Next time you’re anchored and the weather situation looks like deteriorating badly before morning, have a serious think about unnecessary windage.
The most obvious thing is to lower your spray hood – very likely that’ll save you ten square feet at deck level. Next, drop your roller genoa and bag it below. Not a popular order, but you’ll be typically seven square feet to the good. If you can lower your boom end and lash it to the quarter that’ll help, by getting its windage as low as possible. And drop all bunting of any sort. It’ll save your flags, and a big drag as well. Have you ever felt the pull of a flag halyard that’s loaded up in a gale?
All this means, of course, that should the hook fail you’ll be left with engine only, but you have to ask yourself whether you could really sail out of danger in storm force winds. Better to make sure the batteries are well up and the fuel’s clean.
