You may have saved my life, you certainly saved me from being having to be rescued or towed in. The board discussion a while back about heaving too on “main only” really saved my but! I had always done it with backed jib, but as I was single handing my 19-foot catamaran, I had left the jib in the box on the trailer. My catamaran sails pretty well with just a main, and an easy single-handed evening sail is a lot easier that way. When I left the dock - there was almost no wind and clear skies - no pesky thunder storms or any reason to think it would be much more that a relaxing evening. Within two minutes it changed - whitecaps all over the lake, streaks of foam on the water *yks - gale force - and me on a small 19 foot boat with no where to hide. After the discussion on this site - I had practiced heaving too under main. When the blast hit, I wound up spending almost two hours hove too in this manner - only sailing when I needed to buy "lake room". Fortunately, I had practiced it on quieter days – and had done so due to the commentary on this forum. It is amazing how stable and steady the boat was when hove too in this manner under main alone - almost no tendency to tip or flip, very stable and just a slow upwind motion. I needed to just sit out there, I did not think that I could return safely to the dock, and as a dagger board had jammed (need to fix that), beaching the boat became not an option. So, for almost two hours the boat and I mostly just sat there - watching the wind storm - just riding quietly with the mainsail and tiller set just so the boat drifted slowly on the lake. I am amazed as to how well this worked - and on a light boat that wants to take off under any puff at all - and how stable the boat was. Just astonished, given the wind. Last year I watched a Hobie sailor get in trouble on a mountain lake gale, flipped over, rescued and taken to the hospital with hypothermia. He did not have the benefit or your collective advice. I was luckier - good storm sailing advice from this board plus I was on a lowland lake with warmer water. Heck - after getting the hang of it hove too, it was almost fun watching the wind and waves streak by. When it all past - I sailed back to the dock. Another boat had to be towed in, unable to get back upwind to the docks. I just waited until it all past by and then sailed up to the dock as though no storm had ever happened. That discussion here was really a good seamanship lesson – something to practice on a good day, and then to be able to use when the ‘stuff’ hits the fan. Really saved me, thanks. OC
