a105,
It was quite common for winds in the North Sea to vary significantly in a short space of time, exceeding our shut down limits before we could return to the Treasure Finder and land on/shut down. As a result we would do taxi runs around the Brent until the wind came back within limits.
The worst I saw in a 212 was a steady 80kt wind for about 2-3 hours during which I carried on moving pax and freight around the field. Fine for downwind runs (no GPS in those days so no actual GS readout) but the flog back up the field into wind was very, very slow!
I've not encountered much in the way of strong winds whilst flying the 412, probably no more than 30kts, but I'd expect it to be similar to the 212 although the 2 x 2 blade head would give a harsher ride, IMO.