Raising Sails on the water

[bluesman]

Any tricks for raising the sails while on the water? I have a small outboard and can keep her pointed into the wind. On windy days it is a bit dicy especially if my mate is not that skilled at keeping the boat pointed. Do you raise the jib first? Any other tips?

[aggiesailor65]

I would turn the engine off and have your crew keep the tiller to leeward. Raise the main first then the jib. The main will naturally keep the bow pointed into the wind as its effort is behind the centerboard (the center of resistance). The jib will naturally try to point the boat downwind (the jibs effort is forward of the centerboard).

[TIM WEBB]

Aggie, what you are describing is *almost* a "hove-to" position, with a couple of exceptions:

At least the way I've always understood (and practiced) it, heaving-to involves raising the jib first, back-winding it (sheeting it to windward), and as you say, keeping the tiller to leeward, either by crew holding it there by hand, or using a tiller tamer of some sort. This puts the boat into "neutral gear", and she will just drift/zig-zag lazily along. The main isn't even part of the equation, and can be raised at your leisure and let out to leeward. Having the vang on keeps the boom from bouncing up and down. This is all done with the motor off, and the CB down. Oh, and make sure you have plenty of room between boat and shore ... ;-P

When you're ready to start sailing, simply center the tiller, sheet the jib to leeward, sheet in the main, and off you go.

Try it sometime guys - you'll like it!

[bluesman]

I have no topping lift. My boom is held centered in the rear of the boat with a boom crutch paddle. In strong winds it is also critical to have a loose sail in order to release tension on the sail track to be able to full raise the main. Based on that Tim would you still heave to with the jib and then raise the main?

[aggiesailor65]

Heaving to, as Tim describes, will not keep you pointed into the wind, so raising the main may be difficult depending on how windy it is and on the type of track system you have. Can you take the boom off of your crutch and lay it on the deck while raising it? If not, installing a fixed length topping lift is pretty easy. Just attach a line on the top of the mast that runs to the back of your boom. It should be long enough to be slacked while the main is up all the way, but short enough to keep the boom from coming to far down while the main is lowered.

[aggiesailor65]

I might add that when I say to keep the tiller to leeward, it should only be slightly pushed to leeward. pushing it to far may cause you to tack while raising the sail. If done right. The main will be flogging while being raised, so the boat will start sailing backwards and off the wind. Once it has backed off of head to wind, the sail may fill with a little bit of wind and cause the boat to go slightly forward. As the boat moves forward, it will once again turn into the wind.

[TIM WEBB]

I have no topping lift. My boom is held centered in the rear of the boat with a boom crutch paddle. In strong winds it is also critical to have a loose sail in order to release tension on the sail track to be able to full raise the main. Based on that Tim would you still heave to with the jib and then raise the main?

Yes, I would, and that's how I did it before I added a topping lift, slugs, mast gate, halyard cam cleats, etc. Adding those items have certainly made it easier, especially given the fact that I'm usually singlehanded, or have non-sailors along. Aggie, I can certainly see how the method you describe would work just fine with the help of able crew tho ...

[Alan]

Crew and self spent the last five days at Lake Tahoe and managed to go out sailing twice. We raised the main by pointing into the wind with the motor, and lowered it the same way. Those were the first two times we've ever raised the main on the water. It worked like a charm. It turns out my crew has a talent for lowering the main and bundling it on the boom. It helps that the Intensity sail's boltrope slides easily in the slot, so the sail comes down quickly with two or three low-effort pulls.

The jib is on a furler, but we never got around to using it, being newbies and all. At this stage, turning the boat until the main fills with wind and making forward progress under sail is a big enough thrill.

[GreenLake]

As a complete aside, has anyone of you ever sailed a beer can race in this format? Everybody meets in the middle of the lake with sails down. At the horn, everybody raises their sails on the water and sails off to the nearest mark (to make it more fun, everybody could choose the order of the marks). I had no problem raising sails, but the winds were light.

With more wind, I'd go with Tim's technique. As long as it's not loaded, I can raise my main off the centerline.

[jeadstx]

Haven't done it, but I would think you could use a sea anchor to line the bow into the wind. Then raise sails.

John

[bluesman]

I might add that when I say to keep the tiller to leeward, it should only be slightly pushed to leeward. pushing it to far may cause you to tack while raising the sail. If done right. The main will be flogging while being raised, so the boat will start sailing backwards and off the wind. Once it has backed off of head to wind, the sail may fill with a little bit of wind and cause the boat to go slightly forward. As the boat moves forward, it will once again turn into the wind.

Are you talking about doing this with jib up or down?

[GreenLake]

If you raise the jib first, backwind it, and move the tiller hard to leeward, you can get the DS to heave to, like Tim wrote.

You can then raise the main, it won't be on the centerline, but there should be no pressure on it.

Sounds like what aggiesailer65 is describing is something like heaving to with main alone.

The few times I've raised the main on the water, I sailed away from the beach under jib alone (downwind) then had my crew turn into the wind (almost) long enough to raise the main quickly. If necessary, fall off with partially raised main, gather some speed, and head into the wind again to complete raising the sail. Never tried this with motor.

I've used the hove to position to change reefs, but never tried to raise the main all the way.

[jeadstx]

During the 2013 Tx200, the main halyard let loose and the main dropped. My crew expertly got the boat into a "heave to" condition so the the main could be raised back up. We were sailing with an unreefed main in 10 to 15 knot winds while going thru an area with reefs. I had not done a "heave to" before and was glad my crew knew how to do it.

John

[bluesman]

I have a topping lift for my Spinnaker that I could use as a topping lift for the boom I suppose. It is only about 3/4 of the way up the mast though. Might be worth a try for now untill the next time I step the mast and I can install a proper topping lift at the top of the mast