Vega Heavy Weather Strategy

wxt8981 · Mar 17, 2008

I have "hove to" my Vega quite often, though not necessarely because of bad weather, but for a chance to just rest for a while (I sail mostly single handed), on other occasions to "really" know where I was- or any other non emergency occasion.
To "heave to", I needed to backwind the jib (or storm sail), and have the boom (main) on the opposite side with the tiller hard on the same side. That way the boat makes very little headway.
So far I've been fortunate- I never needed to "heave to" in an emergency. Secondly, whenever I did "heave to", I made sure the wind wouldn't blow me ashore.
Wilhelm, V-257Chris Brown svflyaway@... wrote: A comment was made a couple days ago about the Pardy's advice to lie
"hove-to" in really bad conditions. Since every boat is different, I have to
wonder about that advice and will ask others with more experience about the
Vega.

The Pardy's sail Lyle Hess designed Bristol channel Cutter type boats. There
are full-keel, heavy displacement boats. The Vega is a rather light
displacement boat with a D/L of about 186 - this puts her in more the class
of a race boat than a heavy cruiser. Also, the Vega has the cutaway forefoot
and the stern is also cut away. While it is still a reasonably long keel, it
isn't a full-keel.

About 30 years ago a fellow named Tony Marchaj wrote a great detail about
boats reacting in heavy seas. His conclusion as I remember it is that
different boats need to be handled differently in the same condition. A fin
keel boat (which the Vega isn't) doesn't do well laying ahull as it doesn't
have the lateral resistance and will start rolling while a full-keel boat
will resist this. Also Bernard Moitessier in Joshua wrote of running off as
fast as he could go taking the waves at an angle. I have done that myself in
my 40 footer (it was most exciting I must say, but the winds were only 45
and the waves no more than 30 feet).

But back to my questions of the Vega experts. How does the Vega sail
hove-to? With her light weight would it be better to keep her footing?

vega1860 · Mar 17, 2008

Hi Chris,

We found that our Vega would heave to quite nicely under backed jib
alone when we found ourselves in conditions we considered too heavy
for us to continue sailing.(A couple of times we reduced sail until
all we had up was our smallest jib) I could never quite get her to
heave to properly, all forward movement stopped, under the main alone
but she would lie quite well with reefed main sheeted in tight and the
jib backed, helm down.

The drill was to simply sheet in the main, if it was up, then jibe the
boat without shifting the jib sheets to the other tack. with the jib
backed, lash the tiller to leeward.

Malie ke kai,

Chuck Rose
SV Lealea, V1860
Honoluu (Friday Harbor, WA)

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coldnorthtoy · Mar 18, 2008

For what it's worth - and this is with very limited experience

-
I've found that she'll heave to just peachy under headsail or both
headsail and main.

In fact, 2 weeks ago was my first solo adventure with both sails up,
and the only reason I actually hoisted the main was to test my theory
that I could do so while hove to. The thought of letting the universe
pilot my boat while I raised the main just didn't do it for me.

It
worked flawlessly - the mainsheet was let out to get the boom
essentially 'ready to luff,' and then up she went.

As well, heaving to allowed me to lower the main on my way back in,
which of course, as per Murphy, was under much heavier winds than when
I'd went out.

It was rather challenging to manage flaking the main
while it hung over the water, but the fact that I could sit on the
cabin trunk, enjoy the view, and haul it down at a leisurely pace
without worrying made it POSSIBLE, which was what was important.

Cheers.

Jonathan
#2221

emmajen5 · Mar 18, 2008

Jonathon,

Can you describe your setup with sail and helm when are hove to under
headsail alone. I'm not quite clear how this is done without the counter
balancing force of the main. Thanks.

Garry
Raven V.2427

coldnorthtoy · Mar 23, 2008

...The setup, huh? Well, I just kinda tried it, and it worked.

Far as I can tell, she's totally stock, with hank-on headsails, in
terms of configuration; don't know if that had an impact.

I just tack to backwind the headsail, and once she's full, I put the
tiller hard over to the lee side, and lash it to either the lifeline
stanchion or the aft winch cleat (I can't remember) and then I believe
I let out a bit of the windward sheet - if I remember correctly the
clew was at about the location of the upper shroud (150 genoa).

I did it twice that day; worked great both times. It does sit much
farther off the wind without the main up, and that actually causes it
to make a bit more headway, if I remember correctly. She sits such
that the boom sat about a foot off the shrouds with the main luffing.

Hope that helps!

emmajen5 · Mar 23, 2008

Thanks for getting back, Jonathon. Yes that does help. I'm looking forward to trying the manoeuvre next time I'm out sailing. I
also do a lot of solo sailing and it would useful to use this for reefing as well.

Garry
V. 2427

coldnorthtoy · Mar 25, 2008

No problem, Garry. I do agree. I've yet to even try reefing her - or
sailing her in conditions which might consequently require it

= but
I suspect that yes, absolutely, it would work.

The question that comes to mind is whether or not she could heave to
under both sails, and then subsequently stand hove to under main alone
for a headsail change; I will have to perhaps give this a try today,
at least by luffing the genoa, since I am by no means eager to try a
solo headsail change quite yet.

Cheers,

Jonathan