Absolute Essential Must-haves for Single-handed Sailing

awol

awol

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So far we have had auto-helms, and now lazy jacks. Not sure about stack packs, snuffers, mooring boat hook gizmos, cockpit plotters, PLBs, permanently worn life jackets and/or lifelines, CG passage plan VHF calls (after radio check, of course) and I'm sure there are more. Lots are nice-to-have, but "Essential" - I don't think so but I get the impression many would not leave their marina (another non-essential) without their favourite toy.
 
I find a chart, and I mean a paper one less than 10 years old, a watch and a compass are essential. The ability to make a hot drink/food is a nice to have as I've not quite got to the stage of eating baked beans cold from the tin or devouring raw fish. Some insist on carrying a 20 year old Fray Bentos pie in the bilge only because the current ones are vile. ;)
 
Sandy said:
The ability to make a hot drink/food is a nice to have
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If you're young and fit, nice to have, but for the more, err, mature among us, I reckon it's getting towards essential during a cold night watch. Likewise decent, properly waterproof oilies

Another essential for me is a "get it ashore quick" line, preferably attached to the middle of the boat. Once that one's attached, the boat's not going anywhere and you can sort yourself out at leisure.

Other things? Look back a generation or two, and a bit of string with a weight on the end, a compass and a soggy sleeping bag if you were lucky were about it.
 
Ditch the radio check.

Have a harness that will stop you going overboard

Mobile phone with gps chip

Flask of hot coffee

Good passage plan and pilot plan in your pocket

Be prepared to ask for help
 
Skylark said:
The only really essential item is a boat?
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Preferably one that floats and everything is in working oder.

To me the most essential thing is confidence to be a singlehanded sailor. Confidence in your own ability and your boat, without confidence all your essential toys are useless.

Being an East Coast sailor, then an echo sounder must be top of the list, along with a chart of your sailing area, compass, binoculars and an almanac for tidal information. For convenience a chart plotter is useful, but not essential, to locate your position (I once sailed from the Medway to the Isles of Scilly and only used 4 waypoints!). A handheld VHF may be necessary to enter a marina for allocation of a berth. Everything else is not essential, but nice to have.

As a regular singlehanded sailor, I always wear a lifejacket with a PLB. The key is always kept in the engine control panel ready for use. To hand I always have a mobile phone, oilskins and boots ready to put on, some food and drinks, plus some warps and fenders. There is always a boat hook on the cockpit floor as this can be reached quickly at any time.

Now for the one item I have found not useful and almost a waste of money - radar. Having used it on a number of boats on very rare occassions, I would say 99% of the time it was unused compared to the Mark 1 eyeball. Much better to fit AIS.

As you can see from my photo, I love setting the spinnaker. I find a cruising chute more difficult to use with a more limited angle to the wind than a spinnaker as you cannot dead run with it or close reach. A top down furler can be a nice addition. However, I never use a squeezer for a spinnaker and I never ever get the spinnaker wet when dropping it. I have found a squeezer is not an aid, but a hinderance used by those frightened by spinnakers. Having been foredeck crew on a race boat, I have probably done everything that could go wrong with a spinnaker from broaching to putting the mast in the water plus using it in gale force wind strengths. Getting a spinnaker down quickly is a technique that needs to be learned. Once learned, then you will never use a squeezer again.

So if you do not feel confident, do not go sailing - with or without a crew.
 
If the test for this category was: "would you launch or take the boat to sea without it"...

To me two things are essential: A reliable engine and a crapper...

obviously there are many luxuries like a fridge and a cooker and a plethora of electronics which make life more comfortable but for me I would not launch the boat if the engine could not be relied upon to get back into port...and onto it's mooring, and the ability to do a no 2 in some safety and dignity.

Could I sail back onto my mooring? ....not in a million years, (it's in a tidal river and surrounded by other boats) I could and have sailed into harbour and dropped the anchor...

Would I crap in a bucket and chuck it...if the Jax broke whilst mid Atlantic yes.

neither are mission critical....but for me both are essential...
 
“I think that the finest and most perfect arrangement of things I ever saw was when I went to look at a large Phoenician sailing ship.

I saw a huge amount of goods and naval gear, organized and stowed in the smallest possible space. A ship, as you well know, is moored, and later begins a journey, using a vast number of wooden mechanisms and ropes; it sails the sea by means of much rigging. It is armed with a number of devices to use against hostile vessels, and carries a large number of weapons for the crew. Besides, it has all the vessels and utensils that a man ordinarily keeps in his dwelling-house, needed to prepare meals.

In addition, it is loaded with merchandise which the owner carries with him for his own profit. All the things I have mentioned were stored in a space not much bigger than a room which would conveniently hold ten beds.

And I noted that everything stored there was placed so no item obstructed another, and was accessible without a search. Everything on board was organized so anything needed would be available immediately.

I learned that the captain’s assistant, who is called “the look-out man” is expected to know the position of all the articles, and the quantity of them. Even when not on board the ship, he knew where everything was placed, and how many there were of each sort, just as anyone who has learned to read can tell the number of letters in the name of Socrates and the proper place for them.

Moreover, I saw this man, in his spare time, examining and testing everything that a vessel needs when at sea. I was surprised at this, so I asked him what he was doing.

He replied, “Stranger, I am looking to see, in case anything should happen, how everything is arranged in the ship, and whether anything is lacking, and if anything would be difficult to access.

When God raises a storm at sea, it is not possible either to look for what is missing, or to sort out what is arranged awkwardly. God threatens and punishes sluggards. If He destroys no innocent people when he punishes guilty ones, a man may be content. If He saves all those aboard that work together well, thanks be to the heavens.”

Xenophon, 430 - 354 BC

Quoted in T Harrison Butler, “Cruising Yacht Design and Performance”.
 
Aeolus said:
1) A continuous 'what would I do if X happened' stream of thought
2) A very tidy boat so that you can find things quickly and easily
3) A preparedness to abandon the plan mentioned by a previous poster, if weather or other factors suggest it might be a good idea
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1. Will drive you to paranoia as you become more and more aware of things that can go wrong..
2. Fantasy....( I can make a place untidy just by walking through it. on my boat at the moment and can't find extension lead??But I found the dehumidifier, which was on the boat, whilst I thought it was at home....)
3 This is essential... stubbornness will get you killed..whilst cowardice will keep you at home..
 
Wansworth said:
Have the chart in your head
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OK in local waters, but I still keep a chart open on the chart table along with a note of relevant tidal info.

However, to take one of my single handed passages: memorising all the charts and tidal information from Stromness Marina Orkney to a berth in the upper reaches of Plymouth harbour is not very realistic, as the passage information had to include all potential stopping places and tidal streams could get interesting in places.
 
Kukri said:
“I think that the finest and most perfect arrangement of things I ever saw was when I went to look at a large Phoenician sailing ship.

I saw a huge amount of goods and naval gear, organized and stowed in the smallest possible space. A ship, as you well know, is moored, and later begins a journey, using a vast number of wooden mechanisms and ropes; it sails the sea by means of much rigging. It is armed with a number of devices to use against hostile vessels, and carries a large number of weapons for the crew. Besides, it has all the vessels and utensils that a man ordinarily keeps in his dwelling-house, needed to prepare meals.

In addition, it is loaded with merchandise which the owner carries with him for his own profit. All the things I have mentioned were stored in a space not much bigger than a room which would conveniently hold ten beds.

And I noted that everything stored there was placed so no item obstructed another, and was accessible without a search. Everything on board was organized so anything needed would be available immediately.

I learned that the captain’s assistant, who is called “the look-out man” is expected to know the position of all the articles, and the quantity of them. Even when not on board the ship, he knew where everything was placed, and how many there were of each sort, just as anyone who has learned to read can tell the number of letters in the name of Socrates and the proper place for them.

Moreover, I saw this man, in his spare time, examining and testing everything that a vessel needs when at sea. I was surprised at this, so I asked him what he was doing.

He replied, “Stranger, I am looking to see, in case anything should happen, how everything is arranged in the ship, and whether anything is lacking, and if anything would be difficult to access.

When God raises a storm at sea, it is not possible either to look for what is missing, or to sort out what is arranged awkwardly. God threatens and punishes sluggards. If He destroys no innocent people when he punishes guilty ones, a man may be content. If He saves all those aboard that work together well, thanks be to the heavens.”

Xenophon, 430 - 354 BC

Quoted in T Harrison Butler, “Cruising Yacht Design and Performance”.
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Reading this post I kept thinking Kukri must be the ancient (very ancient) mariner until I read the last 2 lines. :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
My must have's at sea are:
Chamois leather (never runs out of the ability to dry things)
Rubble sack (emergency oilskins, leaky hatch covers, sleeping bag soaking preventer thereof.
SWMBO. The best bit of boating equipment ever invented.
 
My first single handed passage of around 50 miles:
No VHF
No autopilot/self steering
No lazyjacks
In fact not much that is today regarded as essential, my only electronic aids were a seafarer flashing light echosounder and a hand held RDF set.
Did have a safety harness (that I did not use on that passage as the weather was ideal) but self inflating lifejackets, plbs etc. were decades away in the future as was GPS and small yacht sized RADAR.
Life was so much more simple then and navigation so much more satisfying, but I would not willingly do without many of the none essential toys that are now available.
 
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