Hi guys,


Can anyone give me an idea of the minimum wind needed to sail an H16. Keep in mind, I am really new to the boat and I am not talking about wind needed to have a rip roaring time. Just enough wind to tack, jibe and make it back to the dock. I have a good wind meter, so any numbers will be helpful.


Dave

hmmm.... as long as there is something that can be identified as movement of air masses you can sail in it... ... on lakes, even on still or calm days you will have some kind of movement from thermo bubbles rising over land sucking cool air from around the lake. That type of wind might only last for a few minutes and wind direction changes all the time.
In general you can sail with almost nothing... stuff gets boring and your a$$ falls asleep a tack might take a minute to complete but it works. In my region the forecast calls for about 5 miles/h this weekend. Not good enough to get me to the lake on Saturday.

Patrick

Any time on the water is better than mowing the lawn so it doesn't matter if there isn't much wind. When the wind is light and it gets hot, I center the main and the jib, kick up a rudder, and get in the water under the boat. The boat will have a strong weather helm with the rudder part way up and the boat makes S turns into the wind.

Howard

Not an easy question to answer...

In all the sailing I've done, the wind has never been EXACTLY the same. Something is ALWAYS different. And remember wind can blow more directions than are on a compass. It can below up and down. I've had the wind directly below down on me flapping the sails and tracking the water, -and I'm just not moving! With that said...

It's personal choice of what you can tolerate in light winds. If it is alternating between dead calm and the occational variable puffs, you WILL get where you want to go, but you must be patient. Just carry a paddle, if you think you could run out of time. As long as the sun is around to to create uneven heating, you will move in a dead calm,--but the side slip is annoying. If you are caught in a slow wind shift, the wind will eventually return. There have been times I just give up on a slow wind, then just as I an lowering the sails, the wind freshens up and makes me regret my decision to call it quits.

Yes its frustrating, but if you want reliability, get a smelly motor and listen to the noise. --Wait a minute, that why we LIKE sailing. (Ever pass a motorboat on a windy day? The stunned motorhead just stares at you in disbelief that you can better his oil-and-gas belching beast. I just LOVE that.)