[quote=bruiser]Wow, scary stuff. Glad to see you are going to be OK. There is a point in big wind where any boat will pitch pole given more wind than the bows can support. Hence why reefing is used so much in monohulls. Cats actually have more stability in the bows than monohulls, but they do have a limit. By only having your main sail up you actually increase the pressure on the bows. I learned that in heavy air the spinnaker/jib actually help to balance the boat so that the front sails add lift to the bows to keep them from being pushed down totally by just the main. The front sails will also help with speed through the gybes and boat balance as others have mentioned. All that said, when you stuff both bows it can be very bad. I was crewing for a guy on a Prinde 19 in heavy air, when we pitch poled, it was really bad for him. He was thrown up in the air into the mast and broke his neck. So yes, I am very careful to bail out of sailing on days when the wind is up too much. It is one thing if the wind comes up while out, but another to go out in it if you do not have reefing capability. Now days, I break much easier than the boat.
Great story thanks for sharing.[/quote]
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