Single handing becoming more important for me

M

Macboy

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Aug 8, 2014
254
Macgregor 26S Sherwood Park, Alberta
It's kinda troubling and maybe a passing "phase" in the old man but in conversation with him today about how the remaining weekends of my summer are eaten up and how I think I'll need to cut out of work early if the wind and weather are right one of these weekday evenings to sneak in a sail I got a different reply than expected.

His response was that he wasn't sure his old back could handle 90 minutes in the truck, a few hours sailing and then another 90 in the truck??

Sure, he does have a bad back - as do I...his perhaps much worse. But I digress - I'm sure eventually his love of sailing will trump his worrisome thoughts about his back.

Until then however it seems that I might be on my own if I expect to sail in the coming weeks. I'm not intimidated at the thought - I can sail under main alone if conditions warrant, motor when need be, lash the tiller for those moments I need to be freed up etc. Our boat has all lines aft already and the roller furling headsail and the lazy jacks can bring the main down for me in a hurry if need be.

Is there anything else I ought to be thinking about in thinking about single handing the Mac - to keep me safe and get me home both home off the water and then home to my wife and kids?
 
M

Macboy

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Aug 8, 2014
254
Macgregor 26S Sherwood Park, Alberta
Already in the tickle trunk. Would you go to the effort of setup of that over a simple tiller tamer if you were just on an inland lake, maybe 6 miles long X 1 mile wide?
 
Ralph Johnstone

Ralph Johnstone

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Jan 4, 2006
6,528
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
Macboy said:
His response was that he wasn't sure his old back could handle 90 minutes in the truck, a few hours sailing and then another 90 in the truck??
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Maybe you'd do better getting right back to the original source of the problem.

Any chance that a well reclined seat and a foamy could ease the pain of the 90 minute ride in the truck ? For him, not for you.

Sounds like you've got something pretty nice going on there. I'd be willing to invest a fair amount of effort and expense to solve the problem.
 
M

Macboy

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Aug 8, 2014
254
Macgregor 26S Sherwood Park, Alberta
I was silently gutted and have two objectives in life now.....as far as the Mac goes that is. 1) Sail the damn thing even if it's just solo therapy; and 2) Get dad off this "Ah, my back....you know..." thing in some non-opressive way so that we can spend time mucking with the boat somewhere other than his driveway.

We sold the Catamaran because it was hard for him to sit on the tramp with his legs out in front of him. I sure do treasure time on the water with him....I'll keep working on it.
 
Sumner

Sumner

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Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
Macboy said:
Already in the tickle trunk. Would you go to the effort of setup of that over a simple tiller tamer if you were just on an inland lake, maybe 6 miles long X 1 mile wide?
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I've had a tiller tamer and used it with mixed results and if you want to go below to fix a sandwich or want the tiller cared for while dropping or raising sails you can't beat the tiller pilot.

If I was to go back to the Bahamas with the boat I'd buy a spare since doing the long days there would of been a killer for me without one. A smaller lake and fewer hours on the water would be more doable and we got along without one when there were two of us but I'd want one now alone no matter where I was sailing. Is it absolutely needed? No, but it sure is nice,

Sumner

====================================

1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac

Endeavour 37 Mods...

MacGregor 26-S Mods...

Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida, Bahamas
 
M

Macboy

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Aug 8, 2014
254
Macgregor 26S Sherwood Park, Alberta
Maybe this weekend (on the hard) I'll dig it out and scratch my head over it for a while. If I have any questions I know where to come for answers! (Love this forum - you are all so helpful here...a Google result took me to another forum the other day and I saw one helpful answer to every four or five actually not nice responses to simple questions....sure am glad I signed up here not there....)
 
BudGates

BudGates

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Apr 19, 2012
1,043
O'Day Daysailor 17 Nevis MN
Macboy said:
Already in the tickle trunk. Would you go to the effort of setup of that over a simple tiller tamer if you were just on an inland lake, maybe 6 miles long X 1 mile wide?
Click to expand
I would. A Tiller Tamer will help if you need to let the tiller go for 30 seconds or so but not much more than that. The basic setup of the Tiller Pilot is fairly simple and straight forward. Hooking it up to a navigation system takes a little more skill (not a lot) but it's not usually necessary. I did hook mine up to my GPS but haven't actually used those features. The internal compass handles all that I've ever needed.
 
walt

walt

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Jun 1, 2007
3,511
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
Since your dad may be near most of "our" age, you must be younger..

I would spend your money on about everything else before an autopilot. Spend the money to make the boat a better sailboat. When you get to be your dads age or older yet, get an autopilot. You don’t really need this and what happens if you are dependent on it and due to a lot of different reasons, it doesn’t work.

I have single handed for years with a hank on jib and something like a tiller tamer, they work fine. Having a way to hold the tiller and learning to heave to will be important. Since the jib is involved in heave to, it will also be important to have the jib controls accessible from the cockpit - both the halyard for raising the jib and a line for dropping the jib. A roller furler will make this easier but with the right setup a hank on jib also is easy. All the controls for my main sail are up at the mast and I reef the main when the boat is in heave to.

For setting up the main sail single hand out of the water, keep the outboard in gear and moving the boat with the tiller locked as this will give you the most time away from the tiller for setting up the main. Reason for this is that it keeps some water moving over the rudder foil so it keeps working as a rudder. Since the jib control are at the cockpit for either hank on or roller furling, easy to deploy the jib.

You will need something to hold the end of the boom up while reefing the main so you will need either a topping lift or a boomkicker.

FYI, heave to is just a good thing to know. You will still drift in heave to but its maybe only 1 to 2 knots even in some good wind.
 
Doc_holiday

Doc_holiday

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Nov 19, 2011
1,489
MacGregor 26S Hampton, VA
For single hand, +1 on tiller pilot but there are other things. The tiller tamer will hold the rudder, but it won't hold course or heading. You need to make adjustments because it may take a few minutes to raise the sails.

If you have a hank on jib, rig a haul down or use a furling system. Avoid having to go forward by yourself.

Run your halyards back to the cock-pit in a manner that does not allow for binding with a clutch to lock down quickly.

Lazy jacks for the main sail.

If you are planning overnights, make sure you can deploy an anchor

Others will strongly suggest a harness. I probably should too.
 
walt

walt

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Jun 1, 2007
3,511
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
If you are planning overnights, make sure you can deploy an anchor
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2nd this.. if you get caught in a thunder storm on a lake (single hand or not), it’s often easier to just drop an anchor and wait it out (if you have a good place to anchor). I have an anchor roller on the bow of my boat to make the anchor easier to use but the one problem I had with this was that when I dropped my hank on jib, it would be in the way of getting to the anchor. I just went to a roller furler and access to the anchor when things were wild was half the reason.
 
M

Macboy

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Aug 8, 2014
254
Macgregor 26S Sherwood Park, Alberta
Wow - thanks again everyone.

From the sounds of it I'm in pretty good shape - just need time on the boat on good days so that when things hit the fan I'm prepared. Especially things like heaving to - I've done it on my course boat and have textbook knowledge of it but we've never put it into practice on our boat. I'll make sure to do that. Furling the headsail and dropping the main (we do have lazy jacks installed) would be the last ditch emergency thing to do I guess). On the Cat we just released the sheets when things got hairy but those are little sails compared to the Mac.

I read through the Tiller Pilot booklet last night and it seems like a great aid and something I'll practice with on moderate days. Seems to me it has already been installed on the boat (as I'm now discovering) - I have seen the pin in the tiller. At this point we don't have the added gizmos to take advantage of the wind or the course and waypoint bells and whistles but the autotack seems pretty smart as does the +/- 1 & 10 degree functions.

There's a local fellow here that sails his Mac on the same lake. I'm pretty sure he'd be willing to come out once or twice to be a safety net as I try single handing for the first time or four. If I can't convince dad to come for the drive.

And yes - we have harnesses on board for my kids...no sense not getting one for me.
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
22,786
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
I would spend your money on about everything else before an autopilot. Spend the money to make the boat a better sailboat. When you get to be your dads age or older yet, get an autopilot. You don’t really need this and what happens if you are dependent on it and due to a lot of different reasons, it doesn’t work.
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Couldn't disagree more. Get the autopilot now.
 
walt

walt

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Jun 1, 2007
3,511
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
This might be one of those subjects where someone should list their age for the opinion.

The autopilot is also one of those things I hear on the internet that you "have to get an autopilot now" and I’m thinking I have been sailing my 26S for nearly 10 years almost 100% of the time single hand (even with guests, I’m mostly single handing) without an autopilot and with a little technique, works just fine. This is also with a lot of sailing at high elevation in the mountains where things change very quickly. The BS flag pops up..

Also, with the autopilot, you have a battery, electrical distribution, an electrical mechanical device and software settings all of which could go bad. If you start off being dependent on the autopilot and never learn how to deal with the boat without, you may get into a bad situation.

I do think the autopilot would be nice for doing long sails (I will get one before I go to Catalina island) but saying something like you have to get one now.. I also could not disagree more.

Regarding the age thing, it helps to be younger and more nimble to deal with the sails single handed (like I think the OP may be). An old guy (I am getting there) benefits more from an autopilot because you just are not as nimble.
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
22,786
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Age has nothing to do with it. We bought our first ap in 1990, back when I was a mere 25 years old. This was for our Catalina 25, and I had sailed it for three years with John Letcher's Self Steering for Small Craft sheet-to-tiller lines.

When it comes to singlehanding a boat there is NOTHING as safety conscious and reliable as an ap.

I don't care how old you are. :)

Walt, of course, ya gotta know how to sail. One simply doesn't replace the other.

WAIT, I was 45 in 1990!!!!:eek:
 
BudGates

BudGates

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Apr 19, 2012
1,043
O'Day Daysailor 17 Nevis MN
I will agree and also disagree with both Walt and Stu. An auto pilot is really helpful and nice to have, especially while single handing. If it is at all within your budget I'd highly recommend it. In my earlier post I was addressing the question as to whether an auto pilot is worth the effort to set it up, and it definitely is. It is , however, a luxury NOT a necessity.

age - 55
 
walt

walt

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Jun 1, 2007
3,511
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
however, a luxury NOT a necessity
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Ok... OK.. I give in..

three weeks until 59.5 In the mornings I feel about 45, by about 8 or 9 PM, I feel like Im in my mid 90's. Maybe that averages out to the right age..
 
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