Sailing alone (some questions, and some warning)

[NiceAft]

3) The centerboard is most needed when close-hauled and is not needed at all when running. At points in between, the board is needed in varying degrees, like this in general:

Close-hauled: board fully down
Beam reach: board halfway to three-quarters down
Broad reach: board one-quarter down
Run: board fully raised

Here is another diagram:

It was mentioned earlier that solo sailing in dangerous. It should not have to be. I do it often, and I don't have any lines lines led aft. I also don't go out by myself under conditions that require exceptional diligence. If a situation does come upon me, I can lower the sails quickly, and start the motor. It just takes practice.

Ray

[Catigale]

What I don't understand is when I sail that diagram perfectly, I don't get anywhere......

[K9Kampers]

Lastly, get a willing mate or an autopilot. Makes the whole process better when you can just stay into the wind.


Ken

If you think an autopilot is expensive ( and it is) try costing out a willing mate.
My autopilot continually produces squeaks and noises, so something a willing mate might also do.

Mine gets cranky after after a while and doesn't work effectively if it's cold or wet out. What kind of autopilot would you recommend to match??

[vizwhiz]

Where is the "like" button on this forum?

No kidding...this has gotten pretty funny!

Don't forget that you don't have to apologize for yelling at the autopilot

I'm divorced twice, the autopilot looks cheaper and cheaper all the time!!! LOL

[robbarnes1965]

On a more serious note: Last night I was sailing alone in 20kt winds with big gusts and did some testing on different hove-to configurations.

I found the boat hove-to nicely with the genoa rolled up as far as the about 18" forward of the mast (the clew). It was also surprisingly good with the wheel hard over to windward with just the motor lowered. In all configurations the daggerboard was fully down. With the genoa out a little or a lot I was able to heave to and walk around easily on deck in those winds.

The genoa was rolled out to about jib size at the most. The wind shadow caused by the genoa makes handling the mainsail really easy. Additionally, with the boat hove-to, it disturbs the water to windward for what looked like 2 boat lenghts away from the side of the hull which prevents the waves from hitting your hull. It's like a force-field - really cool.

I was supposed to be out racing but I just could not carry enough sail to compete single handed. It was definitely a 3 man night (one on each of the main sheet, wheel and jib sheets). It would have been smarter to change down to the jib instead of the genoa as well

[Wind Chime]

I single hand a lot.
Here are a few items that I think add to my single handed safety.

1) All lines led aft to cockpit
2) Roller furling headsail, and downhaul for mainsail
3) Autopilot (I also have an additional wired remote)
4) Jack-Lines and Tethered at all times (even when in cockpit)
5) Jiffy Reefing System (reef from cockpit)
6) Handheld VHF (in pocket)
7) Boomkicker (replaces the topping lift, so one less line)

[K9Kampers]

I second Wind Chime's list. I've only done #4 so far.

[Retcoastie]

WAIT - WAIT - WAIT !!!!!!!

When I said a willing mate, I was refering to a sailing buddy, not a life soul mate. I'm thinking of someone who will show up right before launch with a twelve-pack and depart some after recovery.

Ken

[NiceAft]

4) Jack-Lines and Tethered at all times (even when in cockpit)

With all due respect, I am not yet convinced on the safety of tethers for solo sailing an or . Yes they can stop you from being lost at sea, but they also can kill you

If a tether is too long, you can drown while being pulled along by your boat. If it is too short, you will dangle alongside our high freeboards while you exhaust yourself trying to climb aboard.

I wear a self-inflating vest at all times while boating, and I insist on all passengers doing so. I believe that is more important than a tether. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying do not use a tether, I am saying do your due diligence before purchasing one. Make certain you understand the risks.

I sail on a river during daylight hours. I currently don't sail on the ocean, or on any water beyond site of land. Those who sail under different conditions, have different considerations. Just consider all off the information about tethers, and with someone (or two) on board, test out your tether before just hooking up the first time.

Ray

[Wind Chime]

Excellent points Nice Aft,

Yes, I always wear an auto inflating PFD at all times as well (I should have put that on the list as well), mine is made by Mustang and has the built in harness that I tether to.

I sail in the Canadian Pacific Ocean and some of the crossing of our Geogia Straight can get nasty, although still safe and sailable in our Mac. And with the low temp of the water up here, I would sooner be dangling from the side than in the wake watching my autopilot sail Windchime away.

For docking by myself, I have the bow lines run back to the mid point stations so I can reach them from the cockpit, so they hang just below the rub rail, and can be reached from in the water, and could be used as a step to get back onboard.

Lots of different schools of thought on this topic, and each have it's benefits.

[vizwhiz]

Additionally, with the boat hove-to, it disturbs the water to windward for what looked like 2 boat lenghts away from the side of the hull which prevents the waves from hitting your hull. It's like a force-field - really cool.

This effect (they call it a "slick") is extremely well detailed in a book titled "Storm Tactics" written by Lin and Larry Pardey. I just finished reading it again, and it has some great advice. While it is less applicable to our lightweight boats than to what they describe in there, heavy cruising keelboats, your experience shows how right they were! It's good reading, and I recommend it!

[reastmure]

I've enjoyed this thread as I was in a tight single handed sailing situation this summer as well. Was sailing up Windy Arm, Yukon below Bove Island (probably most if not all folks here would not have a clue where that is). Anyway started out from Ten Mile narrows by myself reefed with the one reef point on the stock sail and furling geny. The wind was light and variable but I could see it was blowing up the lake a ways. Kept slowly motoring until I started to get into it. It was fine at first and I have sailed in some fairly heavy wind but always with a partner. Wind speed pretty quickly got up to 25nts gusting 30 and just under nose high waves. I was getting slammed despite reducing the geny to beach towel size. I had 'practiced' hove to in lighter winds but was pretty spooked at this point and didn't have the guts to do it. Wasn't about to go on deck by myself with out a partner holding it up in the wind so ended up furling in the geny and motoring straight up the lake until I could get in the lee of Bove Island to drop the sail. The sail of course was in major irons mode for a good 20 mins. It was all fine except I took about 1/2 the life or more out of the main sail and lost batons to boot. Suffice to say, with all these hove to experiences here, I feel a lot more confident for next time and I'll definitely be investing in new sails next year!

[Ixneigh]

I've found the boat will park herself with just a reefed main if sheeted in very tight and the board down. She won't roll horribly. If you are in tight water, motor as close into the wind as you can without flogging the sail. The engine will allow you to come about if you need to. If fuel is a problem just run the engine to tack. You can sail back and forth not really going anywhere very fast. If the is a lot of strain on the rudders while doing this, make sure they are down all the way. ideally the main should have two reef points. A double reef should be able to see you through the worst conditions most people who sail macs should ever be out in.

[robbarnes1965]

Additionally, with the boat hove-to, it disturbs the water to windward for what looked like 2 boat lenghts away from the side of the hull which prevents the waves from hitting your hull. It's like a force-field - really cool.

This effect (they call it a "slick") is extremely well detailed in a book titled "Storm Tactics" written by Lin and Larry Pardey. I just finished reading it again, and it has some great advice. While it is less applicable to our lightweight boats than to what they describe in there, heavy cruising keelboats, your experience shows how right they were! It's good reading, and I recommend it!

I've read it and got the video too. For lake sailing where you have not got much sea room to drift before running aground it's not possible to really ride out all but the smallest storms but it's really handy to quiet the boat down to reef or make other adjustments. Before reading the book I was more fearful to go out in windier days but now I look forward to see how hard I can push it now that I have a way to bail if I am over my head.

[vizwhiz]

Additionally, with the boat hove-to, it disturbs the water to windward for what looked like 2 boat lenghts away from the side of the hull which prevents the waves from hitting your hull. It's like a force-field - really cool.

This effect (they call it a "slick") is extremely well detailed in a book titled "Storm Tactics" written by Lin and Larry Pardey. I just finished reading it again, and it has some great advice. While it is less applicable to our lightweight boats than to what they describe in there, heavy cruising keelboats, your experience shows how right they were! It's good reading, and I recommend it!

I've read it and got the video too. For lake sailing where you have not got much sea room to drift before running aground it's not possible to really ride out all but the smallest storms but it's really handy to quiet the boat down to reef or make other adjustments. Before reading the book I was more fearful to go out in windier days but now I look forward to see how hard I can push it now that I have a way to bail if I am over my head.

Rob - didn't realize they had a video! Will have to check that out...is it the same name?***

I was planning to purchase a sea anchor anyway, just to have one aboard if I needed it for windy days or fishing, or for whatever...and after hearing this, I'm even more interested now to find out if using a sea anchor when hove-to on our lightweight boats would help counter the tendency to drift so fast. I realize that what they talked about in that book was using a sea anchor for the heaviest conditions, but I'm hypothesizing that the threshold where a sea anchor would help will be very low in our boats due to their light weight and low resistance to drifting...



***hopefully in the video there's an improvement over the Speedo??