Stopping a sail boat

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Don Guillette

Don Guillette

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May 17, 2004
2,110
Other Catalina 30 Tucson, AZ
Yesterday I was watching a sailor (sail boats catch my attention because on this section of the Colorado River there are so few of them)try to retrieve his hat from the water. He made 2 different tries at it and missed with both. Finally, a jet skier retreived it for him. His first retrieval method was to sail by and try to pick it up on the fly but that did not work the 2 times he tried it. Next he tried to come head to wind but fell short both times he tried that method. Does anyone know how he could have done it easier and made it the first time? Using his engine is not the correct answer. Any ideas on what is wrong with the coming head to wind retrieval method?
 
M

mortyd

stopping

i would come in close hauled, heave to when i got to the hat and use a boat hook, but then again, i read your book.
 
J

John Dawson

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May 18, 2004
386
- - Baltimore
Good practise

Shooting into the wind is good practise to learn what your boat does in various winds; it will probably come in handy in difficult docking or maneuvering situations. In this case, approaching on a close reach would be better since you can maintain momentum as long as you want, spill wind when desired and drift to the correct speed. If he chooses to speed things up, he can undershoot the target, round up and back a sail. What is hard about his tactic is that he can only estimate how far the boat will coast into the wind and may undershoot it. If he overestimates, he has to somehow back a sail, steer and watch his target simultaneously. And then when he misses, the boat is dead in the water, he is in irons wasting time, needing to make a new approach, and the man overboard (or hat) is drowned.
 
OldCat

OldCat

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Jul 26, 2005
728
Catalina , Nacra 5.8, Laser, Hobie Hawk Wonmop, CO
Its a Small Boat

If its a small boat: weight, how the boat coasts, and a different sail plan may make for some differences. Yeaterday I was trying the method that I think you (Don) used on your Cat 30 for MOB, but trying it on my Catamaran. It was very hard to do on the small boat. It was easy to do on both the Cat 30 and the Cat 34 that I have chartered this year - but real tough on the smaller boat. That method - fall off for a few boat lengths, tack, blow off the jib sheet, fall off for a bit and then head up to the MOB (or object) on a close reach with speed controlled by luffing the main works real well on a big boat with a lot of its sail power in the head sail. Have I got this right Don? I had real trouble doing it this way Saturday with my small catamaran for an unplanned water bottle overboard drill. The Cat has a BIG main and a small jib - so a lot of power to deal with in the main. It is also harder to depower a boomless full batten mainsail rig. I got the bottle on the second try - but snagged it at too high a speed - not real slow as would have been needed for a MOB situation. Winds Saturday were up a bit here and shifty - the shifty bit being the hard part. I think on the smaller boat I would prefer to come back to it hove too. For example, a J22 will sail along slowly hove too - tack to hove too slightly above the target and then you can head down with the jib backed & head up and stop as you get there - properly done the boat will stop and stay while the person or object is retrieved. The other option seems to be to go downwind farther - so I have more time to get the 'wants to run away' catamaran properly aligned to the wind so it will slow down. I need to work this out for my catamaran - the trouble is any power at all in the main and it takes right off. It does heave too nicely so I should be able to work it out. Cheers, OldCat
 
Don Guillette

Don Guillette

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May 17, 2004
2,110
Other Catalina 30 Tucson, AZ
I read your book

Mortyd: That's what Patton said of Rommel before one of their tank battles!!!
 
NewportVic

NewportVic

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Jun 4, 2004
174
Oday 272LE Newport
You would learn how to do this pretty quick ...

if you were at a mooring in a crowded harbor such as Newport and had to sail up to the mooring alone a lot ... and if you missed it you would have to be sure not to drift down on the boats at the moorings downwind of you. It's all about coming up to it tight hauled and pinching to slow down just enough without loosing control ... and being very very fast with the net. You get 10 seconds unless the wind is light. There is no easy way out ... this does take practice. Then again it is a lot easier if you don't have to worry about drifting into another boat 60 ft. downwind. Vic From my experience on a J30 in NPT.
 
B

Benny

I always keep duct tape in the boat.

and also a fishing net. Tape the handle to a boat hook and you can pick up a floating ball. Hats are easier.
 
Don Guillette

Don Guillette

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May 17, 2004
2,110
Other Catalina 30 Tucson, AZ
Stopping

Great answers!! Most of the time the emphasis in sailing is to keep the boat moving with proper sail trim but being able to stop the boat is equally important. Unfortunately, I'll bet only 50% (I'm being generous) of the sailors worldwide are able to stop a boat within 6' of their intended target. The goal here is to position the boat so the wind can't possably fill the sails and how you do that is by easing the sails out as far as possable on a close reach. One might think the best way is to come head to wind and let the sails luff. This action will definately stop the boat but the skipper then has lost a critical element and that element is CONTROL OF THE BOAT. The loss of control was what happened to the sailor in my example. He misjudged the object and the only way it would have worked was if he got it exactly right. In my example, it was a hat. Suppose it was a MOB!!. In a MOB situation you don't have the time to work it out by going back and trying it again. The key to stopping is to approach on a close reach. You want to "feather" your sails and use them as an accelerator or a brake. Obviously, you have to practice this because it is easy for me to say but not easy to do. If a sailor tried it only 3 times he'd have it and it would give him added sailing confidence. Vic (Newport Beach) - I seen guys pick up moorings in Newport harbor. As a kid growing up on Narragansit Bay (RI)we had to do that all the time. Additionally, when we did bring the boat to a dock we could spin that baby on a dime but youngsters can do anything.
 
NewportVic

NewportVic

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Jun 4, 2004
174
Oday 272LE Newport
Don ... I still am amazed at what the J24

instructors do when they "show off" ... but if you are on a boat 6 hrs a day for the season up north and 6 hrs a day for the season down south ... Just to be 19 again ... took me 5 years to get to be able to sail up to the mooring with the J30, uncleat the main, and run up to grab the pick up buoy and look nonchalant about it. then I stopped having the motor on as back up ... sail off sail on ... old man of the sea. I probably can do it with a J24 ... but a catalina 30 would scare me ... pretty hard to regain control in 40ft. if i had to. v
 
M

mortyd

stopping

vic, are you melone's friend? if so, i sailed on your boat and stayed at your b and b.
 
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