Steer With Sails

[Don Guillette]

Mates: Picture this -you've left LA Harbor and are sailing in 8 knots of wind on your way to Catalina Island. You're relaxed and life is good!! You're in the middle of the northbound and southbound shipping lanes, where massive cargo ships pop up over the horizon and are soon on top of you. Suddenly you hear a SNAP and the wheel does not respond. Immediately your rear end starts to pucker and once you get over that you want to determine the problem but that's the least of your worries. Who cares what the cause is -- all you need to know at this time is the rudder won't respond and you're in a dangerous situation. A container ship could appear any moment. OK, for you guys that would want to know what caused the problem, the steering cable jumped off the sprocket. You've now wasted precious time determining you can't fix the problem in the middle of the shipping lanes (for you tiller guys, the rudder fell off and is floating away). Next, you decide to locate the emergency tiller, which you've never tried to install. On a Catalina 30, you need to remove the wheel, which you've never done before, and now you find the nut is frozen.

So, some pre-planning and anticipating problems that could occur while at the safety of your dock and practicing a way out of the situations that can happen would have made this adventure a walk in the park.

How many of you know how STEER WITH THEIR SAILS?? How would you steer with your sails??

At minimum, locate and practice installing your emergency tiller!!

 

[rufus1138]

good stuff all around here don, emergency tiller drill last week.

to steer with sails up wind ease jib to come into the wind (trim in main alternately)
to steer down away from the wind haul in jib or ease main, hard to imagine a gybe being easy but should be possible with a little hull steering with induced heeling from crew.

 

[foolproof]

Abandon ship, and let the insurance company worry about it...the boat belongs to them at that point!

After that, start shopping for a newer, bigger boat

 

[Don Guillette]

I know you're kidding but naw it's a simple fix, as most are, once you got out of the danger zone and had time/place to mess with it.

With my boat, I put my "heart & soul" into her and I couldn't abandon her. She'd have taken care of me long after I couldn't take care of her so to abandon is the very last resort. It's like a skydiver jumping out of a perfectly good plane!!

The point of the topic is to learn to steer with your sails. You can do that with a perfectly good rudder. Mates, should try it as it will make them better sail trimmers.

 

[WayneH]

When we lost steering on my previous boat, it was, of course, in a bad place to be. One of the bolts holding the lower gudgeon let go with a very loud crack and suddenly the tiller felt real screwy. We were running downwind in a shipping channel with shallow spoil banks on each side. By the time we had the rudder on deck, we were in irons.

We ended up coming the rest of the way in, steering with the outboard motor in following seas. If you think running under sail is tiring, try rotating an outboard for a few hours. It all ended well, tho. The bolt hole was above water. I managed to dock the boat in the marina without hitting anything. A friend drove me to ACE hardware and I picked up a replacement bolt. And we were able to sail out the next morning.

The current boat's emergency tiller fits between the wheel and the rudder post but only goes in ONE WAY. The emergency tiller and the handle to the manual bilge pump are on separate loops of line around the rudder post. The Admiral also knows the correct orientation and location of the emergency tiller. Hopefully, I will not have to steer using the sails only.

But we practice this a bit. I'm always asking the Admiral how much pressure she has on the rudder and adjust the sails to both maintain speed and reduce the pressure. If you're not dragging a barn door back there, you can get places quicker.

 

[thinwater]

Abandon ship, and let the insurance company worry about it...the boat belongs to them at that point!

After that, start shopping for a newer, bigger boat

Let's swim in front of a containe ship.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Two important things that come up in this issue:

1. Practice before you NEED to do it!!!

2. Try the emergency tiller under power before you need it under sail.

Basic sail handling is what is so important about Don's book and chart. Almost any sailing instruction manual will reflect what rufus explained.

Practice. It's like docking...

 

[rufus1138]

Docking! What!?!?! Lets think about this before we go getting all crazy here...docks are dangerous, lets stick to steering with the sails....ill make it back to a dock eventually.

Forever under way,
Rufus

 

[Jackdaw]

How you need to react in an actual situation really depends on the nature of the failure and what your rudder does after the fail. There are three basic scenarios.

1) it is loose and weathervanes in the water. The best possible of the three. Steering with sails is possible in good conditions.

2) it's jammed in position. Jammed in line with the keel is good. Jammed hard over will make any steering impossible.

3) broken off. Like #1 unless damage has holed the boat. Then you have a big problem.

Always have an emergency steering tiller for both tiller and wheel boats. Remember if the wheel jams, the emergency tiller might not work either. Offshore racing boats are required to have a full backup steering system, usually a removable rudder in a cassette hung from the transom. THAT can save the day.

Practicing sail steering in 9 knots and flat water is fun, but not really helpful in the situation that will likely break your steering. For a sobering read, look up the official report on the 'uncontrollable urge' racing wreck that claimed the boat and a sailor's life last year. Or the 'wings' report from this year. This couple (friends of mine) is an expert cruising team and simply could not steer their boat with sails after the steering failed.

 

[Bill Roosa]

sounds like we need a lot of practicing for all the various contingencies. I'm thinking I'd rather just do the maintenance on the rudder controls more often cause I'm pretty sure all this "react to the situation" is going to impact my beer drinking and chasing the admiral around the boat

 

[dmc]

While I have never tried this.....

but, back when I first started sailing I read a lot of books. One of them suggested (if you still had an engine) the quickest fix was to tie a heavy line starboard to port. Fix a drag to a length of line and secure it to the heavy line with a bowline. By moving the drag starboard to port you can steer a boat, roughly.

When steering with sails is the rudder fixed or free floating, or does it make a difference?

Peace

dmc

 

[shemandr]

To the extent possible I would say fixed.

 

[Tom J]

A friend sailed with me one day on my O'Day 23 and showed me how to balance the sails. He had the boat sailing herself with nobody on the tiller, and he could steer her with the sails. I was amazed, and try to practice what he showed me.
As rare as losing the rudder may be, I saw it happen one day. A boat sailing towards us on the ICW suddenly did a tight 360 degree turn and started drifting downwind. As we got closer, we spotted a rudder floating by. My wife fashioned a lasso and got it around the rudder and we towed it to where the sailboat had anchored. We passed the line to him, and he explained that he had just paid $1800 to get the rudder fixed. Ouch.

 

[NotCook]

This is one of the advantages of having multiple masts. Aside from all the practice you get with halyards, sheets, sail covers, and various standing rigging, you do have the advantage of a mizzen to help you steer. We regularly steer with the mizzen, and while underway, rarely have to use the wheel at all.

On the otherhand, this is a reminder that we need to pull out the emergency tiller and practice installing it. We are also curious about the knotted line of the stern steering and how well it might work on a 39 ton vessel. From what we have read, we would need a line to a winch on each side to move it from side to side.

Great topic Don!

 

[Crackaloon]

I'll have to practice steering with the sails now. Do most boats have an emergency rudder on board, or generally those that go out of protected waters? Seems like more of a SeaTow membership thing in Barnegat Bay.

 

[justsomeguy]

I'll have to practice steering with the sails now. Do most boats have an emergency rudder on board, or generally those that go out of protected waters? Seems like more of a SeaTow membership thing in Barnegat Bay.

I'd make a rudder out of my dinette table or that piece of plywood over my useless portside cooler if I had to, but it's a skill worth practicing, nonetheless.

Not that I've ever practiced it!

 

[wannabesailor]

I had a steering cable snap coming into Tofino on Vancouver Island a couple of years ago and the emergency rudder couldn't be found (not my boat!!)
---solution was one crew member down below with 2 large monkey wrenches on the rudder stock above the quadrant with another crew member in the companionway who was viewing where the boat was heading yelling instructions to him ---when he was told 'port' the crew member at the steering quadrant would pull the port monkey wrench about 5 degrees, a call of "port, port" meant that the guy on the wrench pulled it 10 degrees (and of course he'd pull the opposite wrench for a turn to starboard). This method brought a 45 footer all the way smoothly into dock ---of course on my boat I ALWAYS know where my emergency tiller is :dance: but of course have never tried the emergency tiller :naughty: but of course I know that I will get around to it (someday) but I also do have 2 very large pipe wrenches on board

John Forsyth
MOPION

 

[dmc]

NotCook......

As I said I never had to test the drag steering method. I read about the method and it seemed quite possible, so I remembered the method. I too would be interested in a sea trial. It's winter here in Michigan and Ohio doesn't look much better, sea trials will be in the spring. Certainly, the larger the boat, the heavier the equipment. Moving the steering line with a winch or block and tackle would be possible. It may not be so difficult to move the steering line on a 30' or 35'. And, I would think, the steering line should be tied in place when a constant course is set. I believe that drag steering may work under sail if a port is distant. I don't think the drag steering would work well for docking maneuvers, but it may be the fastest way out of a shipping lane when standard steering is not available.

Peace
dmc

 

[NotCook]

DMC

I don't think the drag steering would work well for docking maneuvers, but it may be the fastest way out of a shipping lane when standard steering is not available.

LOL. Yeah, can you imagine the havoc you could wreck with a 200' knotted line dragging behind as you navigated a channel into a marina?!

This is also a good case for a bowthruster. You can make changes in direction with it in close quarters and low/no speed. I think one would be able to make a reasonably successful attempt at docking with a bowthruster if the winds were relatively light. Having said that, steering from the bow rather than the stern would require a whole different approach.

 

[MACGREGORSAILOR]

Had this happen several years ago with the family ( 4 kids and Wife ) sailing from Leamington Ontario to Sandusky OH. I was happily making 7+ knots and one of the kids had a hat blow off. We were in the middle of a retrieval drill when I heard a crack and watched the rudder blade break off. Because its a "tip up" type, a line had the broken part secured to the boat and it was recovered to be repaired and reinstalled in port. In the mean time, I dropped the outboard into the water. Running it just above the idle setting gave enough steerage to continue sailing to Cedar Point marina and the kids enjoyed a couple of days at the amusement park. Since then I've learned the value of not putting such stress on the boat and would have reefed long before such force is developed and that hats are cheap and not worth saving. On the plus side, there can be a tremendous advantage to an outboard motor on a sailboat that can turn to port and starboard.