fair-weather sailor looking to get serious

[jakmedic]

Have been sailing 42 footer on Long Island Sound for 15 years, but only fair weather and on weekends (ie no real storm experience, haven't reeally been tested yet). My wife and I are looking to do long-term extended cruising in 2-3 years, but we know we have much to learn to do this well and do it safely. Beyond reading as much as possible, any suggestions on how to bridge the knowledge gap? Specficially, has anyone had experience with the commercial courses out there (ie Passagemaking classes, etc)? Are they worth the $$? Anything especailly good in the NYC/New England area? Any advice for skill preparation would be appreciated

[sailandoar]

Don't know just where you are located, but when I used to sail in the City Island area you could go out in a GALE and work with your storm sails and then duck in behind an island (Hart Island) for a break. Gaining confidence in heavy air and seas takes practice and where better to do than close to home. With proper planning you may never be in a survival storm put practicing in CHALLENGING conditions is the only way to gain confidence.

You can look around your area and knowing the weather patterns (e.g. NE gales with winds tending to go counter clockwise and die out) there will be places that will give you the safe haven that I had in the City Island area years ago and you can practice while feeling comfortable knowing that you can FIND SHELTER if things go wrong or you just need a break. The goal is to get comfortable and develop stratagies that will let you go on for long periods in rugged conditions without wearing yourself out. Even though you do not have sea room you can work at developing stratagies for Heaving To, and also do reefing drills, first reef second reef, third reef etc. Try to develop running rigging that will allow most if not all things to be done single handed in a pinch and then go out and check to see that they work.

Best,

[sailingdog]

The best preparation is going out in bad weather and sailing in it... Passage making courses can be good, but it does really depend on the instructor. They aren't always helpful, as the weather doesn't always cooperate... Hard to get heavy weather experience if all you have is sunny skies and 5 knots of wind.

Making some longer passages, say a week in length, would also be wise.

You should also be preparing the boat and setting it up for heavy weather—purchasing and readying a Jordan Series Drogue; getting and registering an EPIRB, preferably one with a GPS integrated into it; setting up jacklines, harnesses and tethers, and practicing their use; adding whistles, strobes, reflective patches to your PFDs or foul weather gear; having a proper stowage plan for you boat, so that things aren't going to move about in heavy seas/weather; adding latches to locker doors, cabinets.

I would also get a couple of books to read up on storm survival/handling tactics: Heavy Weather Sailing by Adlard Coles; Storm Tactics, by Lin Pardey; The Voyager's Handbook, by Beth Leonard. These books will give you an idea of what to expect, and what kind of tactics can be used in the different situations to deal with different types of heavy weather.

BTW, I am a firm believer in the JSD. You really should read up on it at the website above. According to Jordan, the inventor, it is kind of like an ejection seat for sailors...Set it out and then ride out the storm and then retrieve it after the storm ends.

One other thing... watch out for harbor inlets, channels and other places which can become very, very dangerous in heavy weather. Often, if a really bad storm is coming in, and you know you can't make a safe harbor or protected anchorage, it is often safer to head out to sea, than it is to try for a port under bad weather conditions. Just remember, the worst place to be in a storm is on a lee shore... and trying to brave breaking waves to make an inlet. The deeper water further offshore will mitigate many of the dangers that are present in shallower waters closer in to shore.

[tommyt]

I would agree with Sailingdog and prepare for the worst and then try to avoid any need for that preparing by watching the weather and planning accordingly. The intent of most long term cruising is cruising and not just getting there.

As to the Passage classes, I think that you can learn a lot if the weather cooperates. Most classes are scheduled well in advance and you can get a gale( not so good and you may not go) or no wind and sit there. Go play in the weather and build your equipment inventory for the inevitable.

[catamount]

Nothing like going sailing in all conditions to gain experience ;-)

Just come with me, my passages this summer seem to have been a magnet for heavy going, for example beating into 25 knots going down Delaware Bay, or the same in the Gulf of Maine trying to round Cape Ann; reaching through gale force winds and 12-foot combers well offshore of Ambrose Light, etc...

[sailingdog]

Hey Catamount... sounds fun...

Going out in bad weather is the only way to get experience. Before you go out...make sure that your VHF is DSC capable and connected to your GPS, and that you have an EPIRB.

BTW, a passagemaking course is probably not as good as going out on your own boat, as the course will have different techniques and equipment from what may work for your particular boat and the gear on your boat.

[Cruisingdad]

Steve & Linda Dashew also have a book called 'Surviving the Storm'. Good book if you take the lessons from it and don't get the crap scared out of you. It has a lot of good tactics and things that work and things that did not.

I cannot attest to what type of sailor you are (or are not), but it is not as bad as you might picuture in "the Perfect Storm". I have never been in anything even close to that... but I have never put myself in that position either. Watch the weather, be mindful of the seas, and you should be able to tackle most "non-named" storms.

Also, in the ocean, it is the sea state that concerns a sailor... not so much the wind speed.

Everone above is right: Practice makes perfect. Know your boat, experiement with it, and you will get it down much better than any course can teach you. Every boat handles the seas a little different.

Fair winds. You will do great.

[sailingdog]

Actually, the Adlard Coles, Pardey or Dashew book, if read the wrong way, can scare the snot out of you...

To survive heavy weather in a boatt—you really have to have a combination of knowledge, which is what the books are good for; experience, which is why I say you have to go out in bad weather; and equipment, which is why I recommend the EPIRB, VHF, GPS, JSD, etc.. If you're missing any of the three, you're probably going to pay for it with interest.

[Cruisingdad]

(laugh) Yep, SD, that was why I mentioned getting past the "scare the crap out of you" bit. Still, a good book. Good techniques and lessons learned. Probably not the best book to prescribe if you are trying to win the wife over to sailing the world though....

[hellosailor]

"but when I used to sail in the City Island area you could go out in a GALE and work with your storm sails and then duck in behind an island (Hart Island) for a break." Too many lee shores and rocks up around there!

You might try asking the local sailing schools (Oyster Bay SS, Offshore SS) about trying to arrange for a private lesson, having one of their instructors take you out on short notice in bad weather. The best way to gain confidence and control is by being there and seeing how the boat can handle it, and the best way to do that safely is by having someone with more skills out there with you. That doesn't have to be a paid hand...but I think that would increase the comfort level, and that counts.

Heavy Weather Sailing is a classic, I'd also recommend it. Fastnet, Force10 is focused on that racing disaster--but also goes into storm tactics and what did and didn't work, for crew and equipment, and is a very entertaining read.

With a 42'er, I'm sure you know the boat can easily overpower you as the wind builds. Probably the most important thing I was taught about sailing in bad wx is "If you think it might be time to reef, YOU SHOULD HAVE ALREADY REEFED." Odds are the polars would tell you the same thing, that the boat will be faster and flatter if you reef before you think you should. That, and I've learned that if I don't bring my foulies, I WILL always need them.

We're apparently going to have plenty of sloppy wx this coming week and weekend--good time to start sailing in it!

Going over your "heavy weather preparation" list (what, you don't have cheat cards?) also will help. If you don't have lists, make them. It will give you a chance to get it all set up in your mind, i.e. in heavy wx the odds are better that your fuel filter will clog (when did you last check or clean the fuel tank?) and that you might need your anchor "now". And that seacocks, ports, etc. should be secured against the wx, lazyjacks run...all the little things that are like reefing: Shoulda been done before you thought about doing it.