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109 Posts
Please share your single-handed tips and tricks which make sailing easier, more relaxing, more efficient and/or safer for those of us who enjoy the freedom of sailing alone.
I'll start things off.
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This isn't rocket science, but it's something I've developed out of routine and not something I heard or learned from someone else, though it may me practiced by many already.
When sailing alone in an area that requires short tacks, I've devised a way to limit scrambling from side to side, around the wheel in the cockpit.
After completing a tack, and once satisfied with the trim of the head sail, I remove the winch handle and form a "double-back" loop in the reverse direction around the winch and bring the tail back to the helm. Then I step to the high side, pre-load the empty winch and pop in the handle, again leading that tail back to the helm.
When I get to the next tack point, I simply give the sheet a quick tug to free the line from the self-tailing jaws, then hold the sheet tail high and "un-lasso" the line off one winch and haul the other sheet tight, without having to leave the helm position. Then I repeat the procedure in preparation for the next tack.
It doesn't sound like much, but prior to using the "double-back" loop on the loaded winch, I had to crawl to the low side a second time to "unwind" the sheet from the winch jaws, which was not only hard on the knees, but depending on wind strength, could get tiring on a long beat if the boat is healed hard.
I always "double-back" now. It has changed the way I sail alone.
I'll start things off.
**************
This isn't rocket science, but it's something I've developed out of routine and not something I heard or learned from someone else, though it may me practiced by many already.
When sailing alone in an area that requires short tacks, I've devised a way to limit scrambling from side to side, around the wheel in the cockpit.
After completing a tack, and once satisfied with the trim of the head sail, I remove the winch handle and form a "double-back" loop in the reverse direction around the winch and bring the tail back to the helm. Then I step to the high side, pre-load the empty winch and pop in the handle, again leading that tail back to the helm.
When I get to the next tack point, I simply give the sheet a quick tug to free the line from the self-tailing jaws, then hold the sheet tail high and "un-lasso" the line off one winch and haul the other sheet tight, without having to leave the helm position. Then I repeat the procedure in preparation for the next tack.
It doesn't sound like much, but prior to using the "double-back" loop on the loaded winch, I had to crawl to the low side a second time to "unwind" the sheet from the winch jaws, which was not only hard on the knees, but depending on wind strength, could get tiring on a long beat if the boat is healed hard.
I always "double-back" now. It has changed the way I sail alone.