Does size really matter when you’re single handed?

[Concerto]

I sail singlehanded on a Westerly Fulmar, which at 32ft and being ¾ rigged, is very easy to handle. Sailing singlehanded is easy if all the controls are in the cockpit and you have a powerful autopilot. All my winches are oversize and self tailing.

The difficult bit is the first and last 100 metres or in other words close handling and berthing. Whatever boat you buy, to gain confidence get some training to master berthing. Planning ahead will help avoid many problems, Over time you will gain experience of how your boat handles in particular situations and adds to your confidence. Berthing in any marina, you should be able to ask for a marina staff member to assist your berthing.

Personally I would advise to buy the smallest boat that provides the accomodation to suit your wife. As you go larger then costs escalate for berthing, maintenance plus, you need more strength for sail handling and lifting things like sails, ropes and fenders.

As to size you should find what you like within the 32 to 36ft range. Personally I prefer a tiller as the cockpit is not divided by a wheel and you can steer with it between your legs whilst winching. I also prefer a shaft driven propeller over a sail drive, more because the propeller is closer to the rudder which can assist in berthing using prop wash. This is something you cannot do with twin rudders, so try and avoid them.

Bellinos, you should provide some more information as to where you intend to sail, your rough budget, expected cruising range, your accomadation must haves and your age group so forum members are better able to advise.

Just to show what you can do singlehanded, have a look at this video of mine sailing singlehanded under spinnaker.

 

[LittleSister]

But does it matter between say 20 and 30... I'll find out.

Having sailed various boats 16 to 28 foot single-handed, I'd say it gets easier nearer 30 foot than 20 (all other things being equal, which they never are!). As others have mentioned, the boat becomes a much more stable platform to move about on. Such boats also tend to be less 'flighty' and more predictable than their smaller sisters, and are more likely to have centre cleats, which are a boon.

The type of boat makes a lot of difference. Once you get above the size where you can spin the boat by turning an outboard on the transom, having a decent amount of thrust in both forward and reverse, and a rudder aft of the prop, to enable you to use prop-thrust to kick the boat one way or another, is extremely desirable. A modern fin or bilge keeler is much more manoeuvrable, and predictably so, than a long-keeler, but will be moved sideways faster by wind at slow speeds.

All my over 20 foot boats have been fairly heavy long-keelers. One advantage of that type is that they can carry their way, and tacking is best done fairly slowly - a gentle curve between the two tacks rather than a sudden swerve. This enables me to release and haul in genoa sheets while steering the tiller with my backside. There's time to haul the genoa sheet in by hand before it properly fills with wind, and it's only the last bit of tensioning, if that, that needs a winch handle. (Though the heavy boat/slow tack looks sedate, it has the advantage that you are carrying way to windward, even while the sails aren't filling. I've short tacked up a river in that way beating sportier, two-handed yachts of a similar size before now, though I was working up a sweat and they probably weren't.)

I don't think you need much in the way of 'tech' up to about 30 foot (and with tiller steering and non-extreme boat). Beyond 30' the loads and distances involved would quickly start to get challenging without them, I would imagine.

 

[Kukri]

I sail a fifty footer singlehandedly, and up until 2020 she was on a swing mooring. It is marina that cause the greatest difficulties. You cant just push off when you get it a bit wrong. Gybing is the other challenge in stronger winds. I have a good autopilot, and can get the main up without winching except for the final foot or so when the boom starts to lift. That is only possible with external halyards with minimal friction, and my full weight on the halyard. Anchoring is the norm, and with enough deck space you can keep a dinghy or RIB on deck to get ashore or do local exploring.

The extra stability and space on a bigger vessel makes support systems more reliable, and the motion easier.

I’ve watched James do it. But he is selling himself short - I have seen him do it with two small children, which is about twice as hard (damhikt).

 

[Bellinos]

I sail a 40'er singlehanded, and it is a bit of a handful.

The great thing about your proposal is that you get to learn the boat as a couple, which is a lot better than starting out singlehanding a 40' boat with no previous experience of it.

My boat is particularly well laid-out for singlehanding - it was custom built for the PO, who chose a tiller - so I can't comment towards production boats.

Why do you need a larger boat, though? I only chose boat a boat this size because I anticipated crew.

Well I hope to post retirement properly take time to sail extensively as in live aboard, with my wife but also with others visiting. Ms B doesn’t fancy ocean crossings but likes the idea of island hopping. I sail a lot on a 26’ Westerly which is great and I’m sure would cope with everything but becomes uncomfortable after 48 hrs. mostly it’s irrational lust though.

 

[Bellinos]

Man I saw this in the recent posts and thought everyone had gotten reallllly immature all of a sudden, was definitely expecting a stream of puns.

Size totally matters! You really don't want to be soloing a 40' without a decent amount of tech (not my opinion, the opinion of my instructor) involved for example. But does it matter between say 20 and 30... I'll find out.

Well I’m glad someone was thinking at my level

 

[Bellinos]

When things go pear shaped you can use brute strength to recover the situation on a smaller boat, on a larger boat you need to use intelligence and mechanical advantage - it can be learned and you can devise your own solutions - basically, buy the boat you want and learn how to handle it - hopefully, you'll learn before you end up in a situation where the boat/weather overpowers you.

lol thanks- a most realistic answer!

 

[Bellinos]

Man I saw this in the recent posts and thought everyone had gotten reallllly immature all of a sudden, was definitely expecting a stream of puns.

Size totally matters! You really don't want to be soloing a 40' without a decent amount of tech (not my opinion, the opinion of my instructor) involved for example. But does it matter between say 20 and 30... I'll find out.

I really note the difference between 24 and 26 in heavy seas. I was assuming it keeps getting better? My experience delivering a Bav 38 as crew was very civilised but in better conditions- challenge Wales yacht was well just fast and uncomfortable

 

[Bellinos]

I've been inspired by Patrick laine's videos with his singlehanded adventures on his bav 40. I think I'll be limited to the south coast.

Yes Patrick nailed moorings on his own. I fear I won’t reach his level for a while.

 

[Bellinos]

I’ve watched James do it. But he is selling himself short - I have seen him do it with two small children, which is about twice as hard (damhikt).

I will. Attempting this solo as mine are teenagers

 

[LittleSister]

. . . mostly it’s irrational lust though.

Is there any other sort?

 

[Bellinos]

I sail singlehanded on a Westerly Fulmar, which at 32ft and being ¾ rigged, is very easy to handle. Sailing singlehanded is easy if all the controls are in the cockpit and you have a powerful autopilot. All my winches are oversize and self tailing.

The difficult bit is the first and last 100 metres or in other words close handling and berthing. Whatever boat you buy, to gain confidence get some training to master berthing. Planning ahead will help avoid many problems, Over time you will gain experience of how your boat handles in particular situations and adds to your confidence. Berthing in any marina, you should be able to ask for a marina staff member to assist your berthing.

Personally I would advise to buy the smallest boat that provides the accomodation to suit your wife. As you go larger then costs escalate for berthing, maintenance plus, you need more strength for sail handling and lifting things like sails, ropes and fenders.

As to size you should find what you like within the 32 to 36ft range. Personally I prefer a tiller as the cockpit is not divided by a wheel and you can steer with it between your legs whilst winching. I also prefer a shaft driven propeller over a sail drive, more because the propeller is closer to the rudder which can assist in berthing using prop wash. This is something you cannot do with twin rudders, so try and avoid them.

Bellinos, you should provide some more information as to where you intend to sail, your rough budget, expected cruising range, your accomadation must haves and your age group so forum members are better able to advise.

Just to show what you can do singlehanded, have a look at this video of mine sailing singlehanded under spinnaker.

great Video! well in the short term I will be sailing Bristol Channel, West Coast, Eire and Scotland. Weekenders to Tenby, longer holidays to I hope Scilly or even Scotland. Post retirement, (6 years I hope) everywhere and anywhere. Definitely Baltic and Med then across the pond and beyond. I intend to have crew and company but don’t want this to be a dependency for use in any way. Budget is a tough one all being well I hope to be able to spend 50-100 but I’m not quite sure which end I’ll be at. An old friend who retired ahead of me got an Oyster 406DS to do the big trip but he had deeper pockets

 

[Laminar Flow]

I used to singlehand my previous 50' OD / 65' OA regularly, in fact I commuted with her some 25 miles over open water every other week and lived aboard when in town on business, winter or summer. I did this for over ten years. Each trip involved leaving and returning to a mooring (fore&aft) and several dockings to load and unload and crane on a motorbike, going alongside gas docks etc.. At thirty tons displacement it doesn't matter if you have crew or not to fend off while docking; you just can't push that kind of weight around without serious risk of injury.
The boat was a centre cockpit cutter; all lines lead aft, but she did not have roller reefing. The cockpit had a hard cover enclosure over it that made winter sailing feasible. She was fitted with a lifting keel, twin rudders and engines. I always made a point of sailing, whenever possible.

There are considerable advantages to singlehanding a large vessel. Foremost, it is a much more stable and consequently safer platform to work on, the motion at sea is more steady and predictable and less tiring.

At sea and up to a point, size is irrelevant as the size of the gear is (should be) designed to handle the loads.

The weather is less of a concern; a larger boat is inherently safer.

Once you get the hang of handling a boat, size doesn't really matter all that much in port, in fact you are less likely to be blown all over the place with a larger boat. In all honesty, I have found my present boat that weighs considerably less than a third of my old one much more challenging to dock; at 8.5t, we still do not fend off by hand.
If you have to "manhandle" a boat into a slip or in harbour, you are doing something wrong, IMHO.

 

[ashtead]

I don’t sail in the areas mentioned by the OP however to my mind the biggest issue even when sailing at 41 foot with 2 is what you find at a marina assuming this is destination in terms of space etc . Hence the solo sailor arriving at Portland has great long pontoons and the looping mid ships line trick is fine but take some French marinas with super short pontoons, no cleats, small width etc and more challenging. So it a case I suspect of careful destination planning, plenty of riggable lines of different colours so helpful shoreside greeters can be instructed easily , booking your berth and even asking the marina to help on arrival. Remember things can wrong even of a non boaty nature- I have often watched a chap near us single hand in his wide beamed Bene with ease -one day he suffered a medical incident as berthing and a number shoreside came to his aid but it might have been more tricky for him in absence of help. So leaving aside things like gear failure, berth size and suchlike ,for me any medical emergencies would be a consideration if singlehanding into somewhere foreign . The actual sailing of a 41 with self tacker sand electric stuff is fine and more stable -it’s just when space gets tight where carrying distance is more challenging. On a34 AWB you should be able to back into berths and carry no way and step ashore or back up to a buoy etc -it’s just more complicated in wider heavier boat though . If worried why not charter a 36AWB in the med and practice for a couple of weeks as part of a flotilla-many others learn this way in Greece and turkey and seem to have never parked before when they arrive.

 

[Tomaret]

Nobody has mentioned the rig. A self tacking jib and a furling gennacker have made my single handed sailing much easier than when sailing with an overlapping genoa and a chute in a snunder.

 

[[178529]]

He does get tired though by the look of it. Watching one I did wonder if he could manage it if much went wrong.

I wondered that. He's obviously a capable person being an ex forces pilot but he has looked stretched. I think he organises things very well and has either been lucky or skillfull in avoiding really big storms on his longer passages. Or a bit of both. Still he's very competent and entertaining and it does show that an AWB is capable of a lot more than I am.

 

[James W]

I’ve just moved up from a Westerly Storm 33 to an older Jeanneau 12.5, mostly because my family needed the space. The Storm would turn on a sixpence, the Jeanneau I’m guessing will be less so. It’s a little daunting but I’m planning on spending a lot of the first season practising: getting up early to practise mooring, practising manoeuvres solo, reversing, picking up mooring balls, anchoring, the works. 40 feet is a lot of boat, but many people do it with ease, you just need to hone your skills.

 

[pyrojames]

Is it tricky because it's big and single-handed, though, or just because it's big? Genuine question, because I've only single-handed our current 34-footer and previous 24-footer (and found the smaller boat harder, incidentally, because of a traditional hull shape versus fin-spade-and-saildrive). But it seems like even with a crew or two on a 50-footer, that's too much boat to rely on them manhandling her around, and you have to do it with prop and rudder anyway, so the extra hands aren't as useful as they'd be on a smaller boat?

Pete

I started off in dinghies and then a folk boat, a 1965 34 footer and now the 50. The size is an issue. In most part getting lines ashore. Even with on other crew member, get one line made off and you can start warping in. Single handed this is much harder, you have to get lines ashore, but to make them fast you have to get ashore too. If you are being blown off, it is likely that you will be stranded ashore. In a smaller boat the time go get wraps ashore is shorter, the step ashore is smaller. In strong conditions seconds matter and simply getting from one end of the boat to the other eats into the time you have.

I tend to come alongside and along stern, midshipman and bow lines across the pontoon. As long as I can then get ashore, I can make off lines and work her in. Getting a single line ashore it's enough on a big boat, you simply cant maintain control from the shore side.

 

[Bobc]

Is it tricky because it's big and single-handed, though, or just because it's big? Genuine question, because I've only single-handed our current 34-footer and previous 24-footer (and found the smaller boat harder, incidentally, because of a traditional hull shape versus fin-spade-and-saildrive). But it seems like even with a crew or two on a 50-footer, that's too much boat to rely on them manhandling her around, and you have to do it with prop and rudder anyway, so the extra hands aren't as useful as they'd be on a smaller boat?

Pete

With 2 of us onboard, it's pretty easy. We have a technique that works. Single-handed, the problems are that the height of the deck is such that you can't jump off onto a pontoon (without risking a broken ankle), and also the boat is too heavy to manhandle by the warps. I have parked in single-handed, but anything awkward like tide or cross-wind could cause serious difficulties.

 

[RupertW]

I’ve just moved up from a Westerly Storm 33 to an older Jeanneau 12.5, mostly because my family needed the space. The Storm would turn on a sixpence, the Jeanneau I’m guessing will be less so. It’s a little daunting but I’m planning on spending a lot of the first season practising: getting up early to practise mooring, practising manoeuvres solo, reversing, picking up mooring balls, anchoring, the works. 40 feet is a lot of boat, but many people do it with ease, you just need to hone your skills.

If it’s the Voyage, it’s about as good a turner as you can hope for and may well beat the Storm. I have the redesigned interior of the 42.2 but its the same hull. Helm hard over and a short burst of high revs sends the stern spinning the in the direction you hope for. Add in the high bow windage and you can turn the boat one way in the wind just by staying still - just don’t try turning it the other way.
As a stable platform for sailing that size is so much easier - yes it takes more effort and time to hoist but you can make sure you have the room and the time. Tacking is more effort but unless you are racing it’s not hard for the helm to pinch a bit whilst you are hauling in and then it’s easy.
I mostly sail in the Med where it’s the norm but reversing into a berth is infinitely easier short handed than going in forwards. You just fender the wide stern and hold the boat against the quay in reverse while you step across on the same level as most pontoons , then sort out the bow or mid ropes at your leisure. In 10 years the only times I have ever climbed up onto the hull or down from the side is for fun with the boat safely tied up.

 

[Never Grumble]

At 5' 10" I reckon I could single hand as well as any 6 foot chap. Long arms might help.