Singlehanding Dangerous???

[Catigale]

... "We are in need of an anchor, unable to anchor for the night and it's starting to get dark".

"Sunrider, Moorings base, your have three anchors on board, what is the problem?"

"Yes Moorings base, we did have 3 anchors, but this is our fourth night out" ...

MadMike - I know you are kidding about that the three anchor thing.

Right?

I mean you gotta be!!!

...I do think this is still topped by the guys who came back from a power boat charter equipped with GPS and complained they couldnt find the dotted lines on the water....

Good place to scratch OFF your sailing list...

[beene]

Hi Rick J.

I use a combination of sail slugs, track stop, long halyards leading back as far as needed, 2 block's, and a rope clutch. Bill's idea. Work's like a charm.

Just take hold of the main halyard, put the boat in irons, pull on the halyard till the main is all the way up, no tying off, cleating, or anything else required due to the halyard running through the rope clutch. I do all of this with the motor running, in gear, 2-3 mph. Once the main is up, pick your direction, tilt up the motor, sit/stand whatever.... enjoy.

Thanks again Bill. You're the best.

G

[NiceAft]

G,

Once the main is up, pick your direction, tilt up the motor, sit/stand whatever.... enjoy.

Your forgot one thing.........TURN OFF THE MOTOR

Oops Could of had a V8

Ray

[beene]

That's what that noise was.....

.... I thought it was just the wind howling past my ear.....

G

[goddardw]

Dear Group:

I'm always single handling my Mac 25 going out overnights usually 5 days at a time some 60 days a year. I'm 72 yrs young!! I would add the following to the above excellent coments:

• - All halyards aft including the jib downhaul and jib Greer reefer. The Greer reefing line goes up the fore stay, just like the jib down haul, the length of the jib foot (nominally 10ft. for the Macs, passes through a pulley then surrounds the jib by going through the jib foot and terminates at the fore stay at the 10 ft. pulley. When the going gets too windy, 20 knt+, release the jib sheets, pull the Greer reefing line and this collapses and bunches the jib against the forestay. Then use the jib down haul to drop the jib. This results in a very quick bunched jib on the deck within the bow pulpit;
  - Some form of tiller Tamer or auto pilot is a must;
  - You must use and practice hoving to. This is very simple. Tack into the wind without releasing the jib sheet. This back winds the jib. Set the tiller turning against the direction that the bow wants to go. Since the main is now shielded behind the back winded jib. When hove to, you can now reef the main, have lunch, use the potty or actually change the main with no difficulty in high winds. The sailboat will now slowly drift down wind, quartered to the prevailing winds;
  - You must practice sailing without going forward;
  - Don't try to sail when it is beyond your comfort level. It is no sin to go to shelter or the marina bare masted!!!!

Best Regards,
Wilson and Christine, "Chantel Marie" Mac 25

[baldbaby2000]

I won't hesitate to single hand but if the wind comes up I have a life jacket on. The Admiral would be really pi$$ off at me if I died by doing something stupid. I also ride a motorcycle and consider that to be much more dangerous. We both agreed that I need a good life insurance policy which I have.

Daniel

[pokerrick1]

At age 61 now, I have singlehanded my in the Pacific Ocean (that's not a farm pond either) 200 times a year for the last 18 months - - - before that I had never set foot on a sailboat/ I SHOULD wear my PFD but I don't I do stay within a few miles of the beach unless I am going to someplace like Catalina. I am at maximum heel often. At the VERY FIRST sign of ANY kind of bad weather, I scoot back inside the marina as quickly as possible. I have as much fun as I can without deliberately killing myself. I have adequate life insurance for the Admiral and I believe I will live thousands of future lives. In those lives, I hope to be sailing.

Rick

[Sloop John B]

I don't single hand because it gets so lonely out there.

Also, I have a problem coming in pier side. It's nice to assume someone might be around to help but if there isn't...

Often I might have dropped into the dock if I hadn't had the Mate along (for you non-nautical types, the 'dock' is the hole in the water your boat is tied up in; the pier, whether it's a 2x6 piece of wood or an East Coast highway that runs a quarter mile out into the ocean, is a pier).

High winds and narrow surroundings cause me to have serious stomach pains and break out in a sweat. Many of you brag of how maneuverable the Mac is. I find it unresponsive and causing uncanny pressure to avoid banging into stuff. I need the Mate up just forward of the mast with a 10 foot cushioned boat hook/pole to keep me from caroming off things.

I know all about ‘think ahead’, you got no brakes. I think ahead and recognize I should turn around and get back in the wide open blue. Yeah, but a guy’s gotta eat.

If I had been alone on many of these occasions, I would be addressing you from the Wakulla jail as a county nuisance.

[Divecoz]

Docking and the ease or frustration of it. I have no doubt this has a lot to do with where your docking, and what your trying to tie up to. Add to this which way the wind is blowing and how much wind you have to contend with either helps a lot or hinders even more.
Where we keep our boat, North Point Harbor on Lake Michigan, there is 80% of the time a breeze to a Gale blowing. If its coming from the south , no matter how strong , I look like I have been doing this all my life. On the other hand and sad to say, it most often comes from the North and that is another horse of a different color all together.
We , that is Just About everyone on our Pier ( power and sail )walk and sometimes run down or over to help ANYONE coming in. Its a courtesy we all should display btw. Anyway I have found , for whatever reason or reason's.
If the wind is coming from the North, pushing me away from the dock. I have the board down and ONE windward rudder down as well... This works the very best with my 50 HP BF Merc.
I have two large fenders over the side and 4 mounted to the dock and a 1/2" line, tied to a cleat starboard of the center of the boat to a cleat on the portside about midship.
How did I get that rub mark or scratch on the starboard side of my boat? We think the Doctor who slips to my starboard side may well have had a problem and IS NOT TALKING!

[tangentair]

I launch out of Highland Park on Lake Michigan
http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s138 ... shot-1.png
There are always two or more launch hands to catch dock lines during the hours of operation, otherwise I used a spring line the one time I got in rather late. When things were slow at the ramp but lots of kids in sunfish in the general area, I used a spring line to swing the nose around so I would not have to back out into them. Knowing how spring lines work and when to use them has been a great help for me with dock side manuvers in close spaces. I let them pull me in or out of tight spots.

What is the difference between hove to, turning into the wind, being in irons. Keep hearing hove to lately and I wonder if I have missed something, how is it different from stalling the sails.

on edit:
Divecoz & et. al: I screwed up the link, it is correct now

[waternwaves]

I have to agree with Sloop

John,
Most of my trepidation is those few minutes spent approaching terra too firma...........

geo proximus....

Why do they call it an rocky Outcropping when it crashes INto my fiberglass hull??

Somehow tho... with time I worry less.... And I am getting better at my gelcoat touchups....

[Divecoz]

Tangentair:
I went to your site and my No Sail Area is half the size you show . Is that for real? If so your doing something wrong. Hove to, Locked in Irons etc. ? I am no sailor but one to me, is when you desire it to happen , the other is by accident ?

[Catigale]

What is the difference between hove to, turning into the wind, being in irons. Keep hearing hove to lately and I wonder if I have missed something, how is it different from stalling the sails.

Heaving to is basically stalling your boat so that it makes minimal way but maintains a roughly constant position relative to the wind so that you can do things like...

1 Take a leak
2 Fix something below
3 Drop your mainsail singlehanded
4 Make lunch

The technique is basically

With main and foresail up come up on the wind until close hauled on the 'Old tack'
Now tack to the "New tack' through the wind, but dont bring over the head sail - leave it backwinded.
Turn helm hard to steer back across the wind (ie try to tack back to the "old tack' again)
The main and backwinded head sail now fight each other and the boat will head up to the wind, lose way, and get blown back onto the "new tack".

There are some better links and pictures Ill spray in when I get some time.

Some discussion threads here

You can search 'hove to' and heave to - remember to click the 'Search all terms' button on the search function above

[maddmike]

First: No, I'm not kidding about the anchor thing; or the charter guy I pulled off a reef on St. Thomas who said he was just trying to get into Priates Blight on Normal Island, to which I replied "Not only are you not where you think you are, but you're not even in the right country! etc. etc. etc.;gotta love charters!

On single handed reefing Mainsails. This is directed to those of you who are not set up for single handed sailing, don't want to be (lines to the cockpit), but might find yourself in the position of having to reef a sail by yourself in less than perfect conditions.

1. Sheet in you jib, tack through the wind and leave the jib backwinded. The boat will point off the wind, slow down and continue to sail. Set rudders to windward.
2. Release the mainsheet and let the main go into irons. This should be at about 20-30 degrees off center for the boom.
3. Put on a harness, or wrap a line around your waist at least three times (climbers call this a swami belt), be sure to hook in.
4. Casually and carefully walk forward and position yourself in front of the mast facing aft.
5. Release the halyard lower the main to the reefing point and tie the closest reefing point to you. Re-tension the halyard.
6. Climb back into the cockpit and complete the reefing tiedown.
7. Sheet in the mainsheet.
8. Release the jib sheet and sheet to the proper tack.

All this can be done casually and calmly, no rush, no fuss, no radically flapping sails; and it can be done in conditions well beyond anything you would think possible, but practice it first on a light wind day and slowly, step by step.

I have done this countless times in squalls and storms, even at night & without raising my bloodpressure, and sometimes even while pausing on the fordeck to observe the high wind reefing 'fire drills' and other entertainment going on, on crewed boats trying to reef in sudden wind conditions around me.

Try it, I think you'll find you'll like it. Nothing builds confidence like having a strong system for taking high unexpected winds and seas in stride. MM

[tangentair]

I had to edit the link above to correct the wrong impression, what Divecoz saw and anyone else who was interested to ramble through the album was a training aid. I meant to show a screen shot of my launch site.
If you take that image and superimpose a wind vector on top of it, it gives you sail positions. Try photocopying it and then use a piece of clear plastic to cut out a similar circle and mark a red arrow with point toward the center. Put a pin in the center and rotate the top plastic.