Singlehanding

[Tartan34C]

Originally Posted by TrueBlue

You mean Captain Ron's been wrong all these years?
Captain Ron's Philosophy of Sailing

I stand corrected and am truly humbled by the Captain’s wisdom.
All the best,
Robert Gainer

[sailingdog]

LOL.... well said robert.

[wiseleyb]

Hey! I'll take Capt Ron's job any day!

[Lancer28]

Navtron, it will take you 2-3 days to get used to singlehanding at least.

Expect the first 30 hours or so of being wide awake, then cat nap 20 minutes at a time to get your rest back. You'll feel weary for sure.

[dohenyboy]

On this topic--if I am singlehanding, and outside of shipping lanes, heave to, turn on the anchor light and go below to sleep, am I legal? Not asking wise, but legal.

[sailaway21]

dohenyboy,
The short answer is, "NO". You are not at anchor. You can display, at the masthead, all-around red over green though along with your regular side and stern lights, serving much the same purpose as I perceive your intent.

[sailingdog]

Actually, this is quite illegal. A boat at anchor would be expected not to be moving, since it is made fast to the bottom. Your boat would still be moving...

If you want to use lights...then the lights you'd probably want are two red all-arounds, one about a meter above the other. This is the light signal for a vessel not under command. The two red lights with the bicolor and stern light would be the best lights to use IMHO. From the USCG on light signals:

A vessel not under command shall exhibit:

1. 1. two all-round red lights in a vertical line where they can best be seen;
   2. two balls or similar shapes in a vertical line where they can best be seen;
   3. when making way through the water, in addition to the lights prescribed in this paragraph, sidelights and a sternlight.

This would alert nearby ships that your boat was making way, but not very likely to respond in terms of making course corrections or alterations.

Sailaway's suggestion of a Red over a Green, is no different than that of a masthead tricolor... it is merely another way to indicate that the vessel is a sailboat, but does little to indicate that the vessel may not be able to make course alterations.

Originally Posted by dohenyboy

On this topic--if I am singlehanding, and outside of shipping lanes, heave to, turn on the anchor light and go below to sleep, am I legal? Not asking wise, but legal.

[Lancer28]

You could potentially fly your not under command pennant and sleep during the day under heave-to. If I were going to do it at night, I would use a masthead strobe instead of green/red or your anchor light which could be mistaken for a vessel underway.

[sailaway21]

The strobe light is considered a distress signal.

[wiseleyb]

SD: My boat seems to move along quite nicely at anchor - maybe you need a higher horse power anchor! You'd think your multi-hull windage would do the trick though. Let me know if you need any help and I'll throw you some tips.