How to heave to in my DS II

[smitrock63]

I'm new to sailing and my DS II is also new to me. I've sailed her two or three times now; so, I'm getting better. Was wondering if anyone could give me their procedure on putting this boat into heave to?

I couldn't seem to get it done. But, again, I'm new to all of this.!!

Thanks,

[TIM WEBB]

Welcome to the sport, the DS, and the forum!

Heaving to should be pretty straightforward in any sloop rigged boat - not sure if/how it is done with other rig types. Simply tack the boat, but leave the jib sheeted to the new windward side. Let the main sheet out - the main is not part of the equation. A boom vang will help keep the boom from bouncing up and down if there are waves. Slowly put the tiller over to the new leeward side and hold it there, either with a tiller tamer/clutch, bungy, lashed to cleat, or what have you. Works best with CB down. And that's about it! Boat will be "in neutral", although will continue to move across the water in a slow zig zag fashion, so be sure to have plenty of sea room. When you're ready to get going again, simply let the jib out to leeward, center the tiller, and sheet in to whatever point of sail you want to go in.

[smitrock63]

Welcome to the sport, the DS, and the forum!

Heaving to should be pretty straightforward in any sloop rigged boat - not sure if/how it is done with other rig types. Simply tack the boat, but leave the jib sheeted to the new windward side. Let the main sheet out - the main is not part of the equation. A boom vang will help keep the boom from bouncing up and down if there are waves. Slowly put the tiller over to the new leeward side and hold it there, either with a tiller tamer/clutch, bungy, lashed to cleat, or what have you. Works best with CB down. And that's about it! Boat will be "in neutral", although will continue to move across the water in a slow zig zag fashion, so be sure to have plenty of sea room. When you're ready to get going again, simply let the jib out to leeward, center the tiller, and sheet in to whatever point of sail you want to go in.

Thank you. Very informative. One question; when you say let the main sheet out, I guess you mean let it out to wayward side (as far as it will go out (mine will rest on the side stays if i let it out too far)?

Thanks again and sorry for my lack of knowlege

[GreenLake]

Here's a diagram showing where you want to end up:


The final orientation of jib and tiller are roughly parallel, so that the tiller tries to steer the boat up, and the jib tries to pull the bow down, so they balance each other.

As you can see, the main will not need to rest on the stays, but you can always cleat it off so the boom does not touch the stay. (It's OK for the sail cloth to do so, just make sure your spreader ends are taped or have rubber boots). (The main in the picture is shown more tightly sheeted than you want, you'll want to let it out a bit more than that).

The boat will not actually stop, but move slightly forward (so water flows over rudder and CB allowing you steerage) while drifting downwind. The result is a movement a bit more forward than downwind with speeds around one knot or so, depending on the wind.

You might find that you need to experiment with the initial tack and the speed at which you set the final tiller position. Don't be surprised if the boat simply completes the tack on your first try -- simply bring the jib over, and try the same thing on the other tack. In short order you'll get a feel for things. You also want to make sure not to tack so slowly as to stop the boat entirely. Heaving to requires some remaining forward motion.

As Tim wrote, the main is left loose. If you pull it in a bit you will find that the angle of your drift will change to a more forward angle. This would allow you to "steer" a bit, but if you pull the main too far in, you start sailing again. After you gain a bit of practice, you might be able to use it to "drift" into a downwind position on a dock.

Like so:


(Click on the images to see them at a larger size).

Good luck!

[GreenLake]

And a PS.

You can tie off the tiller in the final position. If you let it go and it comes forward, you'll start sailing.

[smitrock63]

Man, that's very informative. Thank you so much. I will give it a try this weekend. Very good information. !!!!!

[TIM WEBB]

Thank you. Very informative. One question; when you say let the main sheet out, I guess you mean let it out to wayward side (as far as it will go out (mine will rest on the side stays if i let it out too far)?

Thanks again and sorry for my lack of knowlege

I think GL answered your questions very well, and never apologize for questions and/or lack of knowledge! Everyone has to start somewhere ... ;-P