Another example of CP23 seaworthy prowess; comfortably handles moderate gale!

[hockeyfool]

  Today here in southeast Michigan we got a week of nice warm stuff- 60's to today's 72+/- degrees ! And with that the warm West wind
kept building till we saw W at 22mph with gusts to 38MPH !!!
So as we finished doing the wife's flea market gallivanting it was time to load the cooler and get down to the boat,
I then changed the head sail to a 75% or so storm-style jib, then moved my single line reefing to the second reef points ....
  We then pushed off and motored  out of our slip away from the the lee shoreline and in reserve gear I was seeing the need to full throttle
or shift to forward as we were not able to drive the stern to lee or bow to windward.
Forward it is and we headed out to center of lake to set the sails, so I gave my wife the helm and asked her to keep the bow dead into the wind
which we did until I started to raise the main - and MAN was it hard to raise mainsail ( without directing wife to throttle up ) and get my reef line
pulled in!
Finally after the third time attempting to secure reef ties, so the main would not unravel - I made both ties tight, then hoisted the storm jib...
A little drama -- wife kept the motor running and we were on a beam reach a hull speed with gusts screaming at us... we were moving way too fast--
had to shut down motor -- this is why I was a bit afraid to ask her to throttle up as I could see us getting thrown violently to port OR starboard !
OK -- motor shut down, now - someone bumped into the halyard clutches and BOTH SAILS WERE FALLING DOWN !
I had wife hold tiller and rushed to clutches and asked her to point boat dead into wind again...there we go .

Now we're heading to the other shore real fast and its time to tack and guess what?  A huge gust...like had to be 38-40 mph or something,
pushed my main against the spreaders - BUT she stayed level hulled to no more than 15-20 degrees of heel ! But I had to ease the mainsheet
way out as wind was smacking it to look like a full belly, draft lines making a big smile.
We tacked and I put some boom vang in , definitely helped, and if we would have been on a larger body of water I would have tightened my down-haul,
and out-haul, as it makes the main nice and almost flat so beam and close reaches become more steady.

We then moved steadily across the lake again, no extreme heeling and wife was not scared, but said she prepared physically for this today and asked me to do this kind of
sailing with another man who's an experienced sailor for this high-adrenaline, small craft advisory-category sailing.
So, what I've learned today; --------- the COMPAC 23 CAN SAIL IN A  GALE ..SAFELY..COMFORTABLY  ! < See Beaufort wind scale on my numbers >
AND , she can do so when sailors screw up;
..... don't put sails up unless you are sure someone will keep bow into wind,
..make sure to trim and tight haul all mainsail's boomvang, outhaul, downhaul, and halyard/clutch !
THANK YOU FOR READING -- and your patience , I just wanted all to know that if you have a storm/working jib less than
100% and a double reef in your mainsail -- you can set sail in wind " blowing like stink", without capsizing, broaching, or getting wet !
-----------DISCLAIMER --- I cannot make an intelligent reference to large bodies of water( Other Than INland Lakes )where building seas/troughs, 
tidal forces, gulf stream currents, and other massive breaking crests,  will possibly contribute additional sailing conditions.

[HeaveToo]

That is good to know.  What would be the issue for me in the Chesapeake Bay would be wave action.  I have been out in a gale, by mistake, and seen first hand what the Bay can dish out.  Huge steep waves that are driven against the current. 

I have learned that the best thing to do if you are out in this is find a safe place to go to duck and hide.  Stay in a protected cove with a big anchor and a lot of scope until the wind dies down!

[mdueweke]

Greetings

I am interested ok now if anyone has wind guidance for an HC?
Like 10 knots single reef and above 15 knots double reef.
By the way, is there any documentation on how much wind these boats can safely handle if you think you know what you are doing?
Thanks