Raising the main in heavy air

[bscott]

Bob Scott...I also single hand alot, and don't have a reliable way to hold the bow close to the wind for easy raising of the main.
As to your method, what are your CB, jib sheet, wheel, etc., positions and angle of bow to the wind, when hove to for main raising?
Ron

I use "hove to" as a means to both raise and douse the main. With my jib full out and sheet cleeted to windward, CB down, wheel full over with rudders pointed to leeward, main sheet eased to allow the boom to find it's neutral position to leeward. There is very little wind affecting the raising/lowering of the main. Vang eased.

I wait for the boat to "settle in" before rigging the main. All my lines are run to the cockpit as I try to avoid climbing the cabin. The biggest problem is "clocking winds" so I keep the engine running at idle in gear which seems to reduce the possibility of falling out of hove to.

I practiced "hove to" many times before using it to rig the main as it is a little scarey when first tried due to the tenderness of the Mac.

Bob

[ronacarme]

Bob...Thanks. Most helpful. Looking forward to trying it out next time on the water....Ron

[robbarnes1965]

Good advice Bob.

I have a furling main which is not usually a problem anyway but it does make the whole process less chaotic. I found that only partially unfurling the head-sail will reduce the danger of coming out of hove-to. A fully unfurled genoa come really close but still settled in. More comfortable with rolling our the rest only when the main is set.

[Highlander]

Here I thought I was entering "The Red Zone"

J

[Dreamcatcher]

OK, One of the penalties we pay for being able to ditch 1500 lbs of ballast before trailering is that the boat is high sided as well as light for her size, and will blow around if you fall off the wind. You can counteract that a bit by opening up the throttle on your motor so that the pressure of the bow going into the wind will hold it a bit better than just going at idle speed. Don't be foolish about this but a little foward speed will help hold her. i highly agree with the sailors who recommend leading the halyard back to the cockpit. Mine goes into a clutch near the winch which gives me the option to winch the luff tight. This makes raising the main a one person proposition. Getting a bit off topic here, but I am a big fan of staying in the cockpit when it gets bouncy. If you don't have a roller furling jib, you should consider installing a jib downhaul and leading both that and the jib halyard back to the cockpit. The deck on a Mac is narrow and crowded with few solid objects to hold onto and lifelines too low to actually hold you into the boat. The safest solution is to rig your boat so you don't have to go forward in a blow. That and a bit of headway holding her into the wind should help.

[mastreb]

Took the boat out into the ocean for heavier air today to practice raising and lowering the main. Motoring away from the wind at 5 knots really did the trick--obviously dropping the apparent wind by 5 knots helps, although the boom can gybe around quite a bit this way so people have to keep their heads up. I also wound up furling the genoa to prevent the wind from catching it, which dramatically reduced heeling while topside and eliminated weather helm.

I pulled the mainsheet and vang in tight against the boom kicker to prevent boom gybes until the halyard hardened up, and then loosed them both for the last bit to free the boom and get the sail up the last foot. Also having a crew member pulling back on the leech while raising kept the mainsail out of the shrouds--that took 90% of the annoyance out of it.

Next steps: New ball bearing block, sailkote on the boltrope, finish rigging the roller reefing system, and halyards led aft so I can use the cabin-top winches and I should be good. Thanks for all the excellent advice, it really helped!

[Steve K]

mastreb,

I've done it this way.........................
But I've always heard that you never raise your sails, while heading downwind.

You may have an even easier time, if you head into the wind and do the same (main won't try to jibe on you and will tend to center the boom). Although, it could be problematic in real heavy air... not sure.

I've done it this way too.

Best Breezes,
SK