A cold front offshore can see race-ending conditions, Hugh Brayshaw shares advice on how to prepare and sail through it with Andy RiceHugh Brayshaw wasn\u2019t long into his offshore career before he encountered the importance of negotiating a cold front in the right way. \u201cIt was the first leg of the 2017 Solitaire du Figaro, and we were in the middle of the Bay of Biscay with the prospect of a double cold front coming through,\u201d he recalls.
\n\u201cWe knew before setting off this front was going to hit us on the second night of the race. The forecast was predicting these huge wave heights and the highest wind reading was 54 knots \u2013 which is still the most amount of breeze I\u2019ve been in.
\n\u201cFortunately I\u2019d put in an early reef and was also early to switch down to the smaller jib. So maybe I lost a little bit to begin with, but three or four boats had to abandon because their mainsails ripped or blew apart from just over-flogging.\u201d
\nFrom this and subsequent occasions, Brayshaw has seen the huge risks \u2013 and opportunities \u2013 that come with every cold front.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s something I try to get across to my guys on the RORC Griffin Youth Programme. It\u2019s an opportunity to make some gains if you\u2019re behind, or extend your lead if you\u2019re already ahead. You might get hit by some hard rain and a lot of wind, but with the right attitude you can really make the cold front work to your advantage.\u201d
\nCrack off
\nIn the English Channel typically you know that when a cold front is coming through, the wind will be coming from west-south-west and then does a right-hand shift with the front, after which the wind will move to more like west-north-west.
\nBecause you know there\u2019s going to be a shift at some point, it pays to crack off slightly to build speed and get to the shift a bit quicker than if you stayed on normal upwind VMG.
\nFor a conventional keelboat you might only be talking about cracking off 5\u00b0 or 10\u00b0, but on boats where you can handle more power \u2013 like a canting keel boat or a multihull \u2013 you might even crack off as much as 15\u00b0 because the extra distance sailed is more than justified by the extra boat speed.<\/p>\n
Be ready to tack
\nEveryone on the crew needs to be aware of what\u2019s about to happen. You need to be ready for a quick tack when the cold front hits. If the front is arriving in the middle of the night, it\u2019s even more important to have fully briefed everyone on how things are going to be set up for the change of wind speed and angle. Make sure everyone is aware of what sort of compass numbers you\u2019re anticipating as the shift arrives, and how much the wind is likely to increase.
\nSometimes it\u2019s super obvious when you get to the shift, it\u2019s pretty much an \u2018autotack\u2019. But other times it can be really quite slow moving and there\u2019s not too much activity in the clouds. So it\u2019s good to keep an eye on the AIS to track the other boats in the fleet and how the cold front is progressing. That\u2019s a useful source of real-time knowledge that\u2019s well worth watching when you\u2019re trying to judge the best time to tack.
\nTalk it through
\nFor teams who only get together a few times a year, or maybe have come together for the first time to do a big offshore like the Rolex Fastnet Race, it\u2019s inevitable that you won\u2019t have had much time to sort out your communications and understanding between each other. As much as possible, and especially in rough conditions, you really want to avoid all the shouting back and forth from the foredeck to the pit and to the back of the boat. Instructions are bound to get lost or misunderstood.
\nTalk through your planned manoeuvres in detail before the front arrives, or ideally even before you leave shore. It\u2019s so easy to get ropes twisted over each other, or getting the sail up from down below and attaching the wrong corner to the wrong sheets or halyards.
\nMake sure you\u2019ve got some of your most experienced people in the pit, crew who knows the pattern of what looks right or when it looks wrong.
\nArticle continues below\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5 expert tips for sailing in cold weather<\/p>\n
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Tack and peel
\nSeeing as you\u2019re expecting more breeze on the other side of the wind shift after the arrival of the cold front, a tack-and-peel can be a really slick manoeuvre, so get set up for one in advance.
\nIf you\u2019ve got a tuff luff with two grooves, ideally you want to hoist the smaller headsail up the windward side of the current headsail. When you tack and the smaller headsail is now taking the strain as the new working sail, it\u2019s pretty straightforward to pull down the old, bigger headsail on the windward side of the small jib.
\nAdd and extra reef
\nWhen the conditions are really rough, sending people up on to the foredeck is a bit of a last resort. If changing down to a smaller headsail seems too hazardous a manoeuvre, putting a reef in the mainsail is the simpler and less risky way of reducing sail area without sending people forwards.
\nRemember, it\u2019s much easier to shake out a reef than putting a reef in, so make sure you do your reefing well in advance of reaching the cold front. Better to be safe than sorry, and take your preventative medicine early rather than pay a high price later on.<\/p>\n
If you enjoyed this\u2026.<\/p>\n
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The post 5 expert tips: How to prepare for a cold front when sailing offshore appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A cold front offshore can see race-ending conditions, Hugh Brayshaw shares advice on how to prepare and sail through it with Andy RiceHugh Brayshaw wasn\u2019t long into his offshore career before he encountered the importance of negotiating a cold front … <\/p>\n