As you know I'm new to sailing, and to date I have only sailed on the headsail. I sail on Pittwater so I'm either heading North or South.
Here's the question........if I'm heading North on a North breeze, say, on Stbd tack and I want to turn 180 deg. to head back South,
do I turn with the breeze or do I turn through the breeze as if changing tack. I would be close-hauled so does it make a difference
which way I turn ?. I don't want to get into any bad habits and the sailing book I have doesn't tell me. I promise I will raise BOTH
sais soon.....honest!!!.

Thanks Charriot. Yes I'm on a learning curve, enjoying it. I sailed up Pittwater in a slight breeze and when I came to round up
the boat would not turn into the breeze (headsail only mind you) so I had to gibe. All was OK, but I didn't know if this was how
it was normally done. With the mainsail up, does it tend to drive the boat forward even though you are turning through the wind
with the pressure off the headsail.??.

Good on you Morning Bird

Sam, if you want a crew for a day sail and some lessons, send me a PM. Which ever way you go, depends on the course you need after turning around. The easiest would be to turn with the wind, but if you cannot lay your desired course, you may still have to gybe. At least you can go to windward with only the jib. Many boats just cant do it.

Hi Samsturdy , the advice above about practice in light breeze i think is good .

if you could go out with someone experienced for a practice session,that would be ideal .

but if not , next time your out ,.............. with the motor still running, point the bow into the breeze and get the main up quickly first.( good to have someone on the tiller while you pull it up or vicaversa) then sail away ...

after a few minutes of that , ( if you have your jib on a furler ) unfurl it , trim it up and sail away even faster .. if not point her up on the breeze again and pull the jib up . and sail away , when you are happy turn engine off ... then practice some tacks through the breeze close hauled . (you will only need to deal with the Jib ,as the main will tack itself )


then run down wind and practice jibing . in light breeze, or any breeze for that matter i prefer to sheet the main in the the center then jibe then ease the main out after sorting the jib ...........in strong wind the main will need to be eased VERY QUICKLY by a dedicated crew member while others deal with the jib .

i hope this helps you in some way , but there is nothing like watching and doing really, for learning this stuff .


happy sail SamSturdy!!

wongaga said..

Learn to heave-to, it is a great way to stabilise the boat and take a breather while she just jogs along at a knot or so, and can be a vital safety technique if things go bad.

Doing all this stuff repeatedly in winds of about 8 - 10 knots is a really good way to develop your skills.

Learnnig how to heave to I believe is one of the most important aspects of sailing.

When the whips are cracking it is like "Stop the world!!! I need a break!!!", a very handy manoeuvre.

Thanks guys. I'm going out on the boat today so I'll try some of the things suggested. My mooring in McCarrs Creek is very sheltered
so I'm toying with the idea of raising the main on the mooring and motoring up to Scotland Island and then pull the headsail out there.
My sailing book (I think by Peter Kemp) shows the 'heave to' method so I can try that. I'm no youngster so learning to sail at my age
is probably something most wouldn't try. Maybe I'm kidding myself I'm one of these 'young at heart" types, but they say you're never
too old to learn. The support from you fellas is fantastic, thanks so much. I'll let you know how I go.

samsturdy said..

Thanks guys. I'm going out on the boat today so I'll try some of the things suggested. My mooring in McCarrs Creek is very sheltered
so I'm toying with the idea of raising the main on the mooring and motoring up to Scotland Island and then pull the headsail out there.
My sailing book (I think by Peter Kemp) shows the 'heave to' method so I can try that. I'm no youngster so learning to sail at my age
is probably something most wouldn't try. Maybe I'm kidding myself I'm one of these 'young at heart" types, but they say you're never
too old to learn. The support from you fellas is fantastic, thanks so much. I'll let you know how I go.

I haul up my main at the mooring every time I can, wind against tide sometimes prevents it. Haul up the topping lift to depower the main while at the mooring if you need to. Should practice sailing up your mooring as well with just the main for the odd occassion the iron topsail fails. Approach the buoy at about the close reach angle and control your speed with the mainsheet.
Try your boat hove to in the traditional method and see how she handles it. Lot of modern fin/skeg keel boats don't do it all that well and will sail off too fast. I find furling the headsail and hauling in the main hard and cleating off works fairly well.

It's best to find the best method now in moderate breezes.

Wow what a day. Went sailing yesterday in a light breeze with both sails up!!. it was like that until lunch time when the breeze increased from about
10 knts to 15. I thought good time to try heaving-to, so I did in the middle of Pittwater, and had lunch. The heave-to worked very well but I wasn't
sure what to do with mainsail so I eased it off to about beam reach setting.
The boat crept forward and sideways very slightly but largely stayed where it was. Great.
I sailed off the heave-to with the breeze and all was well. Then the wind increased to 20+knts and the fun really started. My little boat was trying to
put her ear in the water and I was working like a one armed wall paper hanger. I don't know how you single handers do it. The Missus thought we
going to die, but she never panicked, bless her.
Now if had lazy jacks I think at this point I would have dropped the mainsail and continued on the headsail because it was all very exciting but a little
too much so, and I'm not allowed that.
Talking about headsails, mine seems to be very big. The couple of boats that were out had headsails who's clew was level with the mast. Mine comes
way past the mast and well down the boom, no wonder it goes so well under headsail only.
The day did show up a problem if you're interested, but I'm going for a coffee now.

Sam just use. Your main sail and when you sort it and your comforatable with it going about and jibing then add your jib to the mix when your have mastered abd are race quick wiyh the main
Just like your on the start line of a race
The quicker the better

Congratulations Sam & wife - you were very gutsy and now you're on your way to becoming competent sailors!
As Winston Churchill said "we have nothing to fear but fear itself".

Sounds like your headsail is rather large - when you get more experience, you'll probably appreciate that fact.
Meantime I think HGs advice is pretty sound - get comfortable with main only, particularly above say, 15 knots. Perhaps also learn how to reef the main so you can control your boat in the more challenging conditions.
Bear in mind that you may have too much weather helm when sailing with main only.

Regards,
Allan

Weather helm is when you are fighting to stop the boat turning into the wind. In this case you have to push the tiller into the wind, or "weather" side, and that is where the name comes from. In an extreme case you can lose control of the boat as it turns right into the wind. A little weather helm is acceptable, but if the tiller is over more than about 10 degrees, it is not efficient, and starting to also act as a brake on the boat.

samsturdy said..

Talking about headsails, mine seems to be very big. The couple of boats that were out had headsails who's clew was level with the mast. Mine comes
way past the mast and well down the boom, no wonder it goes so well under headsail only.
The day did show up a problem if you're interested, but I'm going for a coffee now.

Sounds like you have a 150% (or thereabouts) genoa & the others had their No 2 jib (100%) up. Have you got any other/smaller jibs??

Yep, I'm interested what the problem was!!

Hi Lazzarae, no the furler I've got is the one I'm stuck with.

I had an inner stay that fouled the headsail when tacking. Cisco (I think) told me to get rid of it, which I did.
The problem that's arisen now is when the headsail moves across, the bowline knots that attach the sheets
to the clew foul the shrouds to the point where I can't pull the sail right across so I'm stuck trying to free this
while the wind is playing havoc with the sail. When the inner stay was on it held the clew further away from
the shrouds. Any suggestions.??.

samsturdy said..

Hi Lazzarae, no the furler I've got is the one I'm stuck with.

I had an inner stay that fouled the headsail when tacking. Cisco (I think) told me to get rid of it, which I did.
The problem that's arisen now is when the headsail moves across, the bowline knots that attach the sheets
to the clew foul the shrouds to the point where I can't pull the sail right across so I'm stuck trying to free this
while the wind is playing havoc with the sail. When the inner stay was on it held the clew further away from
the shrouds. Any suggestions.??.

Hi Sam,
Just a guess mate, but try doing your bowline with the knot as close to the sail as possible, ie: don't leave a big loop in the bowline.
You may very well be doing this, but it is unusual for the bowline to catch on the shrouds.

Edit: When you are tacking, don't let the headsail sheet off until the headsail starts backing (filling with wind on the wrong side) a wee bit. Then let it go.
This way, there is pressure in the headsail before you let the sheet go and the wind will help pull it straight over to the (new) leeward side.
It also has the advantage of helping pull the bow through the tack.
If you are worried about how much is enough, if you leave it too long before you let go of the sheet, the boat will simply start to lean over to leeward as the headsail starts to really fill with the increasing wind angle on the sail, so don't panic, just head up to wind a little to take the pressure off, then try again.

SB

The competent crew course run by all sailing schools would be a good start and fast tract your sailing skills