Sigle Handed proving dificult

warwicksail

warwicksail

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 Dec 2007
Messages
219
Location
Carmarthen West Wales UK
wwc.co.uk
I took my Westerly Warwick out for the first time this week, she sails fine apart from not having enough hands, Ive deided to run the halyards along the deck to cluches or cams, only i need to take 90 deg turns from the mast base to the cock pit what are the devices which will do this job called ??
 
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Blocks!

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Thats not a very nice attitude now, is it? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
deck organisers usually mount on the horizontal and will only redirect line in one plane ... our halyards go through a block at the bottom of the mast first
 
Give yourself time sailing before getting complex with leading halliards back: you may find that you don't need to do it after you've had more practice. Just choose an empty bit of water before leaving the cockpit, and think things through in advance.

All the extra friction on the halliards and reefing lines on 'led-aft' systems can be a real nuisance. On a Warwick your sail areas are not huge, and the boat is a reasonably stable platform to go forward on.
 
I have a pageant, justa couple of feet bigger than your Warwck and I single hand without any modifications from the original. I've had her for just over a year and been sailing for just a few seasons prior to that. It took me a while to get used to single handing - its all in anticipating the next move, which comes with practice. I'm really glad I sailed a bit on her rather than making rushed moves to modify. i built up my confidence by sailing withe xperienced people on her. Choose your weather and crew with care, dont take out the family - if you have any and spend time rather than money and it will pay you back.
 
I second that, I've been doing it for the last fifteen years. Don't forget to look about you while you're doing it though and it's best done in sheltered waters (If you have the option).
 
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I have a pageant, justa couple of feet bigger than your Warwck and I single hand without any modifications from the original. I've had her for just over a year and been sailing for just a few seasons prior to that. It took me a while to get used to single handing - its all in anticipating the next move, which comes with practice. I'm really glad I sailed a bit on her rather than making rushed moves to modify. i built up my confidence by sailing withe xperienced people on her. Choose your weather and crew with care, dont take out the family - if you have any and spend time rather than money and it will pay you back.

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/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I single hand a bog-standard 31' 6" Pentland Ketch - and I'm an old git (see avatar!). TAKE YOUR TIME. Get everything ready in harbour or on mooring. Get yourself loads of space Head into wind & do main, If you do not get it tight before she start to slew of, go round again. Then do jib - this is a doddle with roller reefing, but still perfectly practical with seperate hanked sails. In my case, mizzen is a cinch as I can do it from the helm virtually. Simply reverse the order for downing sails & roughly tie down with a couple of elastics. Then get fenders & warps sorted before entering harbour.

Take your time, plan it, do it, review it & modify plan next time untill it is second nature & all the gear is to hand. It is very satisfying to do it all on your own, but taking someone with you the first few times will give you the failsafe you need of someone on the tiller/ engine controls if the plan falls apart.
 
I have single handed most of my boats. The one with halyards led aft was actually the most difficult, and I found it involved far more hopping up on deck as things snagged, jammed or generally got in a twist while raising or lowering sails

Never again! As Searush says a set of well planned and rehearsed drills is the answer to the whole thing.
 
Totally agree. Halyards at mast are much easier for the single hander.

I even find that I prefer to refuse help (politely) from those ashore when berthing (unless conditions are really lousy when I'll take all the help I can get to put a line ashore!) as I know how the boat will perform and what I am doing. If someone ashore 'helps' by pulling on a rope you were not expecting to be pulled it can make the boat do something that wasn't in the plan!!
 
I mainly single hand and moved my main halyard from the cockpit to the mast. When I reef I can control the halyard as I hook the cringle onto the hook, and also tension the reefing pennant quickly having dealt with the halyard. With the halyard in the cockpit it was somewhat more complicated - slacken halyard - go forward and hook cringle, hope it stays on until I got back to the cockpit to retension the halyard. Then forward again to tension the reefing pennant. All made much simpler by having the halyard at the mast.
 
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Give yourself time sailing before getting complex with leading halliards back: you may find that you don't need to do it after you've had more practice. Just choose an empty bit of water before leaving the cockpit, and think things through in advance.

All the extra friction on the halliards and reefing lines on 'led-aft' systems can be a real nuisance. On a Warwick your sail areas are not huge, and the boat is a reasonably stable platform to go forward on.

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Excellent advice.
 
I agree with the comments so far. What I have found very helpful on two boats is to move the sheet winches further aft so that you can flick your headsail sheets off one and drop a loop the other on without having to move my lazy arse. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Also a jamming cleat like this

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helps enormously for easy headsail handling.

jammingcleat.jpg


(the sheet is a bit short in that pic as the headsail is furled.)
Also, run the headsail sheet from it's winch across the cockpit to the windward side so that everything is to hand.
 
I cant see or link directly to the second picture! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

The cleat is similar to the Tufnol ones that Westerly used to fit for the heads'l sheets.


A possibly useful single handling trick I use is to tie the two genoa sheets together across the cockpit. You cannot lose an end then. I deliberately made mine a bit longer to make that possible.
 
The pic has appeared now!

I think Westerly fitted those cleats the other way round. I cant be sure but the one in your pic just did not look right.

In fact I am sure they did. Positive!
 
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