Single-Handed Weekend

[JJ]

Well, I took her out on my own this Saturday on the Chesapeake. As soon as I pulled in to the boat lauch parking Lot to start setting up here come the auxuillirary coast guard to check my boat over. To make a long story short everything was in order ecept for my flares. They were out of date. I didn't know flares had an expiration date!!

Anyway, I got to try my newly installed Michigan-wheel 3-balde prop (11-3/4" x 10 pitch). The prop did great and got me up to 14 knots with balalst full. Not bad. RPM"S were about 6500.

I sailed all day and had a blast. A few issues I noticed:

1) The steering under motor was very poor- constant back and forth. This occurs at any speed..slow or fast. Annoying.

2) When sailing on a beam reach I was heeled over pretty good, maybe 30 degrees, and the boat abrutly turned into the wind. It did this several times- I don't know why. I was sailing with main only, fully raised. Winds were about 10-14 knots. My speed was about 6 knots. Jib was furled and not used. Dagger completely down. I suspect the resultant force of the wind on the sail was too far aft and therefore applied a torque to the boat putting the nose upwind.

3) Despite several attempts, I was unable to tack into the wind very well . I could sail 90 deg's to the wind but thats about it. I know this is because I am a sailing newbie. I pulled the main in tight and pointed her until I saw I was getting in irons, then I steered away until I saw the main fill again.

4) I had problems with my jib furler as it did not want to unfurl completely and also was vey "jerky" when I got it partially unfurled. I think the furler may be slightly bent to due to the way I stored it when demasted. It's a pain to stick that furler out the front of the boat and then try to keep it straight.

Stayed overnight and again sailed Sunday morning. This is a great boat for overnighting. No problems at all. Read thru the sailing chapters in my book, "Sailing for Dummies". Coulnd't find anything in particular to help my situation. Seas 3-4 feet, about 14 knot winds.

About noon, after several unsucessful tacks, I dropped sail and fired up the 50 hp Suzuki. Did about 12 knots at WOT into the wind with full ballast. She was making some serious water spray, hitting the crest of the waves pretty hard, but she handeled everything well. Only nagging issues was that darn steering again - wandering port to starbord, back and forth. I constantly have to correct which gets a little old.

Docked pretty hard due to a constant wind to the port side. But, I was in and now its time to get her trailered and demast. Took me about an hour to get everything ready. No problems..just slow and tedious.

Anyway, I had a pretty good time for my first time single-handed sailing. LOTS to learn!!!!

[c130king]

JJ,

Congrats. I also have those steering issues you mentioned. Mostly in choppy/wavy conditions with a good breeze to boot. And mostly at higher power settings.

I single-handed this morning on the James River for the second time. It was awesome. I have had problems tacking with main only. It helps to have some front sail out...even if only partially unrolled. I was able to get 7.5 mph for a while and hit 30 degrees of heel a few times. Even "raced" a bigger sail boat for about 5 minutes. I seemed faster at first but "stalled" in my tack and he passed me.

If I go main only I normally just do gibes. Seems much easier that way and not too hard to control with only one sheet to worry about.

I beached my boat today for the first time. Maybe not "beached" but anchored about 20 feet off the beach in three feet of water. It went pretty well...except my cell phone got wet (water hit my pockets when I stepped off the boat...and now it is kaput).

Jim

[Mikebe]

I have found it essential to have the jib unfurled when trying to tack upwind. I was out saturday also...it was breezy alright, lots of gusts.

[JJ]

Thanks guys, I'll have to try tacking with the Jib unfurled ( as soon as I find out the problem!!).

[Catigale]

Jib was furled and not used. Dagger completely down. I suspect the resultant force of the wind on the sail was too far aft and therefore applied a torque to the boat putting the nose upwind.

Almost certainly correct...the jib will power up the front of the main and pull the CE forward and stop that rounding up...

You did a lot better than I did first time single handed...

[Idle Time]

We use the gin pole from the mast raising system to keep the end of the roller furler straight for trailering etc....works great and nothing extra to carry...it has to be on the boat anyways.

[Matt19020]

The first time I put my boat in I also had a similar problem. The boat was hard to steer and constantly correcting. I was able to narrow it down to the centerboard being down. We were motoring at about 5.5 knots with board only down no rudders and it was doing exactly what you stated. Pulled the board up and all is good . I hope to see you out on the Chesapeke before long. I am about 90 min from there and plan to do some weekends into Rock Hall Annapolis and more...

[NiceAft]

JJ,

Congrats on the first sail. Especially in the Chesapeake!

I go over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to visit my sister-in-law & brother-in-law in Annapolis. When I go over that bridge, I am just in awe of the great amount of sailboats taking advantage of a great area. I'm jealous

Ray

[Sloop John B]

Yes, when you have to go into the brine, put your cell phone in your teeth. Out in the boonies, it might be the only pal you have.

The third thing the auxiliary Coast Guard has to qualify for around here is to be over 70. When they tell you your flares are out date you cut them out of the plastic wrapper and point them at their nose and fiddle with them saying, “Geepers, I thought these things would work.”

I hope to be in the Bay shortly. I will seek out an M model and skeeter up side for a race. You will know it's me by my flaming red bandana and a large bone in the nose. No fair unfurling your foresail.

[johnnyonspot]

I will be trying my skills singlehanding my Mac 25 here soon. No furling jib, but do have the halyards run aft to cockpit and sail slugs. What techniques help one singlehand successfully with fewest problems? I can envision having problems getting the sails down and properly stowed so the wind doesn't take them overboard. Any tips on doing that successfully would be nice. One lesson learned so far from going with crew is to take the sails down, raise rudder, raise keel well before I get near shore. Drifting with the wind while doing these things should not hurt. I guess what I am looking for is a "system" for doing things smoothly that minimizes any problems. I do have an autopilot, which should help when I need to tack, etc.

[eric3a]

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[Retcoastie]

I to have a jib furler that gets jumpy sometimes. I have noticed it happens if I have tension on the jib halyard. This pulls the jib raising pulley down tight against the top of the fuller and interfers with it.
I tow with a van that has an A/C mounted over the rear doors. I don't want the over hang at the front of the trailer so I just pull the bolt at the top of the furler and move the entire furler higher on the mast when towing. Now the bottom of the furler drum lays right on the bow pulpit. I have to get up in that area when raising or lowering to install or remove my wind indicator anyway so it is nothing to work the bolt.

[JJ]

I am now thinking about the same idea of disconnecting the jib furler from the mast and storing it further back on the mast for trailering. I need to check that out.

I am really anxious now to try tacking with the jib unfurled. Hmm...looks like a nice 3-day weekend coming up!!

One really nice accessory I have found to be very helpfull in single-handed sailing is having an auto pilot. I can turn the thing on and have it hold course pretty well while I raise/lower the main or head below for a drink, etc.

I don't like going forward to lower the sail as it seems pretty unsafe with the boat bucking up and down, me holding on for dear life, and getting sea sick!! I wonder if I put a small weight on the top slug of the sail if it would drop freely when I loosen the haylard???

Even with my daggerboard fully retrated the steering is very strange...constantly wondering back and forth with me doing constant corrections. Gotta be a sloppy steering linkage??? I noticed I have about +/- 3 degrees of play just with the auto pilot mounted. Gonna try a search on sloppy steering.

[johnnyonspot]

I am sure this is elementary for more experienced, but that adjective does not describe me. In any event, I think what you (and I) need are downhaul lines???? Like I said before, my main issue is ensuring the sails stay on deck when hauling down. The suggestion of backwinding the jib seems to be a good one, and gathering in the main should be doable from the cockpit.

Any suggestions on the order in which sails should be raised/lowered when singlehanding? I read in some thread that main should be raised first, but it seems to me the auto pilot may have more difficulty with the weather helm sure to occur with main raised and jib not raised. I have sailed with jib alone and it worked well; no lee helm at all. So maybe raising job first and lowering it last might be the best bet.

I am not too worried about being thrown overboard when going forward to gather in the jib when lowering it. My plan would be to lower the main, gather it in and throw it down into the cabin and/or bungie it to boom enough to keep it from being blown about, then release the clutch for the jib as I go forward to gather it in and stick it under the bungie I use to hold it down before raising. This bungie held the jib down very well this past weekend; the sail just comes right out from under it when I pull on the halyard from the cockpit.

[eric3a]

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