Spilling the wind with a cabin top mainsheet

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BlueSkyNick

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Had a note from a mate learning to sail his Bav32 single handed. Got caught in a squall when it had been a comfortable F3/4. Scary moment with boat on its side, but no serious damage to boat, skipper or dog.

I like the mainsheet on our Moody being right behind the wheel where I can spill the wind by letting go in a hurry if I need to.

On more modern AWB's, like the Bavaria, where the mainsheet traveller is on the cabin, with a winch to one side of the companion way, if a single handed sailor is at the wheel, how does he let it go in a hurry?

One thought would be to take the tail of the sheet loosely the opposite way around the winch and back to the helm, so you might be able to tug it off the self tailer and let it run out.

is this realistic? any other ideas?
 
yeah OK, but better to spill the wind before she gets that far, IMO. hence why I like the mainsheet on hand near the wheel

there is also the genoa to deal with of course.

better still, spot the squall coming towards you and take appropraite action early.
 
Why bother to spill the wind? The boat won't capsize (unless it's a very tender cat or a dinghy).

So, it heels a lot. You may temporarily lose directional control . . . but that only matters if you're close quarters to something solid. And in those situations there should be someone else on deck to help you.

And you should also ask why you're short handed in a boat which responds to a gust by rounding up out of control - a characteristic less of cruising vessels, more of racing vessels.

Which I guess is where the habit of dumping the main evolved.
 
No need to rush. If the situation is developing, luff up towards the wind and spill some air from the sails to depower. Be careful not to tack accidently.

If its' too late, the boat will lean to leward, then luff up to windward. Boat pops upright with sails slack. (Translation: don't worry, it'll sort itself out)

Warning: don't try latter suggestion on a dinghy - swimming might ensue (but not always).
 
[ QUOTE ]
Let go helm, walk forward. Let go main

[/ QUOTE ] I moved my mainsheet traveller back down the cockpit to allow full single-handed control. It's only a teeny boat but getting off my arse to slacken the mainsheet was a pain (and if you have back problems you'll know what I mean)

I agree with Jimbaerselman though. As long as the rudder isn't stalling you'll keep going the direction you want and the squall will pass. If it's getting a bit tiller-under-chin then you can always loose off a bit of mainsheet, but letting it round up is like giving up. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
to be fair Jim, mate told me had been knocked down, but I don't know what the sea was doing at the time - it was only a couple of miles off the South Coast.

i can only think he had too much canvas up for the conditions - and it is a Bavaria, but lets not get into that now!
 
I believe a knockdown occurs when the top of the mast touches the water. That is certainly when a boat is deemed to be 'capsized' under the racing rules of sailing.

I've suffered severe abnormal rolling with the boom in the water, and although the yacht was at an alarming angle with the galley contents finding new homes, don't believe it was a proper knockdown.
 
[ QUOTE ]
letting it round up is like giving up

[/ QUOTE ]

Amaya doesn't give up, in fact she's likely to only slowly round to windward giving me plenty of time to swagger up to the main and adjust it, belch a couple of times and then resume my place behind the wheel without fear of being seen hurrying

Might even pop below and plot a fix whilst I'm at it
 
Where as our boat will skit straight up into wind when suddenly over pressed .. had that problem during the fleet review whilst coming back into Chi Harbour - a Helicopter buzzed us ... even with the reefed sails the down draft put her right over ... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Having the mainsheet close at hand is probably more of a comfort than a necessity though because it takes time to react to the sudden change in wind - and by that time it has (hopefully) passed!!

I do admit to prefer to being able to adjust the main by hand rather than needing to winch it in ... but that is probably down to the racing I do in the little boats!
 
Having the main sheet to hand is always a spendid idea, but being able to dump the traveller is far more appealing.

Oh, I see, it doesn't have a traveller. Mmm, ask for your money back.

Of course, proper boats, when overpressed, keep going in a staight line, and just lean over a bit more.
 
Was thinking last night of a similar conversation I had to this topic with someone several years ago,

IMHO we were both right but I can see this now but not at the time.

I prefered to carry a little more canvas than necesary but occasionaly dump the main because although it is hard work I could maintain a good boat speed than if I reefed earlier.

They preferred to reef early and keep the boat flatter to maintain boat speed. But this was the cruising option, ie (put the car in DRIVE and go rather than continually change gear)

However one thing neither of us took into consideration at the time, my boat at the time was light and fast and required constant tuning to keep moving, their boat was heavy and built for steady cruising and this boat was more acustomed to being reefed early as it would not react so quick to minor environmental changes.
 
Ah - I do have a traveller ... but not easily adjustable - its a stopper held in with a Pin ... been thinking about modifying but don't know if I can be bothered with all the extra lines/cleats ... especially as it is supposed to be a cruising boat!
 
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