October 3rd, 2012
A few words on the Toro performance during the September 15th sail on Lac St-Pierre, Québec : 19.8knt in 15knt wind The wind was blowing around 14-15 knots with a few gusts at 18-20 knts Direction was progressive NNW to WNW. Because of the low water level on Lake St-Pierre we were forced to sail within the maritime channel which gave us a reasonable corridor to sail but a bit restraint on certain tacks. The wind at the start of the day was at it’s best. But due to the NNW direction it forced us to sail on a reach a good part of the morning. Runs between 12 to 18knts with big waves and lots of spray. Really rocking. Due to wind direction and having to reach because of the limited sailing zone, we were not able to put up the Code0 and push the boat, we had to sail with Main & Jib only with a slight downwind direction which limited us in obtaining higher top speeds. We were slipping down high but short waves at 18knts. Later the wind turned to the West and forced us to sail upwind to the center of the lake in a decreasing wind (13-16knt). I forgot to measure our upwind sailing degree to the wind but we were sailing fairly close haul at 8 to 12 knts, however the boat speed would change rapidly with every gust of wind. Now that the wind was establish from the West we easily launched the Code0, we were rapidly covering ground and the speed never went below 15knots, real easy going sailing and at every gust (15-16knt) the Toro would accelerate to 18, 19, 19.5, 19.8... Unfortunately the big gust never came at the right moment. We must say that at that speed we were covering a lot of ground in a few minutes and if the gust is not present in the sailing area we were limited to, we needed to retry. We tried 3 times but unfortunately the wind never went above 15knts with the Code0 out and our top speed for the day was 19.8 knots. The mast and sails were well adjusted and the boat did not seem to suffer. The mast really looked good with no distortion. It was interesting to notice that at 15knots everything seems slow and relaxed, we could have opened a beer, both hulls were touching the water and everything was easy going. The only gust that hits us at the right moment, which I estimate at 15 knts, allowed the Toro to reach 19.8knots and lifted a hull sailing off the wind, it felt good!!! Another outing with the Toro that was exciting and really cool. I honestly believe we can set record speeds with the Toro. The best wind condition to do so will be South West 20-25knots Thanks to the team on hand: Augustin, Luk, Nadeau, Mike et Louis. Sly
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