On a different thread in a different topic GL made a comment in the context of rigging replacement...
"If you sail in high winds, lots of chop and salt water, you need to do this more frequently (replace standing rigging), than on freshwater or when you don't push your boat."
... and that reminded me of a question/topic I would like to pursue.
I sail on a pretty small safe lake (200 acres) and for my first year of sailing last year, that was challenge enough. But I find myself mildly wishing I didn't have to tack every 2-3 minutes because of the shape of our lake and the predominant wind direction. Although the traffic on our lake is relatively light, on a warm summer weekend there can be 3-4 powerboats pulling tubes and skiers, and usually and equal number of pontoons cruising or fishing. My experience in boating to date, has been to take wake waves into the bow and then continue on my course after they pass. With a sailboat, one has to add wind direction and tacking/gybing to that process, but all of last year, thats what I still tried to do. When I didn't, I'd get the expected pitching, heaving and rolling which always caused me to look at the mast knowing it has to move 4-5 times as far for every roll of the boat, and that is one of the reasons I'm replacing my standing rigging this year. Seems like a lot of stress potential there. But not-withstanding, it will likely still be my practice to try to turn into large wakes where I possibly can.
My cabin is about a 5 minute drive from the boat landing of a much larger (and busier) lake (about 800 acres), and about a 20 minute drive from one twice that size. Late last summer, I pulled out our 16' ski-boat and we went over to the neighbor lake with a pitcher of our favorite beverage and the intention of doing a relaxing evening sightseeing cruise to checkout the cabins, boats, shorelines and whatever else we saw. As mentioned, this is a much busier lake and there were at least a dozen or two ski-boats going by at all speeds kicking out all manner and variety of wakes, and it wasn't as much a issue of a wake waves, as it was a constant chop from all directions. You know how waves randomly add up, and our little boat was tossed around pretty good. My wife was getting sea sick, and my friends wife had a very sore neck by the time we got back to the landing. It was impossible to point into the waves because they were coming from all directions at once. With the powerboat, I just dealt with it, got clear, cranked it up and rode the tops of the waves back to the landing after we'd had more fun than we could deal with, but it got me to thinking about my DaySailer in those conditions.
I suspect the ocean is pretty much like that all the time? How do you big water sailors deal with that kind of wave action? it can't be very enjoyable? Do you just roll with the punches and stay generally pointed in your preferred direction of travel, or is this not how an ocean works? I'd really like to go out on that lake next year, but I definitely want to know how to manage that kind of water before I try it.
Thanks - Scott