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From: Richard Bradshaw (no email)
Date: Thu Mar 29 2007 - 22:14:00 EDT
< Thanks to all who responded. The picture of the sailboat and
< powerboat in big waves looks to me like an accident waiting to
> happen. I clearly have much more to learn about heavy weather
< sailing. I'm basically a cautious person, and am very aware of the
< dangers while on the water. I'm trying to use my local lake as a
< training ground to get experience for the day when I may retire and
< go to sea. This year (when I'm done building my birdwatcher style
< sailboat) I'll be specifically going out in stronger and stronger
< weather to slowly get more experience.
<
< Thanks again to all on the list for your shared knowledge. I'm sure
> there are many others on the list whom never chime in, but still get
> something from reading.
>
>
>
>Chris Curtis
Chris,
As you can see from all the foregoing comments, every boat handles a bit
differently. I've had fin keelers that wouldn't do anything I considered
"normal". Now we have a cutaway full keel. Wish it was a bit more full
since for us stability in all conditions is key but you can't have
everything unless you design or commission the design yourself.
Some boats will heave to with the jib and main, others the staysail and
main, while others the staysail alone, and still others the main alone.
Your boat will react the way it wants to and you just have to find out
what works best for your boat and for you.
We haven't had the opportunity to heave to yet but we will in the coming
months. It will be necessary for us to do so since we have ocean
crossing on our list. We also carry a sea anchor that we haven't used
yet. I'm about to replace the rode (will cut it up to make long dock
lines for the canal) on our secondary anchor with new rode (300' worth)
and that will act as our sea anchor rode once we take off the chain. We
have an over sized para tech unit and we will be experimenting with
that soon too. We would have liked to have experimented/tried all this
before we left the U.S. but we were under the constraint of the state
government to remove the boat from the state waters so had to delay
that trial. We will take care of that when we leave here.
My suggestion to you is to read all you can. Then, take out whatever
boat you have with an appropriately sized sea anchor and try that and
heaving to at the same time. After all you will be hove to when you set
your sea anchor. (Also, it's not set with the bow directly into the
wind/sea but off up to about 45 degrees or so. You will find out by
doing it and experimenting with it. Rig a line attached to a snatch
block that is over the sea anchor line and lead it back to the primary
winch and use that to adjust the angle of the bow to the wind/waves.
You'll find a good place to be.) Adjust. Adjust. Adjust until you find
the "right" way and degree off the bow for your boat.
Good luck with your experimentation trials. You _can_ start in light
winds to get the feeling and the effect. You don't have to go out in
heavy weather at first. Build up to it or better yet, go out with
someone else who knows what they are doing and then learn from them.
Rick
S/V La Vita
1987 Hans Christian 33T
Now lying:
31 degrees 51.570 N
116 degrees 37.531 W
Ensenada, Baja, Mexico (but leaving this year)
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