Sailing under bare poles

[Joe11688]

Has anyone ever experimented running downwind in a strong wind with no sails up? You may be surprised to find out that once your boat gets "way on" you may be able to not only steer a straight course down wind by letting your centerboard down a little, but also steer a course almost perpendicular to the wind.

I've been experimenting with this for the past few years. I do it sometimes out in the bay to cut my speed down when I want to troll a lure in a strong wind. I've found that once you learn this technique it may help you some day when you're in a real bind. Learning this really paid off for me yesterday.

I launched my boat at the club yesterday and had every intention of raising my mast on land when I got there. Unfortunately I didn't have time because of unforeseen circumstances. I wound up launching my boat with the mast laying on the crutches. Luckily one of the members showed up to help me move a dock out of the way that was blocking the ramp.

To make a long story short, I decided to motor up the river in strong winds to a small protected cove and get my mast up. I got up the river about and eighth of a mile and my engine over heated and conked out. I was on the other side of the river from the club when this happened.
So here I am dead in the water, no mast and no sail to get me back with a strong wind pushing my boat closer to the shore.

I was able to get her to steer a straight course heading downwind in a foul tidal current by letting my centerboard down. Once the boat picked up some inertia or "way on", I was able to actually sail her back across the river toward the club. I was able to tie my boat to one of our moorings. I kick myself now for not trying for my own mooring. If I missed grabbing my mooring, I would have dropped my anchor and kedged her over to it eventually because I had my kayak tied to my boat.

Thank God I didn't decide to motor downwind up the river to find a protected spot to raise my mast. I'd still be there this morning. This whole experience has taught me something. If you can keep your head in a trying experience such as, this you can win out.

I've always tried to have an alternative plan in place just in case my first plan didn't work. I knew from past experience that I could steer my boat downwind under bare pole, but this is the first time I've ever steered her downwind with no pole.

 

[RichBone]

Funny you should mention it, Joe, on one of our regular weekly evening sails last year my two best buds and I did exactly that. My marina is located at the bottom of the Detroit River just as it empties into Lake Erie so if there's a southerly wind blowing I have to motor down one of two channels to get to the lake. We came out and sure enough a strong breeze out of the south so we motored out the channel to the southeast thinking maybe to close reach to the se or sw. Long story short, bit of a hard day and we were feeling somewhat lazy and no one was jumping up to hoist the 100 and a reefed main anyhow, we just kept motoring to the se. After a while we ended up circling around to the sw and ended up several miles south of the marina. I pointed the boat toward home and put the OB in neutral and found that with the now strong following wind and a slight south flowing current we were doing 1 1/2 to 2 kts. Why spoil a good thing by raising the sails (LOL); we had a pleasant "sail" home and no worries about accidental jibes and collapsed sails.

Rich

 

[Joe11688]

I've read about long distance sailors using this technique and this is how I know that it works. The thing that surprises me the most is that I can steer the boat to the other side of the river while going downwind with no sail up. I probably could have picked up my own mooring. Thinking back now, I wish I had tried to sail to my own mooring. If I couldn't sail to it, I could have just dropped my anchor and kedged my boat to it later. I wound up doing that later anyway.
I was soaking wet the other day when I got through.
I wound up dropping my fortress FX-11 anchor and later I had to pick it up from my 9' kayak which was quite a feat in wind a waves.

I went back down to the club yesterday and towed my boat to the dock with my kayak. I was able to finally raise my mast, remove my outboard and sail her back to my mooring. Now I have to find someone to fix my outboard.

 

[bellnier]

My 2005 6 hp Mercury OB needed repair last year. First clue was when I noticed that the spray of cooling water was no longer shooting from rear of the OB. I hadn't ever flushed the salt water out after each use. There are no hoses at the pier where it's trailered. The passages can get corroded and block the coolant water flow. The water pump impeller can wear down needs to replaced periodically. The bottom line is that I had the lower unit serviced at ‘Boat Works’ in South Windsor CT http://www.ctboatworks.com in for $250. I plan to rinse the OB after each day of sailing once it’s on the trailer. Probably run it in fresh water in a 5 gallon plastic bucket hung from the motor.

 

[Roger Long]

I was once running under power in an 18 foot Marshall catboat with transom mounted outboard in very strong winds seeking shelter. The engine started making strange noises and I thought perhaps the sheer pin had broken. Turned out that the wind was propelling the boat faster than the engine could and it was running under no load and even reverse load. I just put it in neutral until I got into the harbor. That was a day to remember.

 

[Joe11688]

I think the water pump impeller needs to be replaced on my motor. The throttle cable was giving me problems and I think that needs to be replaced also.
There's a rubber bushing that connects the water intake pipe to the power head that can get hot and constrict the water flow also. I hope that it isn't that. It involves removing the power head which is big bucks. The bushing probably costs 80 cents and the labor is $400.00

Roger,
I've never heard of that happening. I guess that it's something to think about.
When I think back now though, I wish that I'd have tried for my mooring instead of picking up the first mooring in our field that was handy. I'm certain that if I missed my mooring, it wouldn't be by much and like I said, I could have dropped my anchor and kedged my boat over to it. As it was, I wound up doing that anyway.

Have you ever tried to pick up a buried anchor out of a kayak? I'm glad that it's made of Aluminum. I figured that if I could hook up my pendant line to my mooring while sitting in a kayak, I could pick up my Fortress anchor if it wasn't buried too deep. My kayak is only 9' 2" long but it's pretty stable compared to other kayaks of that size but then I had gusty winds and bumpy waves to contend with that day.

I went back to the club the next day and I was able to tow my boat from the mooring to the dock with my kayak. I had the lines all ready to tie her up. The tide was starting to go out and I knew she'd lay up along side of the dock once I got her there.
I got the mast up and pulled the motor off and sailed back to the mooring.
Slip's Marine has my outboard and hopefully I'll get it back in a couple of day. I hope it ain't too expensive to fix. Ah, but what the heck, it's only money right?