what is the worst weather you've ever sailed in?

[spacephrawg]

I'm referring to your RC boat. I seem to recall reading on here a while back that someone took his boat on a maiden voyage in an electrical storm and lived to tell the tail.

I probably wouldnt do that until I got a spectrum radio with a stubby antenna. I've got enough health problems as it is without getting fried.

Years ago when my RC hovercraft (a real P.O.S.) was still running, before i shorted it out, I ran it in a snow storm. Great times.

Related: if you do go sailing in bad weather, what precautions do you take with your boat and radio?

[drakonis]

i used to own a pair of protheroe epic sailboats. and took one out in a nasty windstorm. rain going sideways :eek: wat very fun to heel over a 50 inch sailboat in a driving storm. it was fun and cold and wet.

[tigerbay]

I have been out in tropical storms (just down from a typhoon).

One time the afternoon started bad, but got worse.
We were out playing with sail boats, but they became unsailable.
And we could not get under cover. My radio got soaked and never recovered. I have now bought a cover. Made by a nice senior citizen. But you could use an inverted supermarket plastic bag with hole for the ariel.

Anther time I was in torrential rain, I was undercover but the boat was out. The boat did take on some water, but not enough to do dammage.
My electics are on a radio tray, but they can be put in a plastic food box and sealed.

[toesup]

Related: if you do go sailing in bad weather, what precautions do you take with your boat and radio?

Not Rc... but certainly model boat related..

Many years ago i sailed free sailing Marbleheads at a pool in Birmingham, GB.

The one day it was blowing a gale and the water was trying to get out of the pool!. A friend of mine, who's boat (on the run, with spinaker) was up on the plane and heading for the concrete bank, jumped in the lake to get to the yacht before the yacht hit the concrete.
Instead of grabbing for the mast and taking the wind out of the sails / spinaker, he grabbed the bow of the boat... which proceeded to ram his hand, at almost full speed, in to the concrete bank.. breaking several bones in his hand and fingers...

I think i can still hear the words of 'endearment' that came forth towards his boat. :eek:

[drakonis]

:eek: :eek: :eek:

[nick_75au]

I thing I will have to wait for a Cyclone before I can beat any of those story's, ouch.
Then again maybe sailing in 45 deg C heat does qualify for extreme weather, coming home and having to soak in a cold bath from sunburn :o

Precautions, wide brimmed hat, sunglasses, and liberal coating of sunscreen. Having shade helps as well. :D

Nick

[tweety777]

Hello guys,

My previous models weren't quiet build to withstand very much, and actually the worst they were to handle were 5 to 8 cm high waves created by models going far over their hullspeed.
Well Enhancer is such heavy that i will build here such that everything remains in place during pretty hard winds, and that the whole model is watertight.
I haven't yet been sailing in worst weather then windforce 7 with my ocean-going tug, but that was between a couple of flats and lots of trees, so my model and i feld it like windforce 3 or 4.
That was pretty well doable.

Greetings Josse

[mfr02]

Hi Toes - a good job it wasn't Fleetwood and Vane "A"s. The concrete sides there tend to be covered in water snails at about the waterline, and digging broken ones out of the back of a hand is almost as bad as having them embedded. The trick was to grab and lift, hoping it would jump out at you. Never did it myself, but I have been stood watching, shaking my head. I always figured that if I had to lean into the wind, I should really be at home.

[tweety777]

Hi guys,

The worst weather my models noticed (not in cover of trees and buildings) is today with W-E, it was windforce 6 to 7 i think.
http://albums.modelbrouwers.nl/coppermine/albums/userpics/10782/2009-02-07_proefvaart_Surfplas_08.jpg
This is a bit what it looks like.
http://albums.modelbrouwers.nl/coppermine/albums/userpics/10782/2009-02-07_proefvaart_Surfplas_04.jpg
There really is movement in all directions.

Greetings Josse

[spacephrawg]

Hi guys,

The worst weather my models noticed (not in cover of trees and buildings) is today with W-E, it was windforce 6 to 7 i think.
http://albums.modelbrouwers.nl/coppermine/albums/userpics/10782/2009-02-07_proefvaart_Surfplas_08.jpg
This is a bit what it looks like.
http://albums.modelbrouwers.nl/coppermine/albums/userpics/10782/2009-02-07_proefvaart_Surfplas_04.jpg
There really is movement in all directions.

Greetings Josse

Ouch. Looks like someone took your boat and shook it :eek:

[tweety777]

Hi Space,

That someone is the shore.
Took a while to undock here because of the wind which was blowing towards me, and meanwhile the superstructure smashed very offent (every wave actually) against the shore, and then it won't take long with this way of keeping the SS in place before it isn't in position anymore, but everything survived, and remained connected to the hull, so i'm happy.
The wind and waves also did there best, but didn't very well succeed.

Greetings Josse

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

Two of us were clearing up the site after an event, and decided to make
one more run before we left. Just after we launched, a rain squall hit the pond.
The two destroyers were breaching, and slamming down into the water and
burying the bows. Did we stop sailing?... It didn't even occur to us, at the
time, to stop. We didn't even think to take pictures...
We just kept sailing and marveling at the conditions. Every time my ship
would dive into a wave, the boat took water, and we could hear the bilge
pump fire up, and run for a few seconds. I don't think I have seen any similar
conditions since.

But Here in the Pacific Northwest, USA, we sail when we can.
I used to keep an oversize ziploc bag with holes for the joystick and antenna.
.

[Hoghappy]

My schooner...only her 2nd time out...it stormed for 2 hours straight before I finally went after her...lightening bolts everywhere. I had water running out the gun ports and some finally made it below decks after running down the sheet tubes. The masts were swollen and I had a bear of a time breaking her down in the middle of that storm. I've never tried to ride one out since.


Now...when I was in the NAVY.......:rolleyes:

[keith S]

Back in the 90s we had a run at capitol Lake in Olympia on Labor Day Weekend. The day went well til late in the afternoon the wind kicked up and we had 18-24" waves on the lake. I was running my Thompson Trawler ( modified), another large ocean going tug and a 1/24 scale Coast Guard Point Class cutter. We rode some serious waves out in the lake that made for some darn dramatic photos. Had photos of the fore foot of the boat hanging out over a wave as it crested then slammining don into the water on the back side of the wave throughing water over the mast and wheel house. Pulled almost a gallon of the wet stuff out of the hull. Have not done that since.

[Predreadnut]

A long time ago I took a Blue Devil out on a very windy/choppy, rainy afternoon. It was the middle of March and my need to sail something overtook my common sense. Well, I wasnt 30ft from shore when I decided this wasnt a good idea and turned around. The destroyer was taking green water over the bow and heeling sharply. I guess water got to the reciever in the middle of the turn,because she just kept turning. Slowly she began to sink. I kicked off the shoes, threw the wallet aside and went in after her. Did I mention it was mid March?, around 40F. I stepped in and my breathe was taken away. Anyhow, I grabbed it just as it was in its death plunge. I thought I would never warm up. The funny thing is that I've taken my Vac u tug out in simialar conditions and had a great time. Bow lifts out of the water, green water over the deck and everything with no worries.

[EMSPAUL]

We in the North East have wonderful weather for running model ships.
Nice and calm one minute next 20 mph winds.
I have had the bow of my Brooke class come out of the water on more than one occasion.
Paul
http://www.homeportmodels.com/

[Guard-Officer]

Built the Midwest 47' MLB model and took it out in the Habour in Sydney Nova Scotia, there was a solid 2' chop in the harbour and it flew over the stuff effortlessly! just like the real vessel. i couldnt even get it to capsize trying.

I would suggest making sure your ballast is secure and that your hatch's are sealed well, duct tape to seal the aft deck would have been the smart thing that day!

[patmat2350]

Sort of like the airplane saying... it's good weather if you make it back, bad weather if you don't!
By that definition, my worst weather was on the day I swamped and lost my deeply ballasted Texaco Tanker in the chop...

[pompebled]

During the last heat of our race day on 22-6-2008, the clouds, that were getting blacker and blacker, finally delivered.
We did the last run in a downpour...

Regards, Jan.

[bikemec]

Still not sure why but,

I had built a Wee Nip (70 cm long sail boat) I converted her to a bermuda rig from the una rig she has on the plans,

I then launched her out in to this

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y97/bikemec/DSCF0467.jpg
Doesn't look too bad but had about 3' swell aht the end of the peir

I started in side the harbour wall then sailed out into the swell for about 5 minutes all went well then I lost rudder control, she started turning around in random circles and heading out to sea, I managed to set the sails so she headed for one of the headlands that form the bay. I put the radio away and jumped into the car drove to the sailing club, just as I arrived she washed up on the shore.

very little water inside, slight damage when she hit the rocks. and all that had happened to the rudder was it had been forced past 90 degrees, the linkage bent and then locked it facing nearly the wrong way. five minutes later she was fixed and still sails today

[boater_dave]

I couldn't wait. The weekend was so nice but the lake was still ice (mostly). I needed a break so I grabbed my S&S and sailed in the open areas. I don't know if anyone else would call these bad conditions, but the lack of rescue boats and the freezing water temps always makes me a bit uneasy.

Dave

[tweety777]

I couldn't wait. The weekend was so nice but the lake was still ice (mostly). I needed a break so I grabbed my S&S and sailed in the open areas. I don't know if anyone else would call these bad conditions, but the lack of rescue boats and the freezing water temps always makes me a bit uneasy.

Dave

If it counts as bad weather depends on the model, and more then it usually does.
When the model can't turn very fast it really is bad weather, but if i would go to sail there with, for example, my Well Enhancer, i can easily avoid the ice, and then it isn't counting as bad weather to me.

Looks good at the water, much wind if i see that list.

Greetings Josse

[spacephrawg]

Still not sure why but,

I had built a Wee Nip (70 cm long sail boat) I converted her to a bermuda rig from the una rig she has on the plans,

I then launched her out in to this

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y97/bikemec/DSCF0467.jpg
Doesn't look too bad but had about 3' swell aht the end of the peir

I started in side the harbour wall then sailed out into the swell for about 5 minutes all went well then I lost rudder control, she started turning around in random circles and heading out to sea, I managed to set the sails so she headed for one of the headlands that form the bay. I put the radio away and jumped into the car drove to the sailing club, just as I arrived she washed up on the shore.

very little water inside, slight damage when she hit the rocks. and all that had happened to the rudder was it had been forced past 90 degrees, the linkage bent and then locked it facing nearly the wrong way. five minutes later she was fixed and still sails today

Holy crap :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: (re: the picture)

[bikemec]

Spacephrawg My thoughts too... after I lost control.

I kinda thought that as long as I launched from the inside harbour wall then only sailed in the swell nothing would happen, just like the ocean racers in the big seas,

Stupid logic, i should know better I'm a kayak instructor!

I should have brought the camera out when I launched her, but only thought about it when I went to get the car hence this pic and no boat in it

I've just re rigged her with a ally mast and bigger sails only blowing force 5 outside time for a sail???