single-handed sailing

Moderator: GreenLake

single-handed sailing

Postby K.C. Walker » Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:01 pm

It was suggested by GreenLake that we haven't had a discussion on single handing in a while. Having mentioned it in another thread that I often do, I thought I'd kick it off. Hopefully others have interest and/or stories about their single handing experience

I like to go sailing a lot and the DaySailer makes that pretty easy. In the last five years I've gone out between 30 and 45 times a year. Rounding up crew can sometimes be problematic. I don't have many friends that are as obsessed about sailing as I am, and those that do, have their own boats, so aren't always available for crewing. So what to do… go single-handed!

Our summer place on Lake Winnipesaukee is a family compound, so I have a lot of in-laws, nieces and nephews, etc. to pick for crew. I try to get each one of them out for at least one sail, which I enjoy and they do as well. Most of them are not sailors so it's mostly a teaching experience, which is nice. But sometimes you just want to go single-handed and get away from it all!

On days when the conditions are ideal and there's a good steady 12 to 15 knot breeze, it's a little easier to line up experience crew, which is really fun. Under these conditions and especially 15-20 kn is when I really want to have crew. However, there are plenty of times I want to go sailing and it is 6-8 kn or even 3-7 kn. A lot of people find these conditions boring, especially non-sailors, but I find them fascinating and enjoy sailing these conditions. Again, single handing is a great option. I find the boat in these conditions actually moves nicely with one person. I find anything up to 12 kn pretty easy to single-handed in.

So, setting up the boat for single handing isn't hard and makes it fun. Some of the modifications that have helped for me are making sure that all the control lines are accessible while sitting on the rail, even sitting right up against the cuddy. An adjustable and long hiking stick and a good swivel with a ratchet block for the main really helps. Using a motor really makes it a lot simpler. I leave and return to the dock under motor power and raise sails once I'm clear of all obstacles. Using a topping lift and a way to furl the mainsail on the boom makes motoring much more pleasant.

I have not kept track of the percentage of time that I spend single handing but I would estimate between 25 and 30%. I find single handing very meditative and a good way to really get in tune with the boat.
KC Walker, DS 1 #7002
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby Thomasjbrothersjr » Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:29 pm

I bought my boat last fall for exactly the same reason... Sailing by myself. Last year I had a bunch of days ruined by people backing out at the last minute. I also own a hella fast Hobie 16. When its blowing I need a second person, absolutely. Not to mention it is almost impossible to rig alone. I wasn't going to let this deter me from sailing though.

We are in the process of rehabbing my 1983 DS 2 (check out my other posts). I bought Harken 40 swivel blocks to take the place of the cams on the jib track. To go along with the blocks we purchased Harken 240 Bullseye cams for my jib controls. These will be mounted on the centerboard trunk for ease of sailing alone.

Over the winter I purchased a roller furling kit and sail from a fellow sailer in NY. We installed it last weekend. The bugs are being worked out now, i.e. routing the furling line and fairlead placement, moving the jib halyard block . When this is done it will also make for easier single handed sailing.

K.C. ... I plan on doing my fair share of sailing up there this year. I have been given the ok to use my buddy's boat ramp/launch at his condo. He is located on the western shore of Alton Bay, just south of where the lake opens up to the Broads. It is about 2 hours away from where we live down in Mass. I will let you know when we plan on heading up. I know it's a big lake but maybe we can catch up.
"It's not the towering sail, but the unseen wind that moves the ship"

1983 O'Day Daysailer II "KALEIGH B"
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby GreenLake » Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:48 am

I make two changes from my usual setup when I'm single-handing.

I tie the two jib sheets together so they form a loop. Grabbing any part of that loop is enough to control whichever jib sheet I need to operate, and none of them can be out of reach.

I tie a bungee across the boat about 4" aft of the forward end of the tiller. I wrap 2-3 turns of thin shock cord around the bungee and the tiller. This holds the tiller in place when I have to let it go. However, as the bungee stretches and the "wrap" also slides along the bungee if enough pressure is applied, I'm at all times free to reach for the tiller and steer actively. The response will not have the same feel, because I may be fighting some pull from the bungee, but I don't have to think about engaging and disengaging a tiller tamer. When I'm done steering, the "wrap" is usually in a good position to just let go, if not, a quick nudge will slide it in position. I've crossed half a lake (at night to boot) with the sails and tiller balanced, not needing to touch either. Great fun.

Like K.C. writes, in anything up to about 11kn single handing is fine, and I include "pseudo" single handing in that category as well, which is when you have a young person with you who is not yet able to reliably "crew" - but who might hold a line or hold a tiller for a brief moment in light air. I don't even change my setup from fully crewed to single handed if I have that level minimal crew support.

Having a reef extends the range that I can comfortably single hand. Experience helps as well, although I'm acquiring it at a slower rate than K.C. - I simply do not get out nearly as often. Early fall (or very late summer) afternoons are the best around here for gentle winds, and nice temperatures in air and water. Idly sailing around alone is something very refreshing. Usually, all it takes is an hour (or two) on the water to regain some inner equilibrium.

Once a year, I cross one of the bigger lakes around here for a "destination" - some dock on the opposite side. When I started this, I had crew, but the last few years I've sailed these legs solo, with return late at night with moonshine or city lights preventing things from being absolutely black. De-rigging the boat in the early AM can be a bit of a challenge to my stamina, but I know what I am missing if I can't make such a trip in a particular year for some reason.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby K.C. Walker » Tue Apr 30, 2013 8:15 am

Thomas,

Good point about being able to rig the boat by yourself. My previous "big" boat was 18 feet. It doesn't seem like one foot should make such a difference, but it really did. The mast was almost 27 feet and a heavier cross-section. I really didn't feel like rigging that one by solo was an option. Though, I probably could've figured out some crane contraption. With the DaySailer and a hinged mast it's relatively easy to set up solo.

I'm constantly trying to refine my rigging procedure. It definitely gets faster the more I do it, and towards the end of the season. I should write down my checklist and time my rigging with a stopwatch. It seems that over the winter, though I think I'll remember, I forget how to rig quickly.

One thing I did last year that helped speed up rigging is that I leave the jib sheets rigged on the boat and then just attach the jib to a pigtail. It seems simple but it saves me from making sure the line is clear and routed properly through the Barber hauler and is going through ratchet block the proper direction, and then goes over to the fairlead on the centerboard trunk and tied off with a figure 8 knot.

Yes, Winnipesaukee is a big lake. I've never sailed to Alton Bay, actually have never motored by water down there either. I've been on the lake since the 70s and there's a lot of it I have never seen by water. We're in Guilford on one of the islands. Last year my big adventure sail was to Wolfeboro Neck. As it turns out, I was single-handed that day.
KC Walker, DS 1 #7002
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby ChrisB » Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:19 am

+1 on the motor. My usual launch ramp is protected from chop unless the wind is really blowing but it is into the wind from the ramp most days and the water near shore is very shallow. It is beneficial to be able to clear the dock and the stinkpotters and be able to raise sail in clear water. I carry a lightweight aluminum anchor and it lives in the cockpit well by the transom where it can be quickly deployed if the engine dies.

Before I leave the dock I attach the halyards to the sails so I can raise the sails from the forward end of the cockpit. I use a downhaul line attached the the head of the jib to douse it and that also keeps the sail from "climbing" the forestay as I motor into the wind. I don't use a topping lift or the boom crutch. I let the end of the boom lay on the deck outside the coaming (usually on the port side) and cleat the mainsheet to keep it from falling into the water. The loose mainsail is dropped into one side of the cockpit. To raise the main, I bear off about 20 degrees on a starboard tack, idle the engine, and secure the tiller tamer. This way if the main starts to fill and heel the boat as I'm raising it, I'm already on the starboard side of the boat counterbalancing the heel. Both main and jib halyards drop into a 5 gallon bucket in the cuddy. Prevailing winds here are 15 knot southeasterlies in the summer so sitting on the rail is necessary for single handing. The molded coaming on the DS II made that uncomfortable so I solved the problem by gluing together layers of construction grade styrofoam until I made a rectangular block the same height as the molded coaming. This gives me a wider deck to sit on while hiking. The ends of the tiller tamer drop over the stern cleats so it is easy to disconnect the tiller tamer from either tack. I use a hiking stick and normally sit slightly forward of the mainsheet when going upwind and further aft off the wind, always keeping one eye on the cumulous clouds that gradually build to the west. One day last year the wind went from about 8 knots to 28 knots in a matter of minutes as the wind was being drawn into a thunderstorm. I quickly pulled the sails down and motored into the lee of one of the nearby islands. I was glad to have the engine that day.
Chris B.
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby navahoIII » Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:56 am

Speaking of the Tiller Tamer, we have one, not used yet, but can't it be tightened just to the point of holding the tiller where you put it and still allow resetting the tiller with out adjusting the Tamer? In other words, does it have to be fully 'locked' in order to hold the tiller?
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby K.C. Walker » Tue Apr 30, 2013 10:39 am

Chris,

+1 for sitting out on the rail comfortably. I've got a DaySailer I and the coamings were beyond uncomfortable to the point of bruising until I lowered them flush with the deck. the side deck still seems hard after a long day of sailing. I've been thinking about some kind of padding. Hiking straps also help a lot.

I've been thinking about a down haul for the jib. That would save a quick trip to the foredeck to ball bungee the jib down or release it. How fast is yours to rig?

Good point… to have an anchor ready. With 15 kn of breeze and a crowded situation, things can go bad quickly.
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby GreenLake » Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:05 am

navahoIII wrote:Speaking of the Tiller Tamer, we have one, not used yet, but can't it be tightened just to the point of holding the tiller where you put it and still allow resetting the tiller with out adjusting the Tamer? In other words, does it have to be fully 'locked' in order to hold the tiller?

That's essentially what my sliding "wrap" on a bungee does. It could be that it doesn't work in stronger winds, but anything that I've been out in single handing it has always had enough holding power, yet could easily be overridden by grabbing the tiller.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby GreenLake » Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:08 am

For a DS1 with original coamings, I've simply bought some blocks of closed-cell foam. I tied some webbing around the middle and lead a short line from there to some point in the boat, so they can't drop in the water, but gave up on trying to somehow mount them in "permanent" position.
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby GreenLake » Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:16 am

+1 on leaving jib sheets as well as mainsheet attached to the boat. Under ideal conditions, including no traffic on the ramp, I've managed to come close to 35min from arrival to sailing off. Now if I could find a way to leave the mainsail on the boom, outhaul and reef line attached etc. I might shave another five.

(I find that I am faster rigging the boat by myself than with help, except the few times I took some really experienced sailors along. But even in that case, I had to spend extra time making sure certain things ended up correctly. A regular crew, used to the boat, might make a difference. )

Retrieval is a bit slower for some reason.
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby TIM WEBB » Wed May 01, 2013 10:00 pm

I'm singlehanded 99.9% of the time. Only ever sailed The Red Witch once with crew who could be considered "experienced". Of all the improvements I've made to TRW (pretty much all have been mentioned here), I really can't think of any I did that necessarily made her more "single-handed" friendly, maybe with the exception of the tiller tamer?

(Caveat: I'm 6' 2", 165, and can pretty much reach everything in the boat no matter where I'm sitting. Mast raising is pretty easy as well)

I run the usual tiller tamer from D&R (Davis brand), and I rarely even tighten the knob. One end of the line is fixed and the other end goes through a clamcleat w/ fairlead. Keep that line snug with tiller amidships, and it will stay there with the knob loose, but it's very easy to just push the tiller to one side or the other - it gets loose as you do so. For heaving to, I just push it over to port and reset the line in the cleat.

As far as setup time goes, I guess everyone has their own "system", and having help doesn't help, even if they're experienced. I don't have a "checklist" per se, but I try to do it the same way every time (setup and takedown), and the best I can do is about 15 minutes from arrival at the ramps to leaving the dock. But you're right GL: retrieval always takes longer. Is it a case of separation anxiety - not really wanting to end our water time? :cry:

Now, as our 2-year-old grows up, if she displays an interest in learning how to sail, I'm gonna have to go from single-hander to instructor, so all of the above will most likely go out the window, and all bets will be off! :lol:
Tim Webb
1979 DS2 10099 The Red Witch
(I used to be Her "staff", in the way dogs have owners and cats have staff, but alas no longer ... <pout>)
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby GreenLake » Wed May 01, 2013 10:58 pm

Tim,

my first crew (after the shakedown sail with an experienced guy) was a pre-schooler. Very little instruction. Lots of play/nap time in the cuddy, occasional willingness to act as a live 'tiller tamer' of to hand over a jib sheet that had gotten out of reach. Needless to say, preferred conditions then were much milder than today. Help in setup consisted in chasing birds, fish and drifting objects near the ramp, instruction there was in how not to get underfoot (and to wear the lifejacket). Yet, amazingly, it didn't feel like single-handing. A few years later, another one in the same age-bracket. Same, but different. After kindergarten we had new destinations: chasing down drifting bottles and cans to clean up the environment. Good practice maneuvering.

Like you, I can also reach everything, and I bring a bit more ballast as well.

I don't know how you get to 15 min. I'm envious. I have a main that I store rolled. That takes time to unroll and roll (hence longer on retrieval) and I thread outhaul and reefline each time. Presumably the outhaul could benefit from a soft shackle and be left on the boom.

I don't use checklists, but I have a way of working front-to-back and back to front again that takes care that no bungees are left halfway up the mast or the wind indicator left in the cuddy. Works most of the time :)
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby Baysailer » Wed May 01, 2013 11:13 pm

Most of my sailing is single handed but if someone's with me I'll give them as much as they want once we're in open waters. I like getting somebody actively involved but some, like my wife, prefer not to. Cool is cool. The daysailer is set up by nature pretty well for single handing. Line management is pretty big so you have the new jib line at hand when you complete the tack and all the adjustment lines are reasonably within reach. I generally set the jib and play the main more for balance upwind and on runs lay the main out and play the jib. I don't play the other lines as much as a racer either, like the vang I'll set to the conditions and pretty much leave alone until I change from a reach to a run same for downhaul and outhaul.

I don't use a tiller tamer but thats a personal phobia. I'm afraid the boat would sail off without me if I went overboard. Never happened, never heard of it happening but it's still in my head. I don't use a spinnaker but would like to try an asymmetric one but the winds here are usually on the heavier side so it's not an issue. I don't reef and haven't found the DS very well balanced with just the main. I'd like to get an undersized sail, maybe from an FJ or something like that.

I'm kinda 50/50 on mooring time and trainering to different sites and don't find the DS hard to set up solo even with the keel mounted mast. After I set up or tear down I do a walk around the boat and make a final check on the lauch area for a pre-flight check. No checklist but routine enough so I'm set up. Rarely use a motor but do have a 36# troller if needed. By the way i don't find the DS to be a very good paddleing boat compared to something like a buccaneer.

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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby GreenLake » Wed May 01, 2013 11:49 pm

+1 on the paddling. I've been thinking a yuloh might work (a curved, single oar used for sculling). I'd prefer that over setting up oars (as many others here are done). Usually, I meet any calm with patience (and more often than not, a nap), but sometimes there's wind in the middle of the lake where the beer can race is, and then it's time for the 40# trolling motor. A yuloh isn't exactly hard, but never having done one, I'm not sure yet that I understand all the wrinkles, like best size to go for, etc.
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Re: single-handed sailing

Postby K.C. Walker » Thu May 02, 2013 7:30 am

I'm also jealous of the 15 minute set up. I've made it in 20 minutes. However, I've had it take 45 minutes, especially if I have "help" or it's early in the season and I don't have my routine down yet, or I'm just not concentrating on speed, or somebody stops by to admire the boat.

I find take down definitely takes longer, especially if there are other sailors breaking down and we are yakking about how beautiful the conditions where, or again, if somebody comes by to admire the boat. But also, I'm way more tired and less motivated. And… If I've been in the saltwater, when I get home I have to wash everything down.

This year I have decided to try a "tiller tamer" instead of just a bungee cord. Now Fred has planted the picture of the boat sailing away without me.…
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