1st Time Singlehanding

[bruceyp]

JSL,
Went out solo this afternoon. I was planning to head out to Sandy Hook Bay and run my jackines etc, but when I got to the boat it was kicking 16 in the gusts so I stayed in more familiar waters. But to keep my interest I decided to see if I could reef down singlehanded. My wife and I were out in the bay 2 weeks ago and when it kicked up to 18-20 . I wasn't sure enough of myself to try heaving-to so we had our hands full for a while, even though we reefed the Jib and pulled it in all the way in for a while.
Anyway, I Hove-to and went up and (jiffy)reefed the main without any problems. I was amazed at how nicely Hannah Lee stayed hove-to until I was ready for her to head off again. And she handled so much better with the jib all the way out but the Main reefed. Pointing was much improved over no jib full main.
So now there are two more techniques that I can use when I need to.
My boat is a 1978 C&C 29. They are notorously tender, hence my need to learn to reef her down ,but she does ok.
BP

[AlanBrown]

Jim,

Per your original request, please allow me to share my first serious solo sailing experience with you. As it is a story, it's going to become quite wordy. I hope I don't bore you too much.

Preface: prior to purchasing a 1981 Hunter 30 in 2000, I owned a series of powerboats and had a USCG 6-pack license. My last boat was a 35 ft. Mainship which I cruised from Catskill, NY to Nassau, Bahamas. When my wife and I split up, I solo cruised it back to FL to sell. Before I left Nassau, I bought the Hunter. When I returned, I lived aboard, worked as a dive instructor, and used it to motor out to Athol and Rose Islands. I rarely raised the sails.

Fast forward to 2003.

It was time to bring the Hunter back to the States. I had been caring for my elderly father in FL for 2 years, and had kept the boat at the Nassau marina. At the marina, the manager and other thieves stole me blind; anchors and rodes, batteries, propane tank, tools, outboard, you name it.

In April 2004 I returned to the boat, got it running and provisioned. I left Nassau and headed back to FL.

After leaving the harbor I raised the main and the 135 genoa. Hey, I was sailing at last! Unfortunately, the wind petered out and I ended up motor sailing into Chub Cay. I anchored out overnight and headed west toward the Banks the next morning in about 15 knt. east winds. I was flying along, while big swells from the SE just passed harmlessly under my stern. I was pumped! I couldn't believe how peaceful and quiet it was without the motor running!

The winds picked up to about 20 knts. and I was afraid I had too much sail on. But, I was flying along, probably close to hull speed, and I had a long 80 miles to cross the Banks to Gun Cay. Without an autopilot, it became a long, hot day, with rarely another boat in sight. In order to leave the cockpit to get lunch, I had to tie the wheel down and hope the boat held its course.

Late in the afternoon I could see dark clouds north and south of me, with occasional lightning flashes. I kept flying along toward Gun Cay, hoping that I could pass between the 2 frontal systems. No such luck!

Finally, with thunderstorms ahead and to both sides I figured it was time to bring down the sails and get ready for a blow. I steered into the wind, tied off the wheel and rushed up to the bow. After a bit of a struggle, I got the genny down and bagged. I threw over the old, spare Danforth, with the ratty rode that the thieves had forgotten to steal, and let out all the rode I had. After it caught, the boat turned back into the wind and I focused on lowering the main.

The main proved more difficult. After lowering it about half way one of the slugs jammed in the track and I could neither raise or lower it. So, all I could do was tie as much sail as I could to the boom and pray for the best.

A few minutes later the squall hit. The wind shrieked, the boat jumped up and down, and the lightning flashed. My only comfort was that I was in the middle of the Bahama Banks and if my anchor broke free, I could drift quite a ways before I hit anything solid. Fortunately, the anchor held, the storm passed, and when I woke up the next morning, the main was free and looking none the worst for wear.

The Banks were as quiet as a mill pond and as clear as glass. I motored about 20 miles to Gun Cay, where I dropped anchor.

About 10 pm that night I motored out through the cut between Gun Cay and N. Cat Cay. It was pitch black and I was thankful I had already passed through to cut twice before. I set a course for Ft. Lauderdale, using my handheld gps, factored in about 15 degree drift, and headed out into the Gulf Stream.

The winds were light from the south, the sky clear as crystal, and I motor sailed with just the main all night long. The only nervous moment I had was when a cruise ship started overtaking me from the stern. Eventually he veered away and I breathed a sight of relief. I arrived in Port Everglades around 11 am and started looking for a marina.

Trying to find a marina slip in Ft. Lauderdale on a busy Saturday is another story in itself.

Anyway, Intuition and I made it safely back to FL and I've now had an opportunity to share this story with someone. Thanks!

[dquack]

I have so rarely seen Jacklines rigged properly.

When conditions require A Harness and Jacklines, they should be used as a matter of course. Each person should be aware of their capabilities and know when to put a harness on. The Jackline should be run from the side of the cockpit forward to near the front of the cabin on most boats (one on each side). The Tether that is sold at most marine stores has always confused me.
As you move forward along your jackline, your tether should be sized according to your boats beam. It should be long enough so that you can reach the other side of the boat, but just barely. In other words; If I have a boat with a ten foot beam I should probably have a tether that is about 7-8 feet long. When I am working along on the high side of the boat and I fall, I will fetch up on the tether/jackline before I go over the side. It should be sized for the boat I am on.
The jackline should not go all the way to the bow. The Jackline should terminate at a point on the cabintop or toerail that allows me to get to the bow to work on things, but just barely. If I fall it should be very difficult to get overboard. Again I should fetch up before actually going overboard. The same with the stern. The Jackline should not be attached all they way at the stern. Reaching the stern should cause the tether to be tight when I am there as well.
The tether/jackline combination should be located and sized such that I should have a very hard time (read impossible) getting over the downhill side of the boat once hooked in.
Now, all I have to do is hook in on the high side and I can work in relative confidence that a slip will not leave me dragging in the water.
These one-size-fits-all tethers really confuse me.

The idea of Jacklines and a tether was to keep you aboard. What good is a Jackline/Tether combination that allows me to go overboard if I slip?

Smooth seas,

Don

[arbarnhart]

Don,

I can give you one answer from the small boat perspective. I don't know if my boat can be turtled (never seen a report of it), but similar ones can. I have postive flotation, which means the boat won't sink, but doesn't guarantee which way the stick will be pointing if I got rolled by a big wave. Yes, I know the tether should be releasable under tension, but I would still prefer that it would be possible to reach the surface first. I thought the idea of a tether was to keep you with the boat. BTW, I am not planning to sail under conditions where rolling is much of a possibility; this is largely blue sky thinking.

[dquack]

As much as I hate to admit it, I have sailed in some pretty gruesome storms. I have been aboard several times when the mast has hit the water.
One note about a boat being knocked down;
A wave 1/5 of the boats length can knock it down and even roll it. Hitting the water with the mast is usually not what breaks it, it is the boats ability to right itself with tremendous force that usually breaks the mast or tears sails. If your boat is ever knocked down by a breaking sea, just stay on deck and it will right itself (if it is a typical sailboat with a heavy keel). A tether that keeps you on deck is the answer here as well.
regarding a boat turning "Turtle". the sad fact is that most boats will stabilize upside down if conditions exist to get them there (breaking seas). Usually, however, they will also right themselves when the next wave comes along and tips the keel past the place where it is over the boat. The keel wants to be below the boat. The odds of the boat being turtled and staying there are very slim. The odds of a sailor slipping on a canted wet deck are much more probable. Preparing the boat so that you stay aboard is clearly most important. Having a way to unhook your tether from the harness end is important too, but very unlikely to be needed. The sad fact is that we are told of the importance of being able to unhook our harness under load because it allows us to get off the boat to begin with!

For some reason, rather than setting the boat up properly, we try to redesign the equipment to make up for installation flaws!?!?!
There is just too much bad information out there.

Don

[arbarnhart]

What I was getting at is that I am not sailing what you regard as a typical sailboat. I have some concrete ballast and a steel swing keel. I have no business being in big breaking seas. But weird things happen. Boats get turtled in inland lakes by passing squalls sometimes. I am mostly sailing in the sounds in NC. My bigger concern is falling off and being separated from the boat. If you read my earlier entry, a little inncident that spooked me was messing with my boarding ladder (a stupid thing to mess with under way no matter what). If I had a tether that would not let me reach it, then I would have unclipped and still been at risk.

[dquack]

Sounds like you have a cool boat. I'm not sure that the typical boat made today is actually better than the ones made many years ago. In fact I think the older designs have a lot of good features that have been lost in the name of weight savings and speed.
Anyway, I was talking to a girl here at the marina who singlehands her 1979 Hunter 30 all the time (very active sailor). Strangely enough she was asking me about Jacklines and tethers for her boat. She decided on a tether with three different lengths so she could work 1)on the rail, 2)at the mast, and 3) full length to reach over her dinghy located under her boom. I have a heavy duty sewing machine here and we are making it up specifically to fit her boat. She has a pad-eye at the Cabin Exit on the cockpit, At the Mast and two at the beam, along with her Jackline which runs from the front oh her cockpit to her toerail near the front of the cabin. She was walking all over the boat making sure she could reach everything by just hooking different hooks on her tether to different attachment points.
She loves the really short portion on the tether for working at the mast. She calls it her third hand and leans against it while working there.
We used 20,000 pound webbing for the harness, 6,000 lb tubular webbing for the tether with a bungee sewn in it to take up slack, and flat 9,000 spectra webbing for the jacklines (so it wouldn't roll underfoot).
I feel confident that the right tether, jackline, and pad-eye combination can be created to keep you aboard when working anywhere on the boat.
Even for leaning over to work on your boarding ladder.

[sailingdog]

That's nice and all, but if the VHF gets damaged by you falling over or gets caught and separated from you in the fall, what are you going to do???

Originally Posted by BarryL

We have had this discussion, and there are two camps. One feels you need to 'clip in' every time, the other does not. There is no right or wrong answer, it's up to you. If you are aware of the risks you can make an informed decision.

My sailing waters (Long Island Sound) seem similar to yours. I sail singlehanded often (about once a week during the summer) and I don't have a harness or jacklines. I rationalize that by wearing (not just having, but wearing) a PFD and by carrying a waterprood VHF. When I singlehand I am never more than 2-3 nm from land. If I do fall overboard and can't get back aboard, I can either swim / float to land, and / or call for help on the radio. FYI, my boat has a swim platform and I have the boarding ladder rigged so I can deploy it from the water. I have tried to get to get from the water into the boat and I am able to. Of course, if the boat is moving faster than a knot or two I won't be able to catch it.

If I were to head further from land, or otherwise be less likely to receive assistance, I would get a harness.

Again, since we're adults, we can decide how much risk we are willing to tolerate.

Barry

[arbarnhart]

Originally Posted by dquack

Sounds like you have a cool boat. I'm not sure that the typical boat made today is actually better than the ones made many years ago. In fact I think the older designs have a lot of good features that have been lost in the name of weight savings and speed.

I like the boat and it has some decent features for a small trailer sailor, but mostly the point I was trying to make was that with the smaller low displacement boats like this, one of the scenarios for disaster planning is for the boat to get rolled and remain inverted for some period of time. I would like to think it will never happen (no reports I can find for an N17 turtling or even going all the way over for that matter) but there are other more popular boats that are similar that it has happened to. So I try not to be too smug about it as there are probably just so few N17s that reports of any kind are pretty rare. Anyway, if that were to happen (turtling), I would like to be able to surface without detaching the tether first.

[chucklesR]

What a bunch of pessamistic party poopers. Here a guy posts on the joy of single handing for the first time and you black cloud dragging, white knuckle types make it a thead on jacklines, turtling and oh my god what could happens.

He wore a PFD in 5-8 knots of wind on the Chesapeake Bay for Neptunes sake - we probably had all of 2 foot waves. I don't even have jack lines on board my boat, and not a harness anywhere, and frankly, screw ya'll - they are not needed at this point, sailing in the conditions I sail in. I'm out there with dinghy's and Sunfish, and 420's - do you think they have tethers on?

This is not open ocean sailing, this is not 100 years ago where I couldn't get a doppler radar shot of weather every 60 seconds.


Give it a rest, quit whining about what if's and go sailing for once.