Have to admit I didn't notice the lake part til way into the thread. Since the vast bulk of my sailing is in much bigger water, I offered what I do.
But I must agree with you- makes sense.
I would STILL recommend the PFD for a single hander.
Singlehanding
- Thread starter PotomacDaysailer
- Start date
Have to admit I didn't notice the lake part til way into the thread. Since the vast bulk of my sailing is in much bigger water, I offered what I do.
But I must agree with you- makes sense.
I would STILL recommend the PFD for a single hander.
Thanks for the replies!
Here's my plan based on the good advice:
- Rig a jib downhaul. I hadn't thought of that, although in hind sight it seems rather obvious.
- Get in the habit of wearing a life jacket, at least when outside the cockpit or in heavy weather.
- Instruct passengers on stopping the boat.
Also I might experiment with some sort of jackline - maybe a line from the bow cleat to the base of the mast and six feet or so of line with a carabiner that I could clip to my belt? Just to keep from going into the water if I lose my footing on the foredeck. What do you all think? Does that sound practical and not too elaborate?
Here's my plan based on the good advice:
- Rig a jib downhaul. I hadn't thought of that, although in hind sight it seems rather obvious.
- Get in the habit of wearing a life jacket, at least when outside the cockpit or in heavy weather.
- Instruct passengers on stopping the boat.
Also I might experiment with some sort of jackline - maybe a line from the bow cleat to the base of the mast and six feet or so of line with a carabiner that I could clip to my belt? Just to keep from going into the water if I lose my footing on the foredeck. What do you all think? Does that sound practical and not too elaborate?
I despise
I despise wearing any kind of PFD. Just hate it. I have two really good offshore jackets, plus an inflatable with a harness. But unless the weather starts getting snotty, I never put one on. And I single hand on over nighters in the Gulf regularly. My boat has a deep cockpit, and life lines, and my balance is still pretty good, so I feel secure. But I do use whatever is needed when needed. A couple years ago, I got caught offshore at 4Am in a front. NOAA weather was calling for 80 mph winds, and 15' seas. I had on both my self inflator, and an offshore vest, and had myself lashed to the mast when pulling down the main, and standing on top of the coach house, had waves breaking at crotch level. To each his own.
I despise wearing any kind of PFD. Just hate it. I have two really good offshore jackets, plus an inflatable with a harness. But unless the weather starts getting snotty, I never put one on. And I single hand on over nighters in the Gulf regularly. My boat has a deep cockpit, and life lines, and my balance is still pretty good, so I feel secure. But I do use whatever is needed when needed. A couple years ago, I got caught offshore at 4Am in a front. NOAA weather was calling for 80 mph winds, and 15' seas. I had on both my self inflator, and an offshore vest, and had myself lashed to the mast when pulling down the main, and standing on top of the coach house, had waves breaking at crotch level. To each his own.
I used to do a lot of it. But at 77 not so much anymore. If Im singlehanding I always wear a harness with the tether attached. I have a stainless steel boarding ladder permanently bolted on the stern.
the tether is long enough so If I did go over hopefully I could get back on using the ladder
the tether is long enough so If I did go over hopefully I could get back on using the ladder
The less time you are on deck the safer you are. Sell some of the sails and put the money into a furling jib. Stay in the cockpit but be ready if you do need to go on deck to fix something.
Being ready means you either take measures to keep you from going over the side or you know your limitations so that if you do, how you are going to handle it in the conditions you might face. If your young and a good swimmer maybe it is no big deal going in, Just need to catch your boat.
If my main concern was not being run over by PBs, I would put a flare in a baggy and put it in my pocket.
I'm not a strong swimmer so I wear an auto inflating PFD w/ harness and whistle when I single hand. If I look around and see I am the only one on the water I even clip my radio to the PFD harness in case I need to go forward and things are rocking and rolling. If I don't do it ahead of time, I find myself thinking I can just go up real quick and nothing will happen and that is when it usually does.
If I think I might get hit by a storm I plan to tether to a ring on the bridge deck so I don't get thrown out of the cockpit if I get hit hard. Haven't needed to do that yet but I have a plan.
Now, if I have a novice crew, I make sure they can stop the boat and call for help at a minimum.
Being ready means you either take measures to keep you from going over the side or you know your limitations so that if you do, how you are going to handle it in the conditions you might face. If your young and a good swimmer maybe it is no big deal going in, Just need to catch your boat.
If my main concern was not being run over by PBs, I would put a flare in a baggy and put it in my pocket.
I'm not a strong swimmer so I wear an auto inflating PFD w/ harness and whistle when I single hand. If I look around and see I am the only one on the water I even clip my radio to the PFD harness in case I need to go forward and things are rocking and rolling. If I don't do it ahead of time, I find myself thinking I can just go up real quick and nothing will happen and that is when it usually does.
If I think I might get hit by a storm I plan to tether to a ring on the bridge deck so I don't get thrown out of the cockpit if I get hit hard. Haven't needed to do that yet but I have a plan.
Now, if I have a novice crew, I make sure they can stop the boat and call for help at a minimum.
Several years ago
Several years ago. i did a little experiment with my youngest son. At the time he was late 20's, excellent physical condition, and about half fish in the water. We had been discussing going over the side and what it entailed. He was mostly trying to convince me to wear a PFD. To make a long story short, he got into the water, beside the boat. He would swim, ( GPS ) a tick under 3 knots. But for a very short distance, and he was done. You are not going to catch a boat if your not tied to it.
Several years ago. i did a little experiment with my youngest son. At the time he was late 20's, excellent physical condition, and about half fish in the water. We had been discussing going over the side and what it entailed. He was mostly trying to convince me to wear a PFD. To make a long story short, he got into the water, beside the boat. He would swim, ( GPS ) a tick under 3 knots. But for a very short distance, and he was done. You are not going to catch a boat if your not tied to it.
All good... jacklines are somewhat of a nuisance on a small boat.... What may work better is to locate a padeye on the foredeck as a tether point that will give you movement to the stemhead, and back so you can disconnect and clip on to an upwind shroud. From the shroud back to the cockpit you might be able to find another point so you can stay on the upwind side back to the cockpit.
There are double tether harnesses... one long, one short... that are ideal for this method of staging yourself forward and back.
I rigged jacklines on my 27 footer for a number of years... but found enough fixed points on the boat that I quit setting them up for anything but a multiday cruise. I use the foreguy pad eye on the foredeck if I must go forward to change a sail....
I also have a set of knee pads... because I will crawls or slide on my butt if it feels unstable walking on the fore deck.
Oh... don't forget that "heaving to" will give you some calm time to fix something, change something or just get your fishing line wet.
Potomac,
Glad to see you have a plan. Sounds good. Consider that a jack line as you've described might not keep you on the boat, but will keep you attached if you go over. Make sure that your harness has a quick release at the chest so that if you are being dragged under you can get clear! Have a plan for getting back aboard. Of course the best rule is the oldest one: One hand for the boat, one hand for yourself. My dad would randomly grab my hand and yank it to see if I was really holding on, or just faking it. I got pretty good at always keeping a good grip. I still do.
Was it Sru who mentioned a tiller minder? A simple line attached to the tiller so that you can let go for a while. A furler jib would really make your life easier, neh? Not to expensive eithor.
I single-handed boats the size of yours for many years. I single-hand my 40' boat now often. You'll get the hang of it. Be safe and have fun.
Glad to see you have a plan. Sounds good. Consider that a jack line as you've described might not keep you on the boat, but will keep you attached if you go over. Make sure that your harness has a quick release at the chest so that if you are being dragged under you can get clear! Have a plan for getting back aboard. Of course the best rule is the oldest one: One hand for the boat, one hand for yourself. My dad would randomly grab my hand and yank it to see if I was really holding on, or just faking it. I got pretty good at always keeping a good grip. I still do.
Was it Sru who mentioned a tiller minder? A simple line attached to the tiller so that you can let go for a while. A furler jib would really make your life easier, neh? Not to expensive eithor.
I single-handed boats the size of yours for many years. I single-hand my 40' boat now often. You'll get the hang of it. Be safe and have fun.
The down haul on the jib is an excellent idea.
Couple of points. DON'T attach it to the halyard or very top of the jib. If you attach it there, when you pull on it it tends to flop the head board over and bind the top jib hank. Better to attach it to the first hank down from the top.
And don't run it through all the hanks-- that just causes immense friction. A better idea is to seize one or two rings to hanks , say at the thirds points on the luff, and run the downhaul through them. Does the same thing, but with far less friction
Couple of points. DON'T attach it to the halyard or very top of the jib. If you attach it there, when you pull on it it tends to flop the head board over and bind the top jib hank. Better to attach it to the first hank down from the top.
And don't run it through all the hanks-- that just causes immense friction. A better idea is to seize one or two rings to hanks , say at the thirds points on the luff, and run the downhaul through them. Does the same thing, but with far less friction
I did install a "tiller-tamer". It is just a clamp, basically, with a line through it to either side of the cockpit. There's knob to tighten the clamp and hold the tiller in place. You can then loosen the knob and make small adjustments to the tiller position without uncleating the line. It works pretty well and will keep the boat on course for a short time, long enough to do most tasks.
Wow, thanks for mentioning that, because that is exactly what I would have done!
Sounds like the voice of experience! I shall heed your advice.
I used to single hand my h23 usually without a life jacket on. In heavy weather or seas I would wear it.
My jib was a hank on with a jib bag. To hoist or haul it down I would bring the boat into the wind and let go of all sheets so they could not catch any wind. Then I was able to scramble up in deck, complete my task, and return to the cockpit to continue the sail or start the outboard and motor along. I would never consider going up on deck while motoring without someone actually at the tiller. I figured too many things could happen including being tossed over and run over by the prop.
My jib was a hank on with a jib bag. To hoist or haul it down I would bring the boat into the wind and let go of all sheets so they could not catch any wind. Then I was able to scramble up in deck, complete my task, and return to the cockpit to continue the sail or start the outboard and motor along. I would never consider going up on deck while motoring without someone actually at the tiller. I figured too many things could happen including being tossed over and run over by the prop.
Yes, I avoid leaving the cockpit with the motor on.
Once upon a time, I saw a boat - a Ranger 23 I think it was - putting out of Windycrest cove (Keystone Lake, OK) under sail with a wicked, shifty headwind blowing down the cove. He was continually being headed and finally got stuck in irons and went aground. So the club pontoon boat went out to tow him off. I believe he had two or three crew/guests who went aboard the tow boat, leaving only the skipper aboard. After being towed out into the center of the cove, he started his outboard and came up to the bow to cast off the tow line. With his weight all the way forward, the motor lifted up out of the water and began racing and vibrating - must've been loose to begin with, too, because it jumped off the motor mount and sank! I heard later that he eventually recovered the outboard from the bottom. That picture of the motor coming up out of the water then jumping off the mount and sinking has always stuck with me.
[PS - this was back in the middle to late 70s. Nowadays without a doubt someone would have filmed the whole thing with a cell phone and posted it on YouTube, immortalizing the skipper's mortification forever more...]
One thing i do when sailing alone is i toss out a ski rope secured to a cleat and let it trail along behind the boat. It floats and if you would happen to go overboard you have about 100' to grab the line. It has a built in handle at the end and your body weight will put alot of drag on your boat and slow you down. Get a auto inflating life jacket and you wont even know you are wearing one. Just be sure you pull your ski rope in before starting the iron jenny!
You could probably run that (or another line) on a breakcord set to disengage the tiller pilot's ram from the tiller.
Heck, you don't even need to set a breakcord.
I did consider it. Only thing is, the lake can get quite busy and a powerboat blasting by < 100' astern, while not common, is a definite hazard. When it's just me out there, though, I'll do it.
Gotta be quick, though. At 3 kn you've got 20 seconds before the boat is 100' away.
Dragging a line is a total crapshoot. I'd like to hear from anyone who has actually been able to grab the thing first time through. The handle would cause the line to skip and bounce... so you'd have to get it well before you got to the handle itself. If you're moving a 4.5 knots.... the boat travels 100 feet in 12.5 seconds... so you might have 6 or 7 seconds to recover your senses, look for the line and hope you can reach it.. much less grab and hold.... NOT AT MY AGE.... no way, do I put my faith in that.
Put your faith in never becoming detached from the boat...
When I was an active Nacra sailor in the early 90's, I once singlehanded in a rally from Alamitos bay to the Isthmus on Catalina. We had a chase boat, but it's still pretty daunting to head offshore in an open 17 footer. Skippers tethered ourselves to the boat with the mainsheet looped through the hiking harness and tied to the single line traveler. If we fell off we had about 10-15 feet of slack... to pull ourselves back... but if needed, a hard jerk would cause the boat to round up or even capsize it so it wouldn't drag you through the water..... On this occasion the sea was relatively flat, I spent a lot of time on the wire... never fell off... but you sail a little more conservatively out there that putzing around the bay. Just remember the ocean wind is much more consistent than fluky lake sailing winds... it's much harder on a lake, I think.... anyway I made the crossing in about 3 hours.... Prindle 19's, Hobie 20', Nacra 6.0 with crews were much faster.
Put your faith in never becoming detached from the boat...
When I was an active Nacra sailor in the early 90's, I once singlehanded in a rally from Alamitos bay to the Isthmus on Catalina. We had a chase boat, but it's still pretty daunting to head offshore in an open 17 footer. Skippers tethered ourselves to the boat with the mainsheet looped through the hiking harness and tied to the single line traveler. If we fell off we had about 10-15 feet of slack... to pull ourselves back... but if needed, a hard jerk would cause the boat to round up or even capsize it so it wouldn't drag you through the water..... On this occasion the sea was relatively flat, I spent a lot of time on the wire... never fell off... but you sail a little more conservatively out there that putzing around the bay. Just remember the ocean wind is much more consistent than fluky lake sailing winds... it's much harder on a lake, I think.... anyway I made the crossing in about 3 hours.... Prindle 19's, Hobie 20', Nacra 6.0 with crews were much faster.