Rosalind and our First Near Gale on the West River

It was late May and the morning air, in the high 50s, was unseasonably cool and the weather forecast called for northerlies 14 gusting to 20 knots. By the time we got to Rosalind, deep in the West River we were seeing 18 and 20 knots registering on the anemometer. It took us a few minutes to get Rosalind ready for her first sail of the season. It only took about 15 minutes to remove the mizzen sail cover, start the engine, don our PFDs and sailing gloves and cast off our mooring pennant.

Motoring out the river, Rosalind moved easily through the water at four knots as the wind, dead on the nose, increased. One of the benefits of a ketch is that there several sail combinations available to choose from for different wind speed and direction conditions. Given the expected winds, we were planning to sail “jib and jigger”, without the mainsail. 

Rosalind at her mooring before the sail.

With Cheryl at the helm we passed red nun #4 and I went aft to raise the mizzen. The wind was steady at 20 gusting to 25 and Cheryl let Rosalind fall off the wind as I started partially rolling out the jib. Cheryl then pulled back on the engine throttle, I trimmed the sails and Rosalind started sailing and picking up speed. We were on a close reach, with the wind forward of the beam, and we started moving through the water first at 4.5, then 5 and settled in at 5.5 knots. Wind gusts increased to 27 then 29 knots. During the gusts, Rosalind increased her speed to 6.2 knots while heeling another 5 degrees, to about 20 degrees. The was some lee helm, as the power from the jib was more than what was provided by the full mizzen, but Rosalind was very steady. In the river, the seas were no more than two feet and Rosalind put her shoulder down and plowed on; she felt controlled and powerful. There was power in the wind!

After a while, we tacked. Cheryl handled the helm and I managed the jib, the mizzen being self tending. The tack went very smoothly and Rosalind was now on a broad reach gaining speed soon settling at 5.7 to 6 knots and climbing to 6.3 in the gusts. Now the gusts were over 32 knots, and Rosalind still felt very controlled. Rosalind is a heavy boat (9 tons), with only 25 feet at the water line. With partially unfurled jib and her full mizzen she was sailing at almost her hull speed of 6.5 knots and was very comfortable doing it. 

We kept sailing down the River still doing over 6 knots, Rosalind increasing her speed in the gusts, while generating a little extra helm in the process. After passing red nun #4 we knew we had to depower as the river gets narrow and crowded, so I rolled in the jib and before we motored to our mooring we dropped the mizzen. On the weather apps, the upper Chesapeake was now all lit up with Small Craft Warnings. Soon after we arrived our neighbors on Gorgeous Girl, a Pacific Seacraft 40 came in from their outing. They commented “Rosalind looked good out there”.

It had been a great shakedown sail in a near gale in the river. Rosalind handled her self beautifully in sustained winds exceeding 25 knots and felt very steady and comfortable. Everything worked, and nothing broke. A couple of small items were added to the to do list and we learned a lot. Overall one sail for the books!