[Public-List] Heaving-to an Alberg

Fri Sep 3 19:00:55 PDT 2010

Ed

I heave to when ever I go sailing  - I do it to take sails down and when I reef. In my experience, the head sail size does not seem to matter nor does the position of the main sail.I can  heave to regardless of the headsail I use. 

Here is what I do,

1. before heaving to, I tighten the jib as much as I can. If the 130 is up, I shorten it so it si about the size of the 110. I do this because I  not want the genoa to chafe on the fore lower shroud. I could leave the Genoa out all the way, but chose not to.

2. I tack and backwind the jib and when the boat has gone about 50 or 60 degrees through the wind, I put the tiller over as far as it can go and i lash the tiller.

3 The boat stops in its tracks because the forces on the head sail are balanced out by the forces on the tiller. Each forces wants the boat to go in a different direction - the result is that it goes nowhere. This has made reefing a no drama event. When I reef I usually, let the main out and proceed with my reefing process. I have a single line reefing system. 

If I were heaving to for lunch, rest in a storm, etc., I would let the main out so that the sails balanced pointed about 50-60 degrees to the apparent wind.  

When I am taking sails down, I usually release the main as it passes through the eye of the wind: the lazy jacks catch the sail. In this case, the boat ends up with the wind mostly behind the boat. It never goes through the wind. When both sails are taken down, before starting the engine, the boat lies a hull.

The only things that seem to get in the way of heaving to are 1) failing to have the head sail as flat a possible and 2) not having the helm on the opposite side of the boat, all the way over. One time I was trying to teach this technique to a friend  who has an Islander 28. The only time he succeeded was when his sail was flat. Most of the time he had a lot of belly in the head sail and his boat went through the wind. also, I am not sure if the helm was fully over. I was not on the boat when this happened. I was giving instruction from my boat as well as on the dock. I think he came away thinking his boat would not heave to. I  think he did not understand that he had to fully flatten the head sail and have the helm over on the opposite side of the boat to be successful.

I have found it helpful to have a designed line with a bowline in it to use for lashing the tiller after the boat has  passed through the wind.

I learned this technique with from the saiesman who sold me the CAL 27. I teach it to everyone I can and to  my sail class students.I think this may be the best single thing I have learned about sailing. It is my understanding that fin keelers can be a bit cranky when it comes to heaving to. This said, I had no problems heaving to with my CAL 27.

the salesman also taught me to backwind the jib when tacking to help the boat go through the wind. When I was racing the CAL, it helped to do this. I still do this though I am no longer involved in racing.

Lin and Larry Pardee in" Storm Tactics" provide an excellent discussion of this process. They also discuss combining heaving to with a sea anchor in really serious storm situations. They also discuss heaving to on the main only. they say one can do this when the winds are over 30 or 35 Kts. My recollection is that they say that you can not do this for practice in light or moderate winds.  I have a friend who has successfully heaved to with the mainsail only in 30 kt + winds in his Ludders 33.  I have every reason to think it would work with our boarts too - just no experience to confirms this observation.

In all fairness, I should also tell you that I have to review this process every spring after I have been off the water for six months.

I hope this helps.Bottom Line: these boats heave to very easily and stay put when heaved to. I can not comment personally on heaving to in storm conditions.

David

---- jon <whittle at shaw.ca> wrote: 
> Dear Ed,
>             We often heave-to our 30 Alberg. The strength of the wind 
> determines the amount of jib let out. We always raise the boom with the 
> topping lift(if the main is up) and let the mainsheet out full, thus 
> balancing the jib to the helm, while the main rustles gently. Works every 
> time. Just be careful of the boom when getting under way! Works thus far in 
> winds upto 25 knots. Good luck. Jonathan. "EMMY" As pointed out, the wind 
> WILL push you a bit but the comfort of eating a meal or just hanging out is 
> reward indeed.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "edward schroeder" <eddiediver at sbcglobal.net>
> To: <public-list at alberg30.org>
> Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 2:53 PM
> Subject: [Public-List] Heaving-to an Alberg
> 
> 
> Has anybody tried successfully to heave-to an Alberg? If so, what size 
> foresail was used? Every time I try, the boat starts sailing. Not that I 
> will be sailing the "Emotional Rescue" soon; it is out of the water and the 
> damages to the keel and rudder shoe/rudder/ tiller head are being repaired 
> after the grounding.
> 
> We were sailing along a few days after the grounding, when I noticed, that 
> to go straight, I had the tiller in my lap. I went back to the underwater 
> photos taken after the recent grounding and guessed that the bronze rudder 
> shoe/pintel was loose. Thats what it was.
> 
> Ed Schroeder
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