[Public-List] Elderly Person Singlehanded Sailing

[Daniel Swords]

I live aboard a 1973 Alberg 30 sailboat, so whenever I am on my boat, I am at home. And often while I am at home on my boat and not sleeping, I would rather be out on the open water than in my slip. And if I am out on the open water, I would rather be hove-to or sailing than anchored.




Since I am out on the open water for many hours on most days, while being at home and living on my boat (versus while intentionally daysailing) I don’t care to be a slave to the helm. And also, since just like Chuck Berry, I have “no particular place to go” I have no desire to go very far away from my harbor or any need to go anywhere very quickly.




Adding to all of the above considerations, since I have become elderly, if I were to design a perfect live aboard sailboat for myself today, it would:

1.     Have the simplest and smallest and easiest and most comfortable to use sailing rig adequate for singlehanded sailing.

2.     Be capable of obtaining steerage way in 3 knots of wind, yet not be over canvased in 25 knots of wind, and capable of heaving-to in over 30 knots of wind, without having to reef or otherwise change the primary sail-plan.

3.     Be capable of self-steering an apparent wind course with a nearly neutral helm and a lashed tiller in winds between 5 and 20 knots on most apparent wind tacks.




I have discovered that those are exactly the sailing characteristics that Carl Alberg accomplished with the Alberg 30. The simple secret of taking advantage of these characteristics is to practice sailing in all wind conditions from 3 to 30+ knots with only a double reefed mainsail. Let me explain:

In addition to learning and practicing how to sail your sailboat with the trim of your headsail and your mainsail precisely coordinated for achieving your maximum speed on your desired course with your maximized manageable sail area and your weather helm overcome by your large rudder, you should learn and practice how to sail your sailboat as a cat boat, with only a double reefed mainsail and a nearly neutral lashed helm for maintaining your desired apparent wind course; with more concern for sailing with balanced-and-lashed-helm self-steering than concern for speed.




Why? Because sailing with just a double reefed mainsail is the simplest, easiest, most comfortable, and safest way to sail your boat singlehanded under any and all weather conditions.




Starting with simplest, easiest and most comfortable way to sail your boat: Your double reefed mainsail is easy to hoist and often you won’t even need a halyard winch. It’s attached to a boom so it is self tacking, no jib sheets to handle, no flogging sail and sheets and coordinated athleticism needed with every tack, no winching and straining needed to trim the overpowering expanse of loose footed headsail canvas because the trim of the mainsail is controlled with a multi-part mainsheet system designed to be managed singlehanded, no gymnastics to see around it, and no end of the day struggling to furl an expansive headsail because it has remained furled. And it will be easy to drop and stow the mainsail because approximately one-third of the properly reefed mainsail is already neatly secured to the boom.  




I can only vouch for my particular boat, but:

In winds less than about 8 or 10 knots, with just a double reefed mainsail, my boat has a slight lee helm. Initially, sailing so under canvased in light winds was a difficult learning experience for me. Sailing with a lee helm means adjusting the tiller to leeward to maintain a straight course. And if it is not adjusted correctly the boat will tend to fall-off and stall, meaning that it will become very sluggish and will respond very slowly to corrective helm inputs and will not naturally round-up to alleviate its stalled sail condition. In light winds sailing under canvased with a lee helm can sometimes require fairly precise helm adjustment and it is a different and sometimes difficult, but enjoyable, sailing skill to learn. And yes, you will be sailing slowly, but in these light wind conditions you would be sailing relatively slowly anyway; and if you have no particular place to go, what is the rush to go there?




In winds between 10 to 15 knots with only a double reefed mainsail, my boat has a very neutral or only a very slight weather helm, meaning it is fairly simple (with practice) to achieve lashed-helm self-steering.




Best of all, in winds over 18 knots and up to about 25 to 30 knots, sailing my boat singlehanded is like sailing a sunfish or a laser, except it is much dryer and no hiking athleticism is required. Even in winds of 30 knots the weather helm is only moderate and the lee rail is just beginning to touch the surface of the water. It doesn’t get much better than that!




Moving on to safest: With such a relatively small sail area attached to a mast at the luff, and the foot (or at least the clew) attached to the boom and controlled by a multi-part mainsheet designed to be operated singlehanded, you should have no anxiety of being physically overwhelmed by sail area on even very windy and squally days. The boat’s double reefed sail-plan will not be overpowering even in Beaufort Force 5 Strong Breeze conditions with winds gusting between 22 – 27 knots.




With just the double reefed mainsail trimmed flat and tight to the center line and the tiller lashed hard-over and abandoned to leeward, my boat heaves-to wonderfully well even in very squally Beaufort Force 6 Small Craft Advisory conditions, with winds gusting between 28 - 33 knots, while I ride out the frequent summer thunderstorms in relative comfort inside the cabin. In fact, the stronger the winds and the larger the waves the more securely the boat heaves-to. Trimmed flat, the double reefed mainsail weather vanes the boat to point between 50 and 60 degrees into the wind, meaning the waves are striking the forward quarter of the hull. The sail also serves as a steadying sail to reduce the rolling motion of the hull in rough waves. The very flat sail and rough waves won’t allow the boat to build up enough momentum to tack through the eye of the wind even if you tried (thus the helm can be lashed hard to leeward and abandoned once you have initially stalled the boats forward momentum). And if my boat were to jibe either intentionally by me to change course or accidentally (which it has only very rarely ever done) even in 45 knot gusts, the jibe is very benign because the boom is sheeted-in hard to the center line and the sail is small and trimmed very flat. Best of all, if an unexpected squall is rapidly approaching, I don’t have to rush about in panic mode straining to reef the already double reefed mainsail or to furl the already furled headsail. Also note that hove-to in this fashion, no amount of an exposed headsail is needed or desired. But do beware, the boat is not anchored so it will drift and fore-reach; generally at less than 1.5 knots and the fore-reaching actually allows the boat to keep from drifting directly downwind onto a lee shore and to even gain some upwind advantage. And also keep in mind: even though your boat may be pointing at 50 or 60 degrees into the wind, it may be tracking at only 70 to 80 degrees into the wind so your tracking Course Over the Ground will be different than your apparent heading.




So the next time you are just sitting alone on your sailboat in your slip with no available crew, perhaps daydreaming about owning a trawler, why not carefully and correctly tie-in a double reef and head out onto the open water and practice sailing your boat with just the double reefed mainsail and a lashed helm?  The practicing and learning won’t make you a faster racer or take you on a voyage to a distant destination, but it will get you out of your slip and will make you a better sailor. It will likely take some effort and some practice but give it some good honest tries. To avoid initial learning frustrations, start out by practicing on a close reach with a fairly steady breeze of 8 to 15 knots, and practice improving your skills from there.




And finally, consider this: Even if you are a very experienced and knowledgeable sailor, an excellent or even a renowned racer, or an experienced cruiser who typically is interested in sailing as fast as possible to far away destinations, are you practiced and able to sail your boat in light winds at slow speeds with a minimal sail area?   And are you practiced and capable of sailing with a balanced helm with your rudder nearly centered and lashed and used as a trim tab to allow for mostly hands free sailing without a functioning wind-vane or autopilot?  And are you capable of heaving-to or fore-reaching with a lashed tiller while you sit out a summer squall inside the cabin?  All of these are sailing skills worth learning and practicing.


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone