Does size really matter when you’re single handed?

[matt1]

I think as much it depends on the age / design of the boat. My 2019 40' is a lot easier to SH than my then new 31' from 2006 was. I'm staggered by how designs have advanced and how bigger can actually mean easier. The 31' was a very physical boat to sail, the new one much less so

For instance;

* Flick a switch at the helm to engage the autopilot - on the 31' this would have involved getting the tiller pilot out the locker and setting it up, normally tripping over it and disengaging it too. So was only really used on passage.

* Halliards come back to electric winches at the helm on the 40' - on the 31' they were on the coachroof meaning I had to juggle the tiller whilst raising the main etc I can literally do everything sat the the helm

* Bowthruster with a remote means I can step onto the pontoon and bring (or hold) the bow in whilst I sort out lines

* The 40' is big enough to render a windlass essential, on the 31 I had to sweat the rode as a windlass would have been marginal

* Modern instruments mean I can hotspot a tablet and have greater visibility to nav data

 

[Adios]

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.

Good idea. It always gets easy after we've done something a load of times so might as well do those loads of times in the first week and get the feel of the boat programmed in, rather than waiting for that to happen over a year.

 

[LadyInBed]

Everyone seems to agree that docking is the most challenging part of solo sailing.
I nearly always sail solo in my 33ft CC ketch. When I bought the boat in 2000 one of the jobs high on the list was to fit center cleats. I stay onboard and put a bite over a somewhere about center pontoon cleat, make it off and motor against it, I then put bites over fore and aft pontoon cleats, only then do I climb off my high gunwale deck onto the pontoon to sort the lines.

 

[lustyd]

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.

These things just change the speed at which you can operate the boat solo, not really the complexity or possibility. The easier rig just means that you don't have to start your moves quite so early and don't have to think them through quite so much. In open water though, it won't change the ability to handle solo. In close quarters the rig won't matter because all the dificulty comes from space, wind and tide.

 

[Adios]

* Bowthruster with a remote means I can step onto the pontoon and bring (or hold) the bow in whilst I sort out lines

A bowthruster makes marina manoeuvring childsplay doesn't it. So far bigger and newer is adding up to be better for a number of good reasons. The likelihood of there being a bowthruster is a big one. Room to keep a tender inflated on deck is another. But all the electric winches and windlasses do have to keep working. If they fail the problems will be bigger on a bigger boat. There will always be work arounds but the effort required could be too much for the sort of older gent who needed or didn't realise how much he was relying on all the aids available.

 

[V1701]

Using a midhsips cleat spring line was a revelation to me, I can park my Colvic Watson 34 singlehanded with no problems, bowthruster helps even if only knowing it's there and available if needed. If you went for something like a Nauticat and use marinas regularly a bowthruster will take a lot of the stress away...

 

[lustyd]

midships lines are all well and good, but if the boat drifts sideways too quick to get it on you're sometimes better off fendering and resting against a neighboring boat then sorting it from the pontoon

 

[eddystone]

From the perspective of a 32’ MAB one thing about modern boats I would find off putting is the freeboard especially with getting close to 70 year old knees - not just stepping onto pontoons but reaching down for a buoy.
Couple of situations I’ve thought hard enough with crew but would avoid s/h are: a) having to come alongside another boat in order to warp into an otherwise inaccessible space; b) leaving the inside of a raft.
I have a variation of single handing - if with my dinghy sailing wife and daughter the degree of potential co-operation is a closely guarded secret as it’s apparently great fun to watch me getting flustered - best therefore to assume all on my own

 

[James W]

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.

It's the Voyage! Thanks for that Rupert, you're certainly helped me no end with that!

 

[Dino]

I SH my motorboat a lot and my best investment has been a remote control for the bowthruster. It’s on a lanyard around my neck and it has a really good range.
Thrust It kits are a retrofit kit available for Vetus and a few other brands. Really good value at around £150 and it just plugs into the spare plug under the controller.
J cmARINE sERVICES or they also sell on eBay

 

[Bobc]

Everyone seems to agree that docking is the most challenging part of solo sailing.
I nearly always sail solo in my 33ft CC ketch. When I bought the boat in 2000 one of the jobs high on the list was to fit center cleats. I stay onboard and put a bite over a somewhere about center pontoon cleat, make it off and motor against it, I then put bites over fore and aft pontoon cleats, only then do I climb off my high gunwale deck onto the pontoon to sort the lines.

That's what we do too, but on a 50 it needs one person at the controls and one dealing with the centre cleat lasso.

 

[Stemar]

one thing about modern boats I would find off putting is the freeboard especially with getting close to 70 year old knees - not just stepping onto pontoons but reaching down for a buoy.

Absolutely. I normally sail a 24 fot Snapdragon, but had a friend with a 39' Dufour and, as he was getting on a bit, he regarded me as his preferred skipper. After a serious illness, I decided I was no longer fit enough to manage his boat, and it was the freeboard that was the killer. It's a long way down to a bouncy finger pontoon when things are going titzup and you need to get a line on in a hurry and, as you get older and less agile, it gets further. The one thing the Dufour had going for it was the ability to do what you wanted going astern.

I think my ideal boat for singlehanding would combine the low freeboard of, say a Rival with the predictable handling of the Dufour. All controls within reach of the helm goes without saying so, while mainsheet winches on the coachroof may not be a total deal breaker, they would move a boat down the shortlist. There have been times, when pinned to a pontoon by wind and tide that I've wanted a bowthruster on my Snappie; for anything much over 30', especially singlehanded, it would be high on my list because, as others have said, a little boat will shape up when you tug on a rope. A big one will just laugh and tug back.

 

[lustyd]

The funny thing is that it's the height that lets me jump further when things get a bit panicky so it can work both ways ?

 

[RupertW]

Absolutely. I normally sail a 24 fot Snapdragon, but had a friend with a 39' Dufour and, as he was getting on a bit, he regarded me as his preferred skipper. After a serious illness, I decided I was no longer fit enough to manage his boat, and it was the freeboard that was the killer. It's a long way down to a bouncy finger pontoon when things are going titzup and you need to get a line on in a hurry and, as you get older and less agile, it gets further. The one thing the Dufour had going for it was the ability to do what you wanted going astern.

I think my ideal boat for singlehanding would combine the low freeboard of, say a Rival with the predictable handling of the Dufour. All controls within reach of the helm goes without saying so, while mainsheet winches on the coachroof may not be a total deal breaker, they would move a boat down the shortlist. There have been times, when pinned to a pontoon by wind and tide that I've wanted a bowthruster on my Snappie; for anything much over 30', especially singlehanded, it would be high on my list because, as others have said, a little boat will shape up when you tug on a rope. A big one will just laugh and tug back.

Just go into a berth in reverse in a bigger boat and the freeboard will never matter again - they are designed for Med style mooring so you might as well go with the grain.

 

[[178529]]

Lots of people in the Roach Sailing Association sail solo. I've only done it a couple of times years ago and have always had crew. However, father in law getting older and kids moved away so I will be learning a new skill this year. I'll take a few tips from the RSA folk and people on here. My boat is only 27 foot and super manouevrable so that should make it easier.

Those dock line snap things that hook lines over dock cleats, are they useful??

 

[Never Grumble]

The funny thing is that it's the height that lets me jump further when things get a bit panicky so it can work both ways ?

with my hips I cant jump though.

 

[lustyd]

With my landings I'm not far behind you

 

[BabaYaga]

Everyone seems to agree that docking is the most challenging part of solo sailing.
I nearly always sail solo in my 33ft CC ketch. When I bought the boat in 2000 one of the jobs high on the list was to fit center cleats. I stay onboard and put a bite over a somewhere about center pontoon cleat, make it off and motor against it, I then put bites over fore and aft pontoon cleats, only then do I climb off my high gunwale deck onto the pontoon to sort the lines.

One question that spring to mind when reading about this technique on this and many previous threads:
Is the finger pontoon style with cleats for making fast so common and wide spread across Europe and other possible destinations that you could safely base your choice of boat size on the presumption of using it?
Asking because where I sail, Scandinavian waters, I have found it is not very common.
I single hand my 9 meter sailing boat a fair bit, but have never used this berthing technique.

 

[scruff]

After 20+ years in lasers and 18 ft day sailers going out for a sat morning race, the step up to 34ft was pretty significant. Wasn't harder per se but daunting.

Boat's based in Oban area so barely spend any time on a pontoon - not at all last short season. A typical 2 week cruise might see us on a pontoon once to top up water.

What this lockdown has shown is just how much we miss the boat. Serious chat about going up to 40+ft with deck saloon/ interior helm (realistically a autopilot control and throttle) so we can use the boat year round.

Bar the cost, annual polishing the hull and antifouling I can't see any down sides in our situation.

If we were sailing in the congested solent, my opinion may be different.

 

[prv]

I wouldn't dream of getting off the boat when I'm on my own until there's at least two lines on. Far too much chance of being stuck helpless on the pontoon while the boat drifts off and does something naughty . I made that mistake several times in the early days, ending up with situations like a single bow-line ashore and the boat out in the fairway at 90º to the pontoon.

Normally when singlehanded I only go in and out of my home berth - I don't especially want to wander round other towns on my own, and singlehanded trips aren't long enough that I need to resupply, so I generally anchor at night instead of visiting other marinas. So on returning home I can just pick up my fixed lines with the boathook and drop them over the cleats, very easy. When I do go alongside somewhere else, I normally drop the middle of the warp over the pontoon cleat and then make off both ends together on the boat, sorting it out later once secure. I've also occasionally used the buoy-grabbing hook that goes on the end of the boathook, to clip a warp onto a cleat ashore. But one way or another all the initial lines are got on from the boat, rather than stepping (or even leaping) ashore with a loose end from a drifting boat.

Pete