Thursday, January 13, 2005

Heavy weather

You may have seen some postings on this site about UFO 34 handling is extreme weather conditions. Some years ago Renegade was overtaken by bad weather in the middle of the North Sea on passage to Norway. The crew was a mixture of hardened old salts and inexperienced. (I will try to get one of them to submit a first hand account to this site.) I have heard the tale a time or two, but what I remember is that, although all aboard were afraid, Renegade (UFO 34) behaved well.

 

Last weekend the Renegade Syndicate had its annual meeting to discuss this year’s plans. Buying a drogue or sea anchor has been suggested and I wonder whether anyone has experience of using one.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

HARD DODGER:

Has anyone any made a solid dodger for their UFO 34 or any photos of one or know of one ?

Some yachts look OK , some are just not suited so before I re-invent the wheel, I ask the question.

thanks

Richard
UFO " NOT NEGOTIABLE "

Adrian said...

I'm not sure quite what Richard means by a solid dodger. Anyway I have copied his posting and resubmitted it with its own heading.

Anonymous said...

I recently hove to in my UFO 34 in 45 knots with 6-8 metre swells and a 4-5 metre sea off Tasmania's west coast.
No. 4 sheeted on hard and backed, and two reefs in the main, which was centred. Boat moved sideways at 60 degrees to the wind, with very little motion. I left the tri-light on and then slept until daybreak seven hours later. Most impressed with the very comforatble motion of the boat in the rough conditions.

Anonymous said...

I have experienced some bad weather and seas in my ufo 34 and on one occassion hove to for 14 hours in 35 - 40knts. The motion of the boat was very smooth. I certainly would prefer to be in a ufo in those conditions than some more 'modern' yachts. As for the boats downwind performance, the comments about being a dificult boat to handle are not borne out by my own experience.