If the mainsail were needed for balance, you would not be able to either put in or shake out a reef w/o the boat losing position (bearing) relative to wind.
Advice for a Solo Sailor?
- Thread starter jviss
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I suppose if you lose the AP and needed to slab reef the main for whatever reason, and if the boat will heave-to properly (as I imagine the Ericson does) it would be a good “option.” The only reason I know about this is b/c the ASA Instructor’s clinic requires demonstration of skill to reef the mainsail while “single handed” (crew are aboard but none are helping with the boat) and underway. If one is be a ASA certified instructor that person must demonstrate an ability to single-hand the boat even with “crew” aboard, etc. Typically small boats under 25 ft; may not have an outboard.
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Exactly...if, if, and if. But that's exactly my point. I would not not offer this as generic advice to follow as a matter of course. The scenarios outlined here, in which heaving-to may well make sense, are all atypical.
Well, if they also preclude the use of an autopilot for this test, then sure, going hove-to to reef would be the way to do it. But with an autopilot--why? I reef all the time single handed and never put the boat hove-to to do it. It's an extra and unnecessary step.
Again, no doubt we can come up with ad hoc situations in which this makes sense--such as an ASA test with artificial constraints--but as generic advice for single handers?
At least on the three boats that I have owned and a dozen or so that I have gone out on for the purpose of helping their skippers get comfortable with hove-to, the process is primarily a function of balance between the foresail and the rudder. The main will change the angle of the boat relative to the wind to some degree but without it, I will still be at less than 90º to the wind. To be clear, raising the main while hove-to is not my primary method of getting underway. That time a few weeks ago was the only time in recent memory that I did it. In that instance, I did it because based on several hundreds of times hove-to, I thought that it would work so decided to put theory to the test.
My main point in relating that incident on this particular thread was to point out that the simple technique is a very powerful tool for the single (or shorthanded) skipper. It is useful almost anytime that you want to take a minute to regroup, think, decompress or just step away from the wheel.
Thanks for the response. I'll have to give that a try just to see if I can heave-to on just the headsail. I've never tried that since my apparently misguided impression was that the hove-to condition was a balance between the main, the headsail and the rudder. I have never seen a discussion before this that spoke of or showed a hove-to diagram without all three involved. I don't plan on heaving to to raise my main but its good to have a lot of things in your toolbox just in case. Thanks again.
Just FYI. I’ve never heaved-to the Bavaria to reef the mainsail. She has inboard diesel, autopilot, and single-line reefing. The boat does not heave-to well. So, I’ve not used the technique when actually single-handing myself on my present boat. As you say, no reason or need to. I see it as somewhat akin to the ASA MOB recovery technique, where one is instructed using tacks/gybes to return to the MOB. In actual conditions most skippers would probably strike or luff the sails and engage the diesel for direct turn about, etc.
And based on some extensive tests done in the UK, this is the better option anyway.
But, yes. “Balance” needs attention. In big wind and a big headsail, the helm alone could be overpowered by the backwinded headsail. Work with it. Also, boats with narrow fin heels are hard to stabilize to start with.
Why? Because I have sailed with and autopilot long enough to sail with one that did not work.
Hove-to is a tool, just like the AP is a tool. Is one good and the other bad? One useful and the other not useful? Nope, they are just different. I can remove most any bolt with a combination wrench so does that mean that I do not ever need to use a rachet and socket or even an adjustable wrench? Nope, I have lots of tools at my disposal many of which do the same basic thing, but each has its own best use. Sometimes the choice comes down to which was is closest at hand.
I don't usually hove-to as often now that I have a reliable autopilot but still practice it frequently because those things like to quit at the most inconvenient of times. My previous boats did not have an AP and it was the rare day of sailing that I did not do it several times.
On our boat, pretty much anytime anyone needs to use the head while we are sailing, we hove-to because it is much nicer to use a stationary mostly level throne that is it to use one that is leaning at 15º to 20º and bouncing up and down. Those conditions are great for sailing but not much fun for taking a leak.
When we are doing the weekly can races, between race starts, I will typically sail to to starboard of the committee boat and hove-to and the whole crew takes a break as we slowly drift to leeward.
Most boaters I have run into who say that hoving-to is not useful as a basic sail handling technique, have never taken the time to try it in a variety of conditions. For many sailors, it is considered a "storm tactic" of last resort so is only useful for extreme emergencies. I suggest that people first try it on a day with 5-kts of breeze with full sails up and then work up from there.
The only wind conditions that I cannot hove-to in is dead calm. Even in then I will trim the sails tight and lock the helm the other way. It is not uncommon for me to bob around in the middle of the cove reading a book with full sails up. When the wind starts to fill in, Papillon will wander around for a bit before settling into a hove-to because once the sails and rudder are set, that is where she is going.
The primary forces are balance between the backwinded foresail, and the rudder turned in the opposite direction. The foresail pushes the bow down and the rudder turns it up.
I would suggest starting the learning curve of what your boat will do when hove-to at 5-knts with your normal full sails. That way, there is very little stress, and you cannot do any damage no matter how wrong it goes. Begin by sheeting the foresail in tight like you are close-hauled, than turn through the wind and steer the boat on the new tack at a close hauled course. As the boat slows down, the bow will begin to fall off so ajust the helm to try to hold the bow up. Eventually the back winded jib will win out over the rudder and the nose will fall off and the boat will begin to accelerate which makes the rudder gain advantage. After a few of these scallops, the boat will likely find her happy place and settle.
As you correctly said, it is a tool but if you never use it, it is not useful. As with any tool, I find that the more I use it, the more uses I find for it. Who knew that a slotted screwdriver is actually useful for removing slotted screws. I thought it was just for prying things.
Still doesn't make dynamic sense to me but if it works, it works. I'll give it a try when I can. As I said, I must be missing something in my understanding of Heaving-too. I thought the object of the being Hove-To was to be "nearly" stopped in the water? When you are hove to with the main up, you kind of rotate around a nearly fixed point. With the rudder over to turn you into the wind, when the main give a little too much force, the backwinded headsail "pushes you backwards and off the wind" and visa-versa.
The boat has to make some way through the water for the rudder to exert any force. The old timers (offshore cruisers) say that a properly hove-to sailboat slowly makes way to weather while also experiencing leeway lying at approximately 45 deg angle relative to face of waves/swells.
Don't get me wrong. I heave-to often (sometimes just for practice) and am pretty comfortable at doing so with the Main and a headsail. What I don't understand is the dynamics of doing it with the mainsail down from the starting point. The statement was to the effect that he poster heaves-to to raise the main, therefore the main cannot be up at the time of heaving to. Its the dynamics of heaving to with the main down that confuses me. As in your discussion (which agrees with mine) the boat falls off and the main starts to win out and the boat accelerates where the rudder will grab. Makes sense. With a backwinded headsail, it seems the boat would continue to fall off, effectively just turning downwind.As you correctly said, it is a tool but if you never use it, it is not useful. As with any tool, I find that the more I use it, the more uses I find for it. Who knew that a slotted screwdriver is actually useful for removing slotted screws. I thought it was just for prying things.
As I said, I'll give the Heave-to without a main up a try and see if I can make my boat do that.
Agreed, that is why I said "nearly stopped" I fully understand heaving-to with the main and headsail out. Slow forward motion with side-slip. It is heaving to without the main up that has be befuddled.
I hoved-to a J90 I used to crew on just to prove to the skipper that it could be done. The J90's keel is about as narrow and deep as they come with a draft of 6'-6" and a keel cord length of about 12".
It was between races, and we were set up for the 15-kts of wind with full main and the 2nd to largest genoa. It took a bit of finessing the tiller and adjusting the main sheet, but I was able to get her stable with the wind about 100º and making only 2-kts to leeward.