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Heaving-To

11K views 41 replies 20 participants last post by  travlin-easy 
#1 ·
Seeing a fair amount of interest in the topic in different threads over the last few weeks, I'd like to invite you experienced folk to share your knowledge to help us noobs learn the tricks of the trade. Thanks for your help.

For noobs, I found this as a starting point:

Heaving-To

Copy-and-paste the line below into the Google search window to get a list of sailnet threads mentioning heaving-to:

"heaving to" /site:http://www.sailnet.com/forums/
 
#40 ·
It's become apparent two different lines of thinking are operative
1."traditional" boats vrs. high aspect fin/bulbed keeled-balance spade rudder boats
2.heaving to for rest in mild/moderate conditions vrs. as survival technique

Would be worthwhile to acknowledge these different issues. My prior Tayana (full keel) and PSC 34 ( low aspect fin) were both cutters. Both would hove to by just leaving the jib sheet alone and flipping the wheel over and stay put. In storm force winds/seas both would hove to with wheel lashed ( and all crew below) with stay sail and triple reefed main. My current boat fore reaches a bit even with everything tucked down. However, she is extremely comfortable in all conditions if actively sailed and even tracks very well if any attention paid to sail balance to the point the AP suffices. As alluded to before many "authorities" suggest with "modern" boats heaving to is not a good storm tactic. If rest or conditions require a JSD is the tactic of last resort.
 
#42 ·
The only time I was able to get my Morgan 33 O.I. to heave to properly I had an 18-inch sea anchor deployed from the stern cleat, which brought the boat to a dead stop in 35 mph winds off Point Look, MD in Chesapeake Bay. The waves at the time were probably about 6 feet, I was bone tired and needed a break, so I decided to heave to. I did everything by the book, but the boat continued to slide forward at .2 to .5 knots. When I deployed the sea anchor, the boat stopped all forward motion, a big slick developed on the port side, the waves began to crumble about 50 feet from the boat, and other than the swells, it was almost like resting in calm seas. It was a really neat experience when everything I read in the Lynn and Larry Pardy book came together and for the first time in five hours I felt comfortable. I haven't had the opportunity to try this offshore, but I'm fairly confident it would work equally as well there.

Cheers,

Gary :cool:
 
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