 is not a problem.
And to answer your question, I have never broken a thing due to wind.
Have fun and come to any or all of the great regattas planned this year. Just check them out:
Schedules for 2005(More may be added when schedules are complete):
Jan 15-16 -- NAMSA NA's/Tradewinds Midwinter Open Cat National Championships, Wave National Series Championship, A-Class Midwinter Nationals, Shark Midwinter Nationals, Rick's Place Motel/Sailing Resort, Key Largo, FL 305-451-3287,
rick@catsailor.com, /tradewinds2002.html
July 9-10 -- Wave National Series Championship Race, Sandy Hook, NJ
July 30-Aug 3 -- Wave National Series Championship Race/Bay Week Regatta, Put-in-Bay, OH, Contact Jim/Deb 419-732-2976. email:
summer.storm@cros.net TBA -- WildCat Regatta, Lake Eustis, FL (This is a National Series Championship Regatta)
Oct 14-16 -- Wave North American Championships, Pensacola Beach, FL, Key Sailing,
keysailing@keysailing.com Nov 27-Dec 4 -- 8th Annual Wave Week (Wave Only Rick White;s Sailing Seminar Nov27-Dec 1; Ntls Dec 2-4)
Dec 1-4 --8th Annual Hobie Wave Open, Junior, Women and Masters National Championships, Key Largo, FL, For Info and Rules, tel 305-451-3287, fax 305-453-0255, email
rick@catsailor.com, or click here! (counts as two regattas of the five)
Also
Nov 27-30-- Wave ONLY Rick White's Sailing Seminar, at Gilberts Resort in Key Largo, FL
rick@catsailor.com or call 305-451-3287 or see our website
http://www.sailingseminars.com Good luck,
Rick
