Having too instead of sailing nonstop

I see a huge danger of being becalmed a couple of days later and thinking 'if we hadn't hove to for n hours, we'd have avoided this'. I think I'd generally rather make a steady 5 knots or whatever, that's what other vessels expect yachts to do, which is half the battle of them not hitting you.
If I saw another yacht hove to for no good reason for a long time mid-ocean, I might wonder if there was a problem?
Also heaving to can be high on chafe on some boats.
 
TQA said:
Consider sleeping during the day while still under way.

There is a better chance that the monster ship may see you.
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Much better to see them first ;)

Arguably in some ways a solo sailor with AIS & radar alarms on & working well keeps a better watch then a crewed boat half asleep eyes in a kindle...
 
Keep moving , boat at about 80% of capabilities is always the plan , reef early , alarms are a boon , rest when you feel like you need it and try to bank some , I have an autohelm as well as autopilot and use both at certain times , pilot in busy waters etc ...
 
We find that on long passages sailing two up, that the off watch person asleep in the saloon sea berth hasnt got a clue if its a F3 or a F6 if we set the sails correctly. Enough speed for comfort but not too much that the boat is bouncing over the seas. After about three days at sea you are generally tired from a couple of poor nights sleep until you get in to the swing of things. After five nights at sea you are in a rhythm.
We have never felt the need to hove too. We have only done it when we have arrived somewhere after a faster than expected passage and not wanted to enter in the dark. Hove too 10nm off shore with one on watch then makes sense.
 
RupertW said:
I think I've had my fair share of horrible condtions and still prefer to do everything underway although I admit I don't enjoy washing up so much if beating into steep short waves, or corkscrewing downwind in confused seas. I guess I just like the idea that we are eating up miles with every hour and rather than wanting to sail slowly I enjoy being able to sail further in the limited time I have on board. Perhaps if I ever get to retire (can't see how or when) I will develop a different view.
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Perhaps that is the difference. First Mate and I have some mobility problems-her dicky hip, me shot knees-so heaving to makes everything slower and calmer.

I note that Tom Cunliffe recommends heaving to when required in his book "Heavy Weather Cruising"

Horses for courses-if getting there a bit earlier is what you want, carry on bashing through the waves. In the last ten years I cant recall heaving to for more than 30 minutes to enjoy a good pre-prepared hot meal before getting back on passage.
 
It’s really “all in the mind”.

I’m not much bothered about which day I arrive but I like to do pilotage in daylight and not with the sun in my eyes.

As to the rest, I like to avoid heavy weather and fog if I can. I will routinely take a longer way round or delay departure to avoid little local unpleasantnesses like wind over tide at the Needles. If I am doing a long coastal passage to windward, I will try to anchor for a tide, in places like Dungeness East Road, and get some sleep.

All of which adds up to sailing in a lazy, comfortable, way, so I happily heave-to to cook, eat round the table and wash up.

In the words of an advertising campaign for an airline I once had to do with, “Arrive in better shape!”
 
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Minn said:
It’s really “all in the mind”.

I’m not much bothered about which day I arrive but I like to do pilotage in daylight and not with the sun in my eyes.

As to the rest, I like to avoid heavy weather and fog if I can. I will routinely take a longer way round or delay departure to avoid little local unpleasantnesses like wind over tide at the Needles. If I am doing a long coastal passage to windward, I will try to anchor for a tide, in places like Dungeness East Road, and get some sleep.

All of which adds up to sailing in a lazy, comfortable, way, so I happily heave-to to cook, eat round the table and wash up.

In the words of an advertising campaign for an airline I once had to do with, “Arrive in better shape!”
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.........love Macmullen making his way down channel and anchoring in the roads in the Downs and rowing ashore to post a letter and buy some stores!
 
This all reminds me of a passage I did a few years ago singlehanded from Sines, Portugal to Porto Santo. I left in the morning and with an excellent forecast with good fair winds all the way found myself absolutely charging along, occasionally seeing double figures on the log. My usual plan for a long offshore passage such as this one would be to catnap through the day then set the radar guard zones and turn in for a few hours while the boat sails on under autopilot. On this particular occasion the raymarine wheelpilot packed up just before midnight on the first night out, no matter what I tried it would not work, unbeknown to me the motor had expired, it was deceased and would play no more. Now I was stuck with steering by hand so continued for a few hours until I was totally knackered, about 0500 ish, and having failed to get the boat to stay steady on a downwind course without touching the helm I decided to drop sails and lie ahull and get some rest. A couple of hours later I was up had breakfast and got underway. Short story long, what had been a 3 or 4 day passage became 6, handsteering for up to 18 hours a day was not that pleasant and laying ahull in fresh/strong winds and seas is not as comfortable as running under sail.

If you have a reliable self steering then just keep on sailing would be my choice every time.
 
Minn said:
I must be missing something; why did you choose to lie a-hull, rather than heave to, to rest? The motion would be far more comfortable.
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Ah, Petes boat is a Prout Catamaran. Have sailed a couple of different types myself. They dont do hove to very well in my experience.
 
Minn said:
I must be missing something; why did you choose to lie a-hull, rather than heave to, to rest? The motion would be far more comfortable.
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As Capn has pointed out correctly the boat is a Prout she will heave too ok but she will keep trundling on at a bit of speed and totally in the wrong direction, my destination was downwind so by dropping sails and lying ahull I was at least still being pushed downwind albeit very slowly. I was totally exhausted at the time and just getting a few hours sleep became a priority and clear thinking when so tired doesn't happen. One thing I should have tried but never thought of at the time was to trail some warps to try and keep the bows pointing downwind which would have relieved me of having to handsteer constantly . . . . hindsight is such a wonderful thing.
 
Scillypete said:
As Capn has pointed out correctly the boat is a Prout she will heave too ok but she will keep trundling on at a bit of speed and totally in the wrong direction, my destination was downwind so by dropping sails and lying ahull I was at least still being pushed downwind albeit very slowly. I was totally exhausted at the time and just getting a few hours sleep became a priority and clear thinking when so tired doesn't happen. One thing I should have tried but never thought of at the time was to trail some warps to try and keep the bows pointing downwind which would have relieved me of having to handsteer constantly . . . . hindsight is such a wonderful thing.
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Thanks. Alles ist Klaar!

I have to make the awful pun - you were lying a-hulls...

I'll go away now...
 
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