Single Handed Sailing Scenario

[CaptainBob]

I've been out sailing a few times with friends, keeping in mind that I intend to do some single-handing in the future, and thinking about how I'd deal with situations alone.

Was out yesterday under full sail in glorious weather off Plymouth - it was lovely! But as we began to head back up river, the wind started to seriously pick up, and was changing direction on occasion - and was gusty.

We made a hash of it but got the sails down in the end by starting the engine and heading into the wind as best we could. This didn't stop us heeling over almost all the way at one point! Eeek!

If I'd been alone, I guess I could have done the same, and used the auto-helm - but the wind was pretty shifty, so I'd have to keep tweaking the auto-helm.... and I'd prefer not to always have to resort to starting the engine if possible - or at least would like to know how to deal with things if the engine wouldn't start.

But with no engine, if I point into the wind so I can go forward to reef the main, I'll lose steerage speed, turn off the wind, and end up with the wind from the side again surely.

Any suggestions on how I could better approach this situation?

I've a feeling we had the main sheet in tight so boom in nice place to stow the sail - but that was probably the cause of a lot of the problems maybe.

Thanks!

 

[dukes4monny]

I think that if you are single handed, you do need to think ahead a little more about what you are going to do, and what could go wrong.
In the situation you described, you had other crew on board, so it wasn't a major issue, but if you were on your own you might well have struggled...........
If you stop and think about what happened, you were entering an estuary with an offshore wind, this would tell you that the wind is likely to increase because it's funneled into a smaller area and become fluky because it is off the land.........in this situation either single or short handed, I personaly would aim to get everything down well before you enter the estuary / river.

 

[Hardley]

I ease the main halyard enough to ensure that I can get cringle on rams horn hook quickly. Let sails fly, go to mast secure cringle onto rams horn hook.
Back to cockpit, hoist main, tighten reefing line.
Sheet in both sails.
In strong winds, ease traveller down to leeward.
If fractional rig, tighten back stay.
First action when you notice that wind is picking up, should be to tighten luff down haul which helps to flatten the sail.

 

[CaptainBob]

Thanks for your reply!

Wind was ever so light - onshore. We sailed very sedately all the way up to Cargreen before it was an issue. And it became one very quickly.

Take your point that if alone I'd have been a lot more cautious and pre-empted the situation and reefed - or got everything down and started the engine.

But I'd still like to know what to do if I found myself unexpectedly in this situation, just in case... and if I couldn't get the engine going for whatever reason.

 

[Athene V30]

I do a lot of singlehanded sailing and planning ahead is the main thing you have to be ready to do! Everything else is easy - just you are doing it on your own so it can take a bit longer etc and you need to multi task!

Keep an eye on the weather - what is happening to the clouds etc. Often you can see the wind is increasing from how other boats are heeling so I would reef earlier and be slightly undercanvassed rather than over stretched.

Do you have a furling jib? If so reducing that is easy and if get caught in a bit of a blow out of nowhere you can alawys roll up of drop the jib, sheet the main in hard and motor (slowly) into the wind to keep steerage way whilst you decide what to do next.

Also rather than drop sail totally, play the mainsail like you would in a dinghy - let it flap a bit in a gust so you don't heel over so much. It takes quite a lot to put a keel boat on its side so don't worry too much about a bit of heel!

Have a good time learning - we all still are!

 

[graham]

Some times on a rising tide in rivers I nose into the mud on the windward bank. The mud holds the keel long enough to stow sails etc then the tide floats us off and the wind blows us back into deep water.

A roller genoa is great for singlehanding The autohelm should cope for a few minutes to do a quick stow of the main.Have the engine running just fast enough to have steerage way so you will have more time to stow the main roll a fag etc /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

To reef the main some boats will lie hove to with the jib backed and tiller tied to leeward slacken the mainsheet a bit but not so much that the boom can swing around too much.

You need to practice it on your own to find out what works for you.

 

[maxi77]

The key to singlehanded sailing is planning ahead. You reef early, run for shelter early, and so on. Certainly the auto pilot is your friend, and is invaluable and it gives you time to do things like reefing and making coffee.

Certainly if I was doing a lot of singlehanding I would want to be able to reef from the cockpit, it is so much safer.

 

[MoodySabre]

It can also depend on how your boat behaves. My boat is quite happy sailing to windward on just the jib so I can put the tiller pilot on and drop or reef the main in the shadow of the jib. My previous boat was very good at heaving to so that was useful to get things sorted.

I followed an idea here which is to put a cable tie round the fixed end the reefing hook and across the hook so that it acts as a gate. When I go forward and hook the cringle on then it doesn't fall off again before I get back to the cockpit.

Having lazyjacks and a stackpack makes all this much easier single-handed.

 

[Conachair]

[ QUOTE ]
I think that if you are single handed, you do need to think ahead a little more about what you are going to do, and what could go wrong.


[/ QUOTE ]
Completly agree there. I usually get the main down while I've still got plenty of searoom. If you have a roller reefing genoa then you'll still have some control if the engine dies and it's easy to get rid of. Single handing is great, though. Really makes you think ahead and plan every move beforehand. Good practice and you learn a lot. Was reading a Bernard Moitesier book last night & he suggests heaving to for reefing the main, seems so obvious now, I'll give a go next time I'm out.
Enjoy

 

[Athene V30]

[ QUOTE ]
Certainly if I was doing a lot of singlehanding I would want to be able to reef from the cockpit, it is so much safer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Each to his own. I prefer to reef at the mast - Let off mainsheet in cockpit, clip onto jackstay & go to mast. Let off kicking strap off / take up weight on topping lift. Ease halyard, new clew onto book horn, haul in on reef line. Tighten halyard (and make up & tidy up all ropes), ease topping lift, tighten kicking strap. Back to cockpit, sheet in, pour tea!

 

[sailing86]

You can 'hove to' while you reef, hoist or drop your main. It does depend upon your boat how well it'll behave with the main depowered but give it a go and see.

 

[PetiteFleur]

When I have sailed singlehanded in the past in a 20' and a 23' boat, I have reduced the jib to about two thirds size. released the mainsheet until the main flaps then lash the tiller so it sails sedately or use an autohelm, (starboard tack is best as then you have right of way), go to the mast and reef the main, go back to the cockpit and pull in the mainsheet. This worked for me but the boat did sail easily with the helm lashed and just the half size jib(I didn't have an Autohelm at the time).

 

[CaptainBob]

Great stuff, cheers for the replies!!

Heaving to - I've tried this unsuccessfully a few times with just my roller reefing genoa out. I just find I turn downwind and get in a mess. Should this be doable in a bilge-keeled Centaur?

So far all my solo sailing has been done only with the genoa out because my main seems like such a handful to stow alone - and reefing is round boom rolling (original Westerly) so not ideal. Slab reefing is on the wishlist. Perhaps lazy jacks should be too.

 

[graham]

With round the boom stowage /reefing you can stow half the sail before getting into restricted waters sail on in under half thne main plus however much genoa you like.

Dont try to roll up the rest of the sail neatly in a confined space just dump it quickly and tie it temporarilly with some webbing ties(B and Q sell inch wide webbing thats ideal.)You can stow the main properly later.

 

[lw395]

It's no good pinning the boom in to drop sail when its gusty/shifty. I normally keep the boom to one side or the other, by heading about 20deg off of up wind. Reduce speed to just above steerage.
I would normally roll the jib right away.
Obviously advice above is good, get rid of sails in advance of being over powered, but we will occassionally get caught out.
It helps a lot to have a main on slides, because you can just drop it, it will stay on the mast, then tidy up later.
With a bolt rope luff, there is more of a problem, if you just dump the halyard, the sail will fly free. You can limit this by securing the halyard so that a foot or two of luff stay in the groove. You still have secure it inboard ASAP, best to have the motor in neutral at this point! Make sure you have some extra long sail ties at the ready.
With the main down, you can unroll a little bit jib to get steerage way.
There is no substitute for boat handling under sail. Even pretty competent people often make a complete mess of picking up MOB's etc at the first attempt, so it's good general advice to practice picking up moorings etc under sail.
Some aspects of my boat handling improved a lot with a Yachtmaster preparation course, a lot of time spent on this kind of thing. You could probably get the same benefit by asking someone reasonably experienced to come out with you to improve mob and mooring skills under sail.
Hope that helps a bit?

 

[fireball]

You can quickly take the power out of the main - even in fluky winds - just raise the topping lift till the boom is pointing to the sky. You can then get the main down without the hassle of it being powered up - even better if you have lazyjacks and a stackpack system ... if you have got autohelm you should be able to do this whilst sailing on a close reach with some genoa - don't cleat the main in - that defeats the object!

I think the best advice you'll get is to practice it when you've got plenty of time and searoom, learn how your boat copes with the different strength winds and if it will steer itself whilst you sort things out...

 

[maxi77]

Yes that is exactly what I have done up till now. It is just that if it was to be a regular occurence rather than as it is at present an occasional activity I would indulge myself in adaptations to make my life easier

 

[simonfraser]

if you can't handle the boat on your own, adapting it is not an indulgance but an essential

 

[Conachair]

[ QUOTE ]
Heaving to - I've tried this unsuccessfully a few times with just my roller reefing genoa out. I just find I turn downwind and get in a mess. Should this be doable in a bilge-keeled Centaur?


[/ QUOTE ]

Dunno, haven't tried i on my boat yet! Hopefully will be ok, long keel. Another difficulty is keeping up the log. I've got a handy piece of perspex between the companion way and the chart table. I'll scribble a rough passage plan there before setting off and then write any relevent data for the log as I go, I can do that from the cockpit, in non-permement marker. Then you can update the logbook at your leasure when thins have calmed down a bit.

 

[Searush]

[ QUOTE ]
(cut)
Heaving to - I've tried this unsuccessfully a few times with just my roller reefing genoa out. I just find I turn downwind and get in a mess. Should this be doable in a bilge-keeled Centaur?

(cut)

[/ QUOTE ]

Centaurs will heave to, but notunder full genoa alone! You need the main up & may need the main sheeted in to balance the drive of the jib. Play about with it a bit to see what works, you may be able to heave to with part rolled genoa & main eased for furling.

Personnally I tend to use the motor a lot more when S/Handed. But a lot of my boating is in resricted space/ crowded waters so sails are only sensible if you can adjust/ trim/ furl instantly - not easy when also steering/ navigating & keeping a good look out!

But there are times when it all comes together;-