Posted by admin on August 29, 2011 under Crew, Rules of Right of Way, Skipper | 
This is a real story with some details left out to protect the not so innocent. But it serves as a great sailing lesson to all of us and could save your boat from sinking. Read on!
A sinking boat taking down another
It was a regular weekend yacht club regatta – that turned out to be not so regular. One of the J22′s collided with another boat. The hole that was created was big enough to cause the boat to start taking on water. The club bought over their committee boat to tow the sinking sailboat back to the club house. The sailboat, instead of using a dock line for towing, gave the tow boat the anchor rode chain. Both boats cleated the chain part of the anchor rode to their boats and began the tow. The towed sailboat began taking on more and more water until it began to slowly slip under. Neither of the captains could untie the chain due to the tension and certainly did not have a set of bolt cutters onboard. The weight of the sailboat pulled the tow boat stern under the water and down they both went.
The ultimate irony was that upon diving the wreckage, the sailboat actually was sitting on top of the tow boat.
A few lessons to be heeded:
(1) Don’t tow a sinking boat
(2) Never use the chain
(3) In all circumstances make sure there is a knife readily available on both boats
(4) Don’t have a collision in the first place.
These kinds of tips are loaded through out the NauticEd Skipper Sailing Course. Just one tip like the above could save your boat, save a life, or spare some serious embarrassment.
Take the NauticEd Skipper Sailing Course today! And now, as of today, the Skipper Sailing Course is available in a PDF downloadable format.
NauticEd Skipper Sailing Course Now Available in PDF format
Posted by admin on August 18, 2011 under Skipper |
This is an add on to the last post we did on heaving to. I was looking over our Storm Tactics online sailing course and found this image we created which best shows a boat in a heave-to situation in a storm.
Sailboat in a storm in a heave-to position
They say a pic is worth a thousand words so with this blog combined with the last one I think we can leave it at that. A few things to note however. Here we’re using a storm staysail and main trysail to reduce loads on the rig. The trysail is not lashed to the boom but rather is controlled by a rigged trysail sheet from the clew of the trysail. This is done because the main sail is usually lashed to the boom and there are no connection points for the trysail. Also the boom can be held fast by the main sheet to stop it slashing around in the strong winds. The trysail can be let in or out to control how the boat moves and reacts with the wind.
Take the NauticEd Storm Tactics online sailing course and learn from Captain Ed Mapes how he has dealt with some big storms over his 100,000 mile sailing career. You’ll learn plenty more like how to fore-reach the waves, how to rig a drogue, how to prepare your boat, etc etc.
Posted by admin on August 8, 2011 under Bareboat Charter, Coastal Navigation, Crew, Rules of Right of Way, Sail Trim, Skipper |
How to Heave To
The books simply say to tack the boat and leave the head sail cleated to windward and turn the wheel all the way to windward (tiller to lee). While that’s correct, there are a lot more things to think about to pull it off correctly. This article is part of the training in the Skipper Sailing Course and is written by Grant Headifen, the Educational Director.
There are a few reasons you might want to heave to.
- Lunch, simply taking a rest, or instructor debriefing
- Storm Tactics and Reefing
- Man over board recovery
- Boarding by another vessel (ie, crew change during a race, or law enforcement safety inspection)
A Cool Trick about Heaving to!
The first thing to think about is (if you can) lie in a heave-to position so that your boom is on the port side. Why? So that you’re technically sailing “on starboard tack”, putting you in a more advantageous stand-on position with regard to the Navigation Rules vis-a-vis other sailboats “on port” tack. Wouldn’t want to disturb our lunch now would we? It’s not a big deal but just something most people may not have thought about.
What is Heaving To?
When you are successfully hove-to, your sailboat will be in a stable situation with the mainsail and headsail still up. Your forward speed will be minimal and you’ll be sliding downwind slightly. This makes it an ideal strategy for the situations above. Essentially you’re under full sail but nearly stopped! Cool eh?
How Heaving to works
The mechanics of the heave-to situation is that the forward speed of the boat has dropped to a minimum because the head sail is back winded (aback) and the main sail has been eased out far enough to reduce nearly all of the forward driving lift on the sail. The backwinded head sail creates a large turning moment on the boat to turn it downwind. As the boat turns downwind however the boat tends to pick up a little speed. As the boat picks up a little speed, the windward locked wheel causes the rudder to turn the boat back upwind, killing off the speed. It creates a little see-saw action. You can adjust the see-saw action by adjusting the set of the headsail, the mainsail, and the rudder angle. Each boat will see-saw a little differently in differing wind conditions and due to the distances of the rudder and the headsail center of pressure positions around the hydrodynamic pivot point of the vessel. Once the boat is settled, by making small adjustments to the angle of the rudder, the amount the mainsail is eased, and by the “depth” or flatness of the headsail, a skilled operator can make very useful adjustments to the exact way in which the boat is lying to the wind and seas. Practice practice practice! When that storm comes, you’ll be glad.
How to Heave To
Once you’ve got it down, you’ll enjoy having this little skill under your belt but you’ve got to practice it a few times. To enter into a hove-to position, if practical, start out on a on a port tack with the headsail sheeted in tight. Tack the boat slowly onto a starboard tack (bleeding off some speed while head-to-wind) but leave the headsail cleated (ie don’t tack the headsail). Turn the boat so that you’re on a close reach (60 degrees off the wind) and let out the mainsail most of the way out so that it is luffing. Now wait until the rest of the boat’s headway speed bleeds off. That’s the key part. If you turn the rudder to windward (the wheel to windward or the tiller to leeward) before the speed bleeds off, the momentum of the boat may carry it through another tack. Once the speed has bled off, turn the rudder all the way to windward (wheel to windward or tiller to leeward) and lock it in that position (lashing the tiller).
Heaving to in a Storm
It’s really important to realize that this is a completely wise thing to do in a storm. With a huge caveat, make sure you have plenty of sea-room distance to leeward on the track of your hove-to reckoning, avoiding shoals, or the other hard stuff (like land!). Heaving-to in a storm gives you and your crew a rest from the elements. And it can be a safer means of riding out a storm rather than trying to sail it out. The boat is in a completely stable position. You should probably lower or deeply reef the main or raise a storm trisail (very small mainsail) as well as a small headsail to reduce loads on the rig. Here’s the kicker that is really cool – since the boat will be slipping sideways, a wake is left to windward. Any breaking waves hit this “slick” and flatten out, thus reducing the wave action on your vessel. Now that’s really cool.
Heaving To in a Sailboat in a Storm
Using Heaving to in a Man Overboard Situation
Heaving to can be a very effective crew over-board recovery technique. The very moment the victim goes over the side you can crash tack the boat and go into a heave-to position. You must be sure that the victim is able to swim, that they did not sustain injury whist falling. It’s your call on this one but it’s a technique not often taught and so isn’t considered in the panic but, it will keep you from getting too far away from your friend in the water which is clearly the biggest danger. Me? I’d still get the engines on. On that topic, the biggest danger they say from turning on the engines is not chopping your friend up, you’re smart enough not to do that, it’s from getting a line wrapped around the prop in all the panic. So just make that’s part of your “engines-on” routine in crew over-board practice. Next time you’re out practice man (or woman) over board.
There you have it, you’re now a heave to expert. NOT! You haven’t practiced it enough yet! And while you’re out there practicing it, have fun. Or should it be the other way around???
Start with the NauticEd Skipper Sailing Course now!
