Scared of heeling...help?

[John Nantz]

Sue - Time Behind the Wheel Helps

The Catalina trip you did provides an indication of what you can go through now so that's a plus. Maybe this will help.My wife has sort of struggled for years with the "heeling boat problem". Years ago one of her top priorities was to have me install a clinometer. Well, I bought one but never got around to installing it - and it's a good thing, too. Last winter I was looking for someting in the garage and came across it again (this happens every once in a while). The little ball inside has apparently rusted and the plastic has yellowed so it's good the boat didn't get defaced.What seemed to work for her (and therefor me) was geting behind the wheel. I run the jib sheets and she steers. Heaven fobid if there is another sailboat around because I hear comments like "how are we doing", "are we gaining on them", "can you trim the sails any better?", etc. What is really interesting is she isn't concerned about how the boat is leaning!!! My theory is when you're steering you have a really good feel for how the boat is doing. You find that "sweet spot" where the boat is moving ahead with every puff of wind but not "falling over". By steering the boat you get a much better feel for it's willingness to want to be upright which is comforting. Anyway, that's my take on this.By the way, since you read Latitude 38 you should notice the pictures they always seem to have of boats in wild situations on the Bay. It should be comforting to know that they eventually recover. I normally crewed (but not on theis day) on a C&C 36 where the skipper was flying the chute and wound up with the spreaders in the water but the boat righted itself. Granted, with your boat being a liveaboard, all your belongings would be scattered everywhere but the boat will take care of itself. Just keep the companion way hatch closed!

 

[Capt Jim24025]

Good point John! CONTROL

When you are holding the wheel, you feel more in control of the boat and don't worry as much. You also know that YOU can turn to flatten the boat as you want.I use the same trick if someone starts to feel seasick. I try to put them behind the wheel and they have other things to think about than nausia.Jim

 

[Rick]

My two cents

Let me add my two cents. I've been sailing for about 45 years with plenty of ocean experience. My first memories were of being terrified by my father who loved to heel our small 13 foot canvas Comet. That left me with a fear of heeling, too. I think it's natural. Like a fear of snakes. Everybody has it to some degree. Only when it goes beyond a certain level does it become a phobic problem. I've basically overcome that fear and also taught my wife to do the same (she was more fearful than me). Here's my solution to "fear of heeling."1. Realize the boat is designed to do that. It's actually meant to heel. It's supposed to do that and is built exactly for that purpose. When it heels, tell yourself that this is exactly what is supposed to happen. 2. Realize that wind doesn't capsize a keel boat. Small, centerboard boats and small cats will capsize but not a keel boat. More wind spills out of the sails as the boat becomes increasingly horizontal. It's waves that capsize boat. Unless a breaking wave equal in height to about half the length of your boat hits you, you will not capsize. You may go far over and feel like you're going to capsize, but you won't. 3. Learn the basic techniques to control heeling. They've already been mentioned in the other replies. The simplest is just to reef your sails and go out with just a small amount of sail flying. I also sometimes just sail on my jib with the main down. The point being that if you go out in 20 to 25 knot winds often enough you'll learn that you can sail rather comfortably and flatly just so long as you have only a little bit of sail up. You'll not only gain confidence, but you'll actually start to enjoy sailing in heavier winds. My wife used to hate anything more than 5 to 10 knots. Now she's bored. She doesn't especially like 25 knots but she's comfortable doing it because she knows the boat is under control and sailing relatively flat.4. Realize that you don't need to learn a lot of skills to sail in heavy wind. Yes, you can do things like tighten the back stay, tighten the vang, tighten the sails to make them flatter, drop the traveler to leeward and so on. But you can also just deeply reef your sails and forget the rest. It doesn't have to be complicated. Better to put in more reef than you need. Yes, you may be sailing more slowly when there are no gusts, but when they hit, you'll be fine. 5. Realize that there is nothing macho about heeling. Don't let anybody make you feel like you're a wimp because you've reefed your sails and aren't burying your rail in the water. The truth is that boats sail faster with less heel and there is less strain on the rig. Sailors who reef early and stay on an even keel are smart. The macho mega-heelers aren't.6. Start off gradually in building your heavy wind skills. Go out in 18 knot winds on a sunny, hot summer day when lots of other boats are out, too. The spray will be welcome and the company of other nearby sailors will be reassuring. Continue to push the envelope. Believe it or not, you'll actually get to the point when you can go out during cold weather at night all by yourself in 25 knot winds and have fun. Not that you necessarily want to do that, but if you have to do it, you'll be able to do so without really worrying about it.

 

[uploadjoe]

You aren't alone...

My wife and I purchased a 25.5 Hunter about 3 weeks ago. Last weekend we hired a sailor to take us out and get us a little more familiar with sailing. He purposly had us push the boat close to the wind I was nervous and my wife was downright scared, but we both realized that there is we wouldn't have to sail with that much heel because we weren't comfortable both physically and mentally. In the end we were happy he had us do it as we are now comfortable in the fact that likelihood of us capsizing is very low. I am sure in the future we will learn to enjoy more heel then we find comfortable now, but I also know when taking out non sailors I will try to keep the boat as flat as possible.Good Luck!-- Jeremy

 

[Waffle]

You get used to it

You should have started on a smaller boat the tilts a lot and takes water over the side! An O'Day 28 is not going over unless your in a big storm! Enjoy, relax and get into it! The tilt is the fun part, otherwise we be powerboaters!