heaving to

Heaving to is a wonderful manoeuver that buys time and brings sanity to ones life. Take a fix, put kettle on, have a pee, relax, cook supper, a multitude of happiness.

Whats not to like??
 
capnsensible said:
Heaving to is a wonderful manoeuver that buys time and brings sanity to ones life. Take a fix, put kettle on, have a pee, relax, cook supper, a multitude of happiness.

Whats not to like??
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That I am not going to arrive in that nice sheltered anchorage before the golly good restaurant on the beach stops serving dinner. :(
 
I have frequently hove to, but on my boat it is only successful with a non-overlapping headsail.
With a fully battened main, mainsheet tension is always less than with a soft mainsail.
I suspect all boats display different characteristics in heaving-to. Ideal for cooking a meal, using the loo, recovering an object lost overboard or getting one's head down.
It's something one needs to practice (like reversing) in all wind speeds.
My boat still drifts downwind (in Bf3) @ about 2 knots.
 
Crossing Lyme Bay about a month ago, I hove to, to allow my son to do some fishing. Rather embarrassingly another yacht spotted our situation assumed we were in trouble and sailed over to provide assistance.

Well spotted, I think but it made me feel a little guilty.
 
Angele said:
If you read the post to which I was responding (OldVarnish at #13), you will see that he was suggesting that I sheet my main in hard.



That is the situation when I said she will tack back.

Angele is a Dufour 40. As I said way back in post #3, she will heave to reasonably well will the main eased. The thing I dislike about that is the fact that the boom is free to move and, as my mainsheet block is in the centre of the cockpit, that creates a bit of a safety issue.
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So basically you are saying that your boat won't heave to with the main pulled in tight. I suspect that there are many boats don't heave to very well with the main sheeted hard in so I don't really understand your complaint. You can try easing the sheet a bit without letting the boom flap about? You don't have to have the boom and the main sheet banging about, in fact some would argue that the best heave to is when the main is drawing enough to just balance the boat against the backing pressure of the genoa. If the boat still fore reaches too fast or keeps trying to tack one could try reefing the main right down?
 
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It would be interesting to learn at what angle to the wind different boats heave to as this has a big effect on the motion and (presumably) on the ability to safely ride over big seas. My Hunter twin-keeler heaves to at an angle of 30 to 45 degrees to the wind - she tends to oscillate gently within this range.
 
JimC said:
It would be interesting to learn at what angle to the wind different boats heave to as this has a big effect on the motion and (presumably) on the ability to safely ride over big seas. My Hunter twin-keeler heaves to at an angle of 30 to 45 degrees to the wind - she tends to oscillate gently within this range.
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Depends obviously and what sails I have up. But for the moment, assuming full main, working stay sail and working jib, then I am at about 60 degrees to the wind.

I am not sure the ability to safely ride over big seas is really affected significantly by the angle to the wind.

The effect of the slick you generate seems to calm the waves in a way which to me defies all logical explanation. Even very big seas seem to gently pass under me. I just gently rise up and then go down as the waves go by. The deck stays dry even in biggish seas.
 
If you read the Pardey's book 'Storm Tactics', they apply a test which will tell you if you are properly hove-to, or not.

You take one sheet of kitchen paper and drop it onto the water abreast the cockpit and close to the lee side where it will be sheltered from the wind. You then observe it. If you leave it behind then you are still sailing and not hove to.

Their point is that part of the effect of heaving to in stormy weather is to use the slick you create by drifting to protect you from breaking seas. The effect is much diminished if you are leaving the slick behind.

I've done the kitchen paper test a couple of times. It's very difficult to get any boat to stop completely, but possible.
 
My 1977 Moody and my modern Jeanneau 36.2 both heave to nicely in strong winds with the correct sail plan for the wind strength and with the main sheeted hard in. 2 quite different yachts.

Lucky me!
 
john_morris_uk said:
So basically you are saying that your boat won't heave to with the main pulled in tight. I suspect that there are many boats don't heave to very well with the main sheeted hard in so I don't really understand your complaint. [snip]
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Aaargh!!!

I am not complaining. I am simply telling it the way it is (for my boat). This all started because Old Varnish suggested I sheet the main in hard. I responded that it doesn't work on my boat. I must have the mainsheet eased or (unless the wind is very light) she will pick up enough way to tack back.

I hove to a the weekend. In about 10 knots of wind. Full (130%) genoa backed. Full main. If there was any drive in the main she picked up enough way to tack back every time. It took a lot of playing with the wheel to stop that, and that is hardly the point of heaving to - you are supposed to be able to leave the helm.

I suspect that in 10 knots of wind, if I put in a couple of reefs she wouldn't do that, but I couldn't be bothered because I don't heave to under way as a matter of course. The only times I do so are to demonstrate a crash stop to crew. Even with a couple of reefs in with 15+ knots of wind, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't sit hove to with any drive in the main.

She hove to comfortably with the mainsheet fully eased. The boom wasn't "banging about" (your words), but it was moving enough to create a minor hazard for anyone moving across the traveller.
 
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