Ideal Sailing Conditions

When people dream about sailing, they often picture a steady breeze and full sails set as they power through the seas. In a dream world, this may be fine, but in our world, ideal sailing conditions refer to winds that allow us to get to where we want to go as quickly and comfortably as possible. 

We have found that when we are full sail, the winds are actually a bit on the light side and we aren't going as fast as we could be if we had more wind. 

To us, ideal sailing conditions often involve a reefed sail plan. If we are reefed, we always have more sail available to us than what we are using. This means that if we feel the desire to go faster, all we need to do is set more sail! If you are full sail, then you have no recourse left, you are already at your maximum and have nowhere to go from there! 

In this situation, we were close reaching under our staysail and our mainsail with one reef in it. We were still able to achieve 5.5 knots with ease without heeling over much at all. This keeps the boat level and life aboard more comfortable as we don't have to worry about stuff sliding off of horizontal surfaces in the cabin.  

The only way this could have been more ideal is if we had been on a broad reach, there the seas come from behind and help push you along, instead of beating into them as you work to windward. 

All in all, when there is plenty of wind, you can reef down for comfort and still maintain your boat speed through the water. This will keep you moving fast, morale high, and dream sailing a reality! 

To Cover or Not To Cover Your Sails

When you anchor for a storm, you might be focused on such things as bottom conditions and the amount of scope to let out. While anchoring techniques are very important for safely riding out a storm, another part of storm preparedness is how you ready the rest of your yacht.

The anchor will be forced to hold your yacht against the water pressure from waves and tides, as well as the wind pressure from the air on your yacht.

Bulky items on deck, as well as dodgers and rigging will all add wind resistance to the equation and put more strain on the anchor as it struggles to hold you to the bottom. Reducing the strain on the anchor is wise, as it gives all your gear an easier time during the blow. Roller furling headsails are bulky and offer a great deal of windage, especially up high! Hank on headsails offer the distinct advantage that when the sail is lowered to the deck, the stay is bare and offers minimal resistance to the wind. But what about the sail that is now on the deck?

Should you bag your sails or simply lash them to the deck before a storm approaches?

Bagged sails offer the advantage that they are inside a smooth covering. This will reduce turbulence as the air passes over the sail and will in turn create less drag. If the sail is simply lashed to the deck, the luff of the sail will be flacked at the stay and will offer a lot of resistance to the wind.

Looking at the situation from this standpoint only, it would make sense that bagging the sails would be ideal before a storm, as it would make everything on your yacht more streamline and thus less drag.

The problem with bagging your sails is that if you begin to drag anchor and need to sail away to safety, your sails are all bagged up! You now need to take additional time to uncover the sails and get everything setup so that you can sail away to safety! In moments where you are dragging anchor onto a lee shore, every second counts and having the sails bagged up might result in you being careened on the lee shore!

If you simply lashed your sails down, all you would need to do in this scenario would be to untie the and begin working your way to safety!

Based on these assumptions, and the fact that we don't have a diesel motor to power us to safety, we choose to lash the sails down to the deck when anchoring for a storm. The sails are kept with halyards and sheets attached, but lashed to the toenail with sail ties. Should we need to start sailing for any reason, all we need to do is untie the sails and raise them up to begin clawing our way off the lee shore.

Storms are never comfortable events to endure, but careful preparation can make your memories of the storms much less eventful.

Arthwartship Sheet Positioning

Most yachts are equipped to adjust the sheets in a fore aft direction via jib tracks. Some yachts have inhauls and barber hauls on their sheet blocks to allow for arthwartship positioning. Arthwartship is merely something that is in the beam dimension of the yacht. Inhauls and barber hauls simply move the block towards centerline or towards the sheer.

These adjustments may seem unnecessary, but in fact they are very important for headsail control on various points of sail. If your yacht is not setup to adjust these controls, it may be a good idea to figure out another way to still accomplish the end goal. 

When pointing to windward, the angle of attach of your sail is dictated by the location of your clew. If your clew is set far out on the cap rail, you will never be able to sheet the sail close hauled and sail close to the wind. Instead, you will be forced to sail at much wider angles and this will reduce your Velocity Made Good as you work to windward. 

By bringing your sheet block inboard, you also bring your yacht closer to the wind as your headsail can maintain the same angle of attach with your yacht pointing higher.  

When reaching, the opposite is true. If your sheet positions are far inboard, your sail will have to be eased considerably to reach. This will cause the leech to open up and twist horribly. You will have a sail presented to the wind, but all the wind will spill out the twist and provide very little drive. By moving the sheet block outboard, you can alleviate this problem by setting your block far forward (to control the leech) and outboard. Now you're able to pull in on the sheet, close the leech, and reach with power. 

On racing yachts, the sheet block is usually a ring suspended by four lines. One runs forward, one aft, one inboard, and one outboard. The fore and aft lines control the fore and aft position of the block, just like a car on a track. The inboard line is the inhaul which pulls the block inboard to allow better pointing to windward, while the outboard line is the barber haul, which pulls the block outboard for reaching. 

It is not always practical to convert your yacht with a perfectly functional jib track to this system, which is why snatch blocks may be your new best friend. If you have a perforated aluminum toe rail, you can easily clip the snatch block to the rail and lead the sheet from the sheet block into the snatch block. You have now effectively moved the sheeting position outboard and successfully created a barber haul for reaching and running. 

Adding a padeye inboard would allow you to place a snatch block further inboard, thus creating a close hauled sheeting point for beating. 

Life gets easier if you have a cutter, as your staysail will typically have a track that is further inboard than your jib. When beating close hauled, you will have to lower the staysail to reduce interference with the jib as you point higher. Since the staysail is not flying, you can also hook a snatch block onto the staysails jib track and give you a fully adjustable further inboard track to sheet your jib to. This will allow you to point your cutter like if it were a sloop, yet retain all the ocean going advantages of a cutter whine offshore. 

Sheet Leads

An often overlooked component of a headsail is the sheet lead position. While some people treat these blocks as static and permanently set attachment points, the truth is, they are meant to be moved around depending on what you are trying to achieve with your headsail.

Sheet leads are typically only able to move fore-aft, but some yachts are equipped to allow arthwartship adjustment as well. Fore-aft is by far the most common form of adjustment, where the sheet block is setup on a car mounted to a track. 

In the simplest of ways, moving the car forward is ideal in light air situation while moving the car aft is ideal in heavy air situations. The reason is, as you move the car forward, the force of the sheet is transferred up into the leech of the sail, allowing the foot to fill in. This creates a bigger chord in the sail and generates more power. When you move the sheet block aft, the force of the sheet gets transferred over to the foot of the sail. This will cause the foot to flatten and make the sail flatter. A flatter sail will generate less power and thus allow you to maintain control as the winds build. 

As you transfer the force of the sheet from foot to leech or leech to foot, the other side of the sail becomes ignored by the force. So when the car is forward, the leech is under control while the foot is ignored. When the car is aft, the foot is under control and the leech is ignored. This can serve some additional benefits as well. 

When winds build, you want to flatten the sail by tensioning the foot. Moving the car aft will accomplish this and it will also alleviate force on the leech. This will cause the sail to twist and the opening leech will spill excess air from the top of the sail. In high winds, this is ideal and will allow you to continue sailing along comfortably and safely. 

When you are reaching and have eased the sail, you may find that your sail is developing a twist, even though you don't want it to do so. Moving the car forward will allow you greater control of the leech and grant you the ability to close the twist in the sail, maximizing the power from the headsail. 

As of now, we understand that moving the car forward will control the leech and moving aft will control the foot, but where is the car to go to control both? The answer is somewhere in the middle. 

As you move the car forward and aft, the angle the sheet makes to the sail will change. With the car aft, the sheet will come into the sail at a very shallow angle. If you continue this line, it will meet the luff of the sail somewhere down near the tack. As you move the car forward, the sheet will meet the sail at a more extreme angle and the imaginary line will reach the luff further up towards the head of the sail. 

The neutral position where the force on the leech and foot are about equal is when the imaginary line that extends forward of the sheet meets the luff at about 40% the height of the luff (from tack to head). This point is considered to be the neutral position for your sheet block, and anything forward of this position is for lighter airs while anything aft is for heavy airs. 

How to Heave To

Heaving To is one of the most important maneuvers you can carry out on your sailing yacht. This maneuver can be used for such simple tasks as "stopping for lunch" to "riding out a storm". Heaving to is a sailing yachts equivalent to a powerboat putting its engines in neutral. 

A power boats engines will be on a ready to go at a moments notice but there is no forward thrust, instead the boat drifts through the water at a slow pace. In a sailing yacht, heaving to accomplishes the same things; the sails are up and ready to power you forward, but the boat simply drifts along in the water at a slow pace. 

In the simplest form of explanations, heaving to is accomplished by backing the headsail. This means that the headsail will be sheeted on the windward sheet as opposed to the leeward sheet. During normal conditions, the leeward sheet is the working sheet and the windward sheet is the lazy sheet, but when heaving to, the roles are reversed and the windward sheet is the working sheet pulling the clew of the sail into the wind and backing the headsail. 

With the headsail backed into the wind, it will pull the bow to leeward and serve as an air brake to any forward movement. If the headsail were the only sail set at this moment, the yacht would be blown to leeward, jibed, and then set on a run. 

To counter this force, the mainsail is set to oppose the backed headsail. As the headsail pulls the bow to leeward, the mainsail comes into the wind and pushes the bow back to windward. This constant tug of war between the sails results in no forward movement. 

The mainsail is trying to turn the yacht into the wind while the headsail is pulling the yacht to leeward, the end result is the boat sits still and makes no forward progress. Since the wind is hitting the yacht on the beam to bow, the wind resistance offered by the yacht causes the whole system to drift in a leeward direction. As the yacht drifts to leeward, a slick of disturbed water will form on the windward side of the boat and this slick has wonderful properties that will be discussed later on. 

So, the basics of heaving to are: 

• The headsail is backed to windward
• The mainsail is set to leeward
• The helm is turned to windward

In the simplest of measures the combination of these three settings will make the sailboat heave to or at least come to a stop. 

If you are in the middle of a body of water with no risk of collision with land masses or other vessels and you want to stop for lunch, simply tacking without switching the headsail will usually bring the yacht into a hove to position.  The yacht will be sailing along quickly, and then it will pretty much come to a halt and begin to drift backwards at a very slow pace.

This technique is frequently taught as a standard maneuver during a Man-Over-Board recovery, by heaving to, the yacht will stop and the victim can swim towards the yacht or crew members who are still on board can devise a method to retrieve the victim as they slowly drift to leeward. 

In both of these situations, the yacht will stop or at least greatly slow its forward progress through the water which can satisfy the needs of a yacht who wishes to stop for whatever reasons. If you are wondering why you can't just release your sheets and let your sails flog to stop the boats movement if you wish to come to a stop during a lunch break or a MOB recovery situation. The answer has two important points. 

First, flogging sails will cause a lot of noise and the sheets whipping through the air can pose a serious hazard to your yachts gear and crew members. If you are trying to relax during a calm meal on a nice day, the sound of sails beating in the wind might not be what you had in mind. In the more stressful situation of the MOB recovery, the flogging sails will add stress, confusion, and anxiety to an already stressful situation. Hearing commands and relaying information will become very difficult over the noise of the flogging sails.  

Second, flogging sails will quickly work harden the fibers in the sailcloth and lead to early destruction of the sails. A sail violently flogging in a storm will rip to shreds in a few minutes! Deliberately setting your sails to immediate destruction will ruin any plans to sail further when you are ready. For these reasons, heaving to is a much better protocol as it will stop your vessel and protect your sails.

While heaving to during a storm, you need to capitalize on the lateral drift of the yacht through the water which will create a slick of disturbed water to windward. The slick of disturbed water that will appear to windward will settle and calm any approaching breaking wave and transform it into a gentle, though large, roller. If you are fore reaching slowly, you will move out of the protective slick and the bow of your boat will be at risk of being hit by a breaking and boarding wave. If you can remain in your slick, you will be able to rid out a storm without having to take any water over your deck.

Getting the yacht to stop fore reaching can prove easy on some yachts and more challenging on other yachts, but regardless, it can be done. To get the yacht to stop fore reaching and remain in a hove to position, you need to play with various sail configurations to find the setup that works best for your yacht.  

In general, you want to maintain a balanced sail plan with a backed headsail and a set mainsail. This will be the best starting place for configuring your sail plan while hove to. Matching your sail size to the present conditions is also an important consideration.  

If you are heaving to in light airs for lunch, a full headsail and aims ail will work just fine. The yacht will be balanced and will probably hold its position just fine. If you are heaving to in a storm because of incliment weather, full sails would be a death wish for your yacht! Reefing your sails accordingly is very important as it keeps the amount of sails area exposed manageable and heaving to a controlled and predictable operation. A good rule of thumb is that you should heave to with the same amount of sail that you would be willing to fly if you were sailing in these conditions.  

Five knots of wind would allow you to heave to under full sail. Twenty five knots of wind would behove you to heave to under reefed sails. If you are planning to ride out a strong gale, storm sails would be crucial to your survival.

Once again, you will need to test out various sail combinations on your own yacht during strong conditions to see what works best for your setup. During strong winds you might not actually need a headsail set to heave to. Furlers, rigging, deck gear, and freeboard can act as a backed headsail and push your bow to leeward, precluding you from the need for setting a backed headsail. If this is the case, adding a backed headsail will cause your bow to be pulled off the wind and set your yacht beam to the seas. Ideally, you will wish to remain with your bow between thirty to forty five degrees from the wind as this will allow your bow to cut through the approaching waves and keep vessel motion under control. 

Behind the mast, you will want to fly a trysail, as this small scrap of sail cloth will keep your bow into the wind and the vessel's motion steady. I recommend starting with a storm jib and trysail set hove to, and if you find that you have trouble keeping your boat at the ideal angle to the wind, douse the storm jib and lash it to the deck. The bow will begin to turn up into the wind better and the yacht will ride through the seas more comfortably. 

With your yacht turned into the wind, it will attempt to tack. The backed storm jib or deck windage will keep your boat from completing the tack as it stalls and drifts back into ideal posture to the wind and waves. Since the yacht is stalled out as it tries to move to windward, it will be at the mercy of the windage on the entire yacht as it is slowly pushed to leeward as a whole unit. The boat will gently ride up into the wind and then fall off as it slowly drifts laterally through the seas. This lateral drift will generate the protective slick which will calm the approaching seas help you survive the storm in comfort.  

You might be concerned that the small amount of sail up will cause significant heeling and possibly knot the boat down! This is not the case. With the proper amount of sail exposed during a storm, you will be able to ride comfortably through the seas without much heel. We have ridden out several storms with strong winds and minimal heeling.

One storm we had in the ocean had winds of thirty seven knots for more than 14 hours. We attempted to sail during the storm but resistance was futile. We were uncomfortably heeled over while flying only our staysail and trysail. As soon as we hove to, the yacht straightened out and we were only heeled over around ten degrees. 

Another more violent squall hit us where we hove to under just our trysail for around an hour in winds of forty knots and were only heeled over around five degrees. While hove to, the yacht remains relatively straight and the motion of the vessel is very comfortable. There is no jerking or lurching which can cause some crew members to regurgitate their lunch and their morale. Instead, the entire experience becomes a waiting game, where you sit around and find things to do to pass the time as the storm blows over. 

A yacht that is hove to is pretty much the equivalent of a champagne cork. It may be tiny as the seas tower around it, but it floats along without a care as it rides over the crests without much motion. It doesn't move fast during the storm but it does float the whole way through. Heaving to during a storm will convert your yacht from a finely tuned machine that soars through the waves into a cork that floats along mindlessly. Once the storm has passed and the sea state calmed, you can set your sails for performance and race towards your destination once more without any damage nor loss of morale. 

Heaving to is a crucial skill that should be learned, honed, and mastered. It can mean the difference between weathering a storm and surviving a storm. Likewise, it can prove to save your yacht and extend range by granting you the ability to sail in any condition that nature may throw at you.