I did not know a Wave could go that fast

Last night my GPS showed 26-27 kts a couple of times while trying to beat a thunderstorm back to shore, on a Wave.

It was during the Wed Night Races on Clear Lake. We were about halfway through the race, with a thunderstorm skirting the northern lake shore, like storms normally do there.I was watching the storm but did not expect it to do anything except suck wind away.Then, I started hearing flogging sails and saw some mono hulls closer to shore heel hard over. Later I heard the trailing edge of the storm whipped down over the lake. I decided to head for home.

It was a broad reach home. When the wind hit, it was violent. Spray off flat water, bows burying for about 30 secs and suddenly I was in ~15 kts. Wow, I am going to make it! Then I looked back and realized I had outrun the wind line but it was catching up. 50-100 ft behind me, it's blowing spray off flat water. 3 more times the wind line caught up and tried to pitchpole me. At the southern side of the lake, where I turn down a channel to the dock, me and a Catalina 22 got lucky. The storm paused when it hit the southern shore. Looking back I watched a Ranger 23 broach at the channel entrance. I had just gotten sail down and was heading for the dock under mast alone when it hit. and did not let up for a while.

At one point I looked at the GPS and it showed 26 kts. At home I looked at the log and it showed 4 big spikes, highest at 27.4 kts, with 12-13 kts in between.The speed may be real. Another boat said they were indicating 20 and I just screamed past.

There is no real moral or point to this post other than I didn't know a Wave would go that fast and I have never been caught multiple times by a storm, Seeing a black spray wall catching you is not a feeling I want to repeat.

You were doing 20+ knots with just the mast up???

Mike

Now THAT, Carl, is a story to tell at the bar at considerable volume and emphasis. Way to live life - glad you are safe, and appreciative that you shared. Good one! Cheers!

Now i'm not calling you a liar, however, you could always post the track so we can all see it.

Spikes could be from poor satellite reception through the dense clouds and GPS making corrections(assumptions). Or they could be from a major straight wind front that keeps squirting you forward. I wouldn't think that you would be able to double your speed in quick bursts like that without either pitching or breaking something (mast/torn sail). Would be cool to see the track overlayed with a dopler radar image. Maybe someone at Garmin is working on that feature.

-Rob V.

Hey Carl,
That was a nasty storm that came through. I had to send my boats at work back to the dock for it. There were gust over 40knts registered at a few locations.
I was thinking about the lake races as it was coming through. I have heard a few other good stories, but none as good as yours. Glad you made it back safe!

Being the 11th fastest wave sailor on the planet.... I can tell you they don't go that fst. I call shenanigans.

Oh I don't know...I did 118 knots in my P-19 off of the Naval Academy in the Chesapeake bay. The GPS said it so it must be so.

Must have left the GPS in the tramp pouch taking the boat home on the trailer.

Carl is not prone to hyperbole.

That was a pretty evil little storm that came through. I was glad I was tucked up inside with a beer.

I keep hoping the Wave lovers will step in and something about the performance aspects of full bows and relatively low aspect rigs.

In any case the humble Wave is looking better and better.

I've had my Garmin ETrex handheld show me doing 32 knots...while rolling my boat 20 yards down to my beach.

If I tack quickly, sometimes it will show a momentary speed of 25kts or such, which is obviously wrong.

I think when you bounce the boat around, as in rolling it to the beach or tacking in waves, something is screwy in the reception, causing a momentary 'jump' in position, and thus a speed spike, when it tries to figure out how you got from over there to over here so quickly.

The fastest I've been able to 'see' and believe to be true, with my handheld, is about 19kts. on a broad reach in about 20-25 knots wind, Uni, no spinnaker, boards way up, on my F16.

20-21kts is about tops for a modern conventional beachcat...I doubt if a Wave can exceed 15-16kts for any distance.

I wonder what these guys can do... (I want one)

This video of the Flying Phantom (16 feet?) says "Top speed 26.4 kts".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5doBIv3TVbA

Really??? The old Tornado (single trap, non-spin) had much higher polars than that. I'm pretty sure H16s have been clocked well over 20knots in speed races (reaches against the clock).

Mike

We've regularly averaged in the 20-22 kt range on the N20 and F18. Top speed has been reported at 30kts. I suspect the real world number is in the 25 kt range, well I've seen that in flat water and big breeze.

The C-Class shown above has reported 27 kts. I suspect we'll see those guys pushings 40 kts in a straight line.

The Flying Phantom is the 18 foot, F18 Phantom hulls built in carbon, platform widened and full foiling added. They have said 30 kts is well within reach for that platform and it is noticeably faster downwind than a stock F18.

Sorry for the delay, I have been busy. I will try to post a track.

No matter what the real speed was, I did not know a Wave would go that fast. Or as one of the other boats said, "we were way past rudder hum"

Foiling speed?

Mike

Man why do people have to come on here and knock on the guys' good story?

I hope my post was not misconstrued. I think it's awesome this guy outran the storm and lived to tell the tail! The Wave is one of those boats you want when the breeze comes up, simple, tough and obviously quick enough!!

It's chase the tail or tell the tale.

Regardless of what the actual speed was, I bet the darn boat felt like it was going 50 knots on the edge of a straight-wind line.

I'm definitely not knocking the story, I'm interested in the Wave. I've been caught on the F16 in similar weather and it's kind of a lonely feeling.

Lol, that's why I'm not an English major.

i always feel VERY alive after those kinda rides

A friend was an English major. The only job he could find after graduation was with the English Army.

If you want a very simple demonstration of GPS error just put yours down some place and leave it for a while (the longer the better for more variation). When you return you can see how far it has "moved", check max "speed", and review the track. Very interesting and instructive.

Also, if you wear a small GPS like I wear my 401 on my arm, be aware that it adds arm movement in with whatever is moving your entire body which is what you mean to measure. It can be a very big difference as your arm is capable of pretty quick movement. I have several witnesses that I have achieved 132 mph on snow skis just before wiping out (big, fast, arm movement) but it makes a great story. So, like any other useful tool, you need to be very aware of how it works if you want to use it most effectively.

I am a natural skeptic. I have a Wave and I have several GPS units. I would have to experience that speed while sailing a Wave to believe it and even then I would doubt it and look for a more likely explanation. Good story, though, and that's all that really matters!

I should put the 401 on my dog and see if his track leads over to the catbox at any point during the day...

Because the paw prints and his cat-poop breath aren't quite enough evidence to convict (must have OJ's jury...)

He'll just plead GPS signal error and get off scott free, only to be found getting his fix in the box again.

Just think of what you save on Doggy Treats.

I worked the Tybee 500 and followed by RV (and SPOT Tracking) and the top of the fleet averaging over 20 MPH on numberous segments. Each segment was 10 minutes from point to point. The fastest I have recorded was 27.5 mph during the reef run in 2009 (I think) in 25 -35 mph winds.

I had a peak GPS speed of 26.5 and average of 24 over 1.5 miles during a mini-macho on an N20.

We were on the way back after rounding the inside mark on the north side of the causeway. The water was pretty flat, and it was probably blowing close to 20. We were screaming /death-reaching

Herenden & Les Baumen on the black/white 20 were in front, and Ding was right behind on my hip. Les popped his chute and picked up a little speed but bad direction (too deep). We probably could have picked up a knot or two if we had the boards a little higher.

It was one of those times when you know you should do something (pull the boards up a bit), but you're too scared that any movement by driver or crew would end in disaster... I really don't like shrouds in my face, and (as Ding can attest) my crew at the time wasn't someone you should mess with

And it was true, the boat got eerily quiet once you got above the 15 knot and 20 knot humming. Once in a while you'd hear the little "chirp" from the rudder which probably was telling me it was about to cavitate (it was generation 1 style).

Thankfully we didn't crash & burn until we flipped after our turn southward...

I got you ALL beat ; had my Hobie-21 going 65mph.
NO FOOLING !!!!
Got a warning from the highway patrol that max speed
limit in California for towing a boat is 55mph, but
he lat me off with just the warning !

Bille

What is the dividing line between the concept of "sailing" and of being "wind-lofted debris"?

When you can no longer steer.

Are you still sitting on top of the boat, or are you flailing along behind it?

If you're still sitting on top, you're "sailing"! ;^)

+1.. If you're somehow still attached to the boat, that's 'sailing'. I think most of us have "sailed" cats on their side at 3+ knots before... which is a pretty good clip if you're a 4ksb (or trying to catch up to your boat)....

Ask ETNZ...

Mike