Keeping Head to Wind When Dropping Sail

[deisher6]

I enjoyed reading this thread. 

Some things never change for single handling boats that do not have some sort of auto-helm. 

It boils down to heading the boat into the wind with or without power, securing the tiller by some means, then rushing forward to get the sail(s) down (or up) before the boat falls off. As soon as you move forward to get to the halyards, the change in the heel of the boat will cause it to veer right or left.  It takes a good skipper to successfully haul sails consistently in all conditions.

For larger boats the one of the first priorities for single handling should be some sort of auto helm, flailing booms and sheets can sting.

It takes me 15 - 20 minutes to get the main down and furled a bit less to raise it.

Our current boat has a good auto helm.  I have used it for over 5 years and nearly 400 days off of the dock, yet just early this past year did I think to use the relative wind application on the auto helm. Previously I would just set the helm on a bearing, mostly into the wind, and leave enough power on to keep that heading without falling off.  It is much easier to set a relative wind angle of 0° with the minimum power to keep the boat on that heading.

I smile to myself!  I am embarrassed that it took so long to discover this.

I still appreciate the nimbleness needed to get the sails down while single handling....I appreciate more the ability to take 15 minutes to do it.

Merry Christmas

regards charlie

[bruce]

Auxiliary power has made it easier for all of us! Us small-boat sailors have to contend with then fact that the boat is very sensitive to crew weight. Any significant shift, such as going to the mast for sail changes, has immediate effect. Even with auxiliary power, the rudder can be secondary.

Like you, a good friend and PC owner had a 27, in his case a Catalina, before his PC. He consistently has said it was easier to single hand his 27 for this reason. We rent a J/22 at times when we need a sloop fix!

[Andre]

Guys,

Try another one of my $5 solutions. It isn't perfect but it helps with pointing into the wind while raising or dousing the sail, works best if you have a motor though.

Run a length of shock cord (maybe 1/4 or 5/16, you'll need to experiment) from the boom to the tiller. The elasticity of the shock cord lets you easily overpower it manually if need be vs an inelastic piece of line. If the boat falls off on starboard tack, the boom moves to port pulling the tiller to port, turning the boat back into the wind, and vice versa. Like I said it's not perfect, but costs next to nothing, and if you don't like it don't use it. It'll work on any boat with a tiller. I use it on my PC. My HC obviously has a wheel so this approach doesn't work but then it's a  much more stable platform to work on so I can go to the mast for a minute or so without getting into trouble (mostly).

Andre

[bruce]

Thanks Andre. Something new to try next season!

[Jim in TC]

An interesting idea indeed...and something I have not seen nor read about before. Worth a try!

[Andre]

In all honesty I can't claim to be the originator of this idea. I came across it on some other forum a few years ago, maybe one of the wooden boat ones.

Andre

[bruce]

Hey Andre,

Did you see that your post got picked up on the Precision Forum on the TSBB? The poster did include the link to the thread, in addition to a screen shot of just your post, but didn't point out that you were talking about a catboat. The thread quickly veers off to how most just heave to when handling the main, discounting the value of your suggestion.

Don't know if you can see this if you're not a member.
https://trailersailor.com/forum/index.php?topic=608.msg3818;topicseen#msg3818

[Andre]

Thanks for letting me know Bruce.

I actually have (had?) an account on the Trailer Sailor forum but have seldom if ever posted on it but I do have read access so was able to read the posts.

I have little sailing experience with small sloops although I've sailed on BIG ones (27-50 ft). So not sure how well heaving to would help in RAISING a mainsail since I think both a backwinded jib and a main up are required to heave to, otherwise there'd be a lot of lee helm. For reefing it should work though. Probably depends on a boat's sailing characteristics.

Andre