[Public-List] Fwd: Two days sailing...leaving the helm to make adjustments at the mast.

Zachary Smith zacharysmith.us at gmail.com
Tue Jun 12 20:50:36 PDT 2018


I almost exclusively single hand my boats. The routine for me depends on
situation, but here are the common cases:

1) Marina.
Exit marina under aux power. Point into wind, adjust engine speed to push
the boat forward at 1-2 knots. Bungee tiller to neutral. Go to mast and
hoist. Don't forget to keep an eye on watercraft around you.

2) Switch Jib/Genoa Underway.
Maneuver to reach. Balance the sails. Tiller free. Free the jib sheet. Go
forward drop genny/jib. Boat will will round up to to heave. Raise the new
jenny/jib. Go back and start turning back onto a reach. The boat may not be
on the same tack you left her on at this point. Sheet in the jib/jenny
before she makes the reach. You can steer the tiller with your butt while
you sheet in.

3). Holy Crap Situation.
Turn the boat into the wind. Let the tiller free. Get that jenny/jib down
before she bears off. Now you're heaved and you can address the problem. I
use hank-ons for a lot of reasons; if you use a furler you can't run a
downhaul on the forestay (or could you? never tried). But I run downhauls
on my foresails so I can get them down fast without transiting all the way
to the foredeck (safe!).

The thing about the A30 is, with just the main up you can leave the tiller
free and she'll heave. This is your primary tool in lieu of a complicated
mechanism like a tiller pilot or a wench.

Zach

On Tue, Jun 12, 2018 at 9:28 PM, Michael Connolly <crufone at comcast.net>
wrote:

> Zach,
> By hand downwind? Would you explain?
>
> I was suggesting how to safely leave the helm for let's say 30 sec to make
> an adjustment at the mast and then head back to the helm. All this with out
> any sophisticated gadget on board. For someone who single hands this would
> be handy information.
>
> Let me add that the sea state is reasonable, wind not too heavy or gusty
> and no specific current.
> Michael
>
> ------------------------------
> *From: *"Zachary Smith" <zacharysmith.us at gmail.com>
> *To: *"Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" <
> public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
> *Cc: *"Michael Connolly" <crufone at comcast.net>
> *Sent: *Tuesday, June 12, 2018 10:53:41 PM
> *Subject: *Re: [Public-List] Two days sailing...
>
> Balance the sails on a reach, jib sheet to tiller hard on, by hand
> downwind.
>
> Zach
>
> On Tuesday, June 12, 2018, Michael Connolly via Public-List <
> public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
>
>> Gord,
>> Now that I know you don't have a tiller. What simple system would you use
>> if you had a tiller? What would be simple and reliable to jaunt up to the
>> mast loosen the halyard and jaunt back to the cockpit?
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>
>> From: "Michael Connolly" <crufone at comcast.net>
>> To: "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" <public-list at lists.alberg30.or
>> g>
>> Sent: Monday, June 11, 2018 5:35:47 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Public-List] Two days sailing...
>>
>> Gord,
>> What do you use to handle the tiller whilst you go forward to the mast to
>> adjust halyards, etc.? Bungee cords? Auto helm? Tiller tamer?
>> Michael
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>
>> From: "Gordon Laco via Public-List" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
>> To: "public Alberg 30 List -- open to all" <public-list at lists.alberg30.or
>> g>
>> Cc: "Gordon Laco" <mainstay at csolve.net>
>> Sent: Monday, June 11, 2018 9:15:22 AM
>> Subject: [Public-List] Two days sailing...
>>
>> Hello gang…
>>
>> Well I got out on the water both days this past weekend… they were very
>> different days sailing…
>>
>> On Saturday I had intended to work on my MG, which is undergoing what has
>> become a massive rebuild. Well I should say I was going to hold tools and
>> watch while my friend did the work, but he had to cancel so I sat here
>> wondering what to do with an unexpected day with no obligations… then I
>> remembered that Saturday is the day our Club was running its annual Single
>> Handed Race. I gulped my coffee and made it to the club just as the
>> skipper’s meeting was ending, and got my name on the list. When asked if I
>> was wanted to be rated flying sails or white sails, I first said ‘naw,
>> white sails only, I don’t feel very energetic.’
>>
>> Then I looked out the clubhouse windows at the glassy water, slack flags
>> and masthead wind indicators pointing all different directions and thought
>> about the misery of the downwind leg back from Flat Point… and said ‘Oh,
>> can I change that… flying sails please’. They changed it.
>>
>> As usual for a weekend race, the fleet was much diminished, being
>> composed of myself in SURPRISE, two Express 30’s, a CS27, three Sharks, the
>> deadly fast VOODOO DANCER, a well sailed Viking 28, and my friend and arch
>> rival Matt in his Pearson 27. Matt and I chatted bit on the wharf catching
>> up… but suddenly I saw the committee boat shooting out of the club… crap,
>> we’re late, better get out there for the start.
>>
>> So out SURPRISE and I hummed, when out at Midland Shoal buoy I shut down
>> the mill and hoisted sail. Looking back over my shoulder I saw Matt in
>> SUNDANCER hoisting sail right at the club’s breakwater… hmmm, he’s got a
>> long way to beat to get to the start, I thought, and joined in the to and
>> fro swinging. Before the start.
>>
>> No sooner had I got into the fray but the air started filling in. East
>> with a bit of north in it… could this be? Yup… Like a slow motion movie
>> being sped up to normal speed, all the yachts began showing bow waves, then
>> heeling over as the breeze built. The five minute horn went, I caught it on
>> my stopwatch… down came the sequence and as the last seconds counted down
>> here comes the herd all on starboard tack jostling each other up to the
>> line. Were was I? On port tack of course, reaching along at 5 knots. I let
>> them all cross our bow and the line… then hardened up my sheets and crossed
>> alone in clear air at speed. The rest of the fleet all ran a few hundred
>> meters on starboard then one after the other tacked onto port and started
>> down the course.
>>
>> I should describe the course… the Single Handed is a ‘distance race’,
>> normally running east to Flat Point off Port McNichol, then north and a bit
>> west up to Ross Shoal, then back round Midland Point to a finish off the
>> Club’s breakwater. Because the air looked so light, the course was
>> shortened to just Flat Point and back…. and it was looking like I could lay
>> it in one long close reach. Could this be? Oh yes.
>>
>> The wind steadily built, and backed a little more to the north so after
>> the first fifteen minutes we found ourselves bounding along at 6.4 knots
>> with sheets cracked a little, heeling about fifteen degrees… in first
>> place.
>>
>> Several miles later, I knew we were nearing the red pin off Flat Point,
>> but as usual I couldn’t see it against the trees behind it. I swear it’s
>> one of those pins that is mischievously moved by the CCG just to annoy
>> people trying to find it… then I saw it… a few degrees to leeward. The
>> leaders of the pack were now about even with me but several hundreds of
>> yards to windward… and clearly they hadn’t seen it yet and were still
>> sailing the higher course. They were VOODOO DANCER and two of the Sharks.
>> haha.
>>
>> Then the air got softer, SURPRISE slowed dramatically to 4.1 knots. I
>> dashed up to the mast and eased my halyards, eased the outhaul, then jumped
>> back to the tiller. As I returned I saw my foes had finally seen the mark
>> and were coming down, carrying a renewed breeze with them…. They got by me,
>> one of the Sharks blanketing me a bit but we all rounded together…
>> SURPRISE’s bow nearly overhanging VOODOO’s transom. One of the Sharks,
>> VOODOO and SURPRISE started back to Midland… the new breeze making the
>> return again a close reach. At first the Shark and VOODOO stayed in close
>> company… but as the wind built again I could not only keep up but felt like
>> overtaking. The Shark took a shot upwind with tight sheets…. I was in about
>> a boat length behind VOODOO. I could see him continually glancing at me… I
>> guess he could hear my bow wave and this was annoying him. I feigned a shot
>> to windward myself as it I were going to try to drive over him but as soon
>> as I saw him tightening his sheets to climb himself in order to block me, I
>> eased sheets and dove to leeward. VOODOO didn’t look back for a fatal four
>> or five minutes during which I got far enough to leeward that I could drive
>> through below him out of his wind shadow… and got by.
>>
>> By this time VOODOO was far enough up that he was feeling the nearness of
>> the Shark, and for the rest of the race the two of them jostled each other,
>> the Shark trying to get by, VOODOO trying to defend his lead. I left them
>> to it, and concentrated on getting the most out of the building air. I was
>> up to the mast and back several times tuning for the increasing breeze that
>> was romping us along at 6.1 knots. We passed Midland Shoal buoy, one mile
>> from the finish… when VOODOO saw that we were going to beat him to the
>> finish. He finally stopped fighting with the Shark and eased sheets a
>> little in order to use his windward position to come down and catch us. It
>> didn’t happen.
>>
>> So SURPRISE, a full keeled yacht heavily laden with cruising gear that I
>> can’t be bothered to unload despite the fact that we race every week… won
>> on real time, then was catapulted ahead by our PHRF rating. What a great
>> race. I think what saved us was the fact that the shortened course didn’t
>> have any hard beating to windward, just close reaching both ways which of
>> course is our best point of sail. Wahoo.
>>
>> But what happened to Matt in SUNDANCER? He was very late to the start… so
>> didn’t do the race. I don’t know what happened to him, but hope nothing
>> broke.
>>
>> Sunday, I went for a sail out of Toronto with my good friend Janice in
>> her A30 LITTLE WINGS. Down in the city it was blowing 20 - 25kts or so,
>> whipping white caps in the harbour and sending Albacore dinghies planing
>> back and forth as we took the tender over to the island. We tucked a reef
>> in the main, but ended up sailing under genny alone all day and that was
>> plenty of sail for a pleasure jaunt. Out past the East Headland, the east
>> wind was sending waves down the length of Lake Ontario, so the waves were
>> nice mature 5-6 footers with an occasional breaking crest. We bounded away
>> south for a while, then tacked and bounded back to the city. Wonderful
>> sailing in really exhilarating conditions.
>>
>> A fellow in a trimaran paced the racers on Saturday and took a series of
>> nice photographs of some of the boats in the Single Handed Race on Saturday
>> (two of the Sharks, the CS27, an Express 30 and ourselves) I’ll forward
>> them if anyone wants to see them.
>>
>> Nice weekend.
>>
>> Gordon Laco
>> www.gordonlaco.com
>> #426 Surprise
>>
>>
>>
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