Ok, yeah i know, How long is a piece of string?
I'm not quite sure if there is a difference between, offshore and coastal.
Here is my quandry.
I sail off the southern part of Phuket. The club is in a reasonably sheltered cove. Once we are out of the cove, there is an island about 25 mins sail away in a good wind. (Not sure how many nautical miles)
Around and about, there are hundreds of small, deserted, tropical islands. I have never sailed my laser further than the first island. I can still see our yacht club from there, though it's a little hazy. I guess this could be described as being a coastal sail.
Further out, i may be just out of sight of landfall at some times, which i consider i guess to be offshore.
When i was out the other week, there was a bit of an ocean swell. Maybe half a metre waves. The bow did bang down quite a lot falling off the waves going upwind. On a beam reach i surfed along the wave front which was good fun. Going downwind was hairy as the swell was going faster than me and i was frightened of gybing accidentally.
Is there a rule of thumb for what kinda swell is acceptable, or how far people generally go offshore? (Yes, i know some guy sailed the Bass Straits - that isnt the standard i am at!)
I always wear a lifejacket, i also have a waterproof divers bag with my mobile phone in - there is coverage all over there, and i also sail with my buddy in her boat, so we keep an eye on each other.
Any advice is much appreciated
Mark
I'm not quite sure if there is a difference between, offshore and coastal.
Here is my quandry.
I sail off the southern part of Phuket. The club is in a reasonably sheltered cove. Once we are out of the cove, there is an island about 25 mins sail away in a good wind. (Not sure how many nautical miles)
Around and about, there are hundreds of small, deserted, tropical islands. I have never sailed my laser further than the first island. I can still see our yacht club from there, though it's a little hazy. I guess this could be described as being a coastal sail.
Further out, i may be just out of sight of landfall at some times, which i consider i guess to be offshore.
When i was out the other week, there was a bit of an ocean swell. Maybe half a metre waves. The bow did bang down quite a lot falling off the waves going upwind. On a beam reach i surfed along the wave front which was good fun. Going downwind was hairy as the swell was going faster than me and i was frightened of gybing accidentally.
Is there a rule of thumb for what kinda swell is acceptable, or how far people generally go offshore? (Yes, i know some guy sailed the Bass Straits - that isnt the standard i am at!)
I always wear a lifejacket, i also have a waterproof divers bag with my mobile phone in - there is coverage all over there, and i also sail with my buddy in her boat, so we keep an eye on each other.
Any advice is much appreciated
Mark