Practice makes Perfect

[Joe and Carol]

Yesterday while single handing, I decided to give myself a test of every maneuver possible.  Even tried to back the boat!  My point is sometimes we sail to destination or favor the long haul versus putting a boat through the paces of turns about buoys, figure eights, man overboard practice or adjusting sail trim to get the another tenth of a knot.  We have new botton paint, full set of new sails, thus opportunity to continue to learn to sail.  As a retired pilot my flights are now on the wings of Kappa sails in the cockpit of our Catalina and dancing with the wind is perfect practice of lift versus drag.  Does anyone have a suggestion of a series of maneuvers that improve sailing skills.  The hardest manuever?  I'd like to learn?

[dbpaul]

RACE

[Mike Denest]

Chandelles, lazy eights, stall turns, etc.  Nah ya can't do that stuff with a  boat (although it may have been tried).  Wait till you get headed up while changing tack (been there, done that).  The hardest maneuver?  Backing the boat into the slip (don't ask  )

[Stu Jackson]

I submit:  MOB drill by heaving to and SAILING back to the cushion or whatever you threw in the water.

It can be done, may require a gybe later on, but we've done it a number of times successfully to pick up hats and PFDs.  It's different than the figure 8 and the quick stop maneuvers.  Give it a try.

[tonywright]

Dinghy sailors often practice sailing without the rudder. You steer by using the sails alone. Try it, and you will find that you learn a lot about how the boat responds to sail adjustments, and you will significantly improve your windward performance (eliminate rudder drag as much as possible). It will also buy you time sometime when you lose use of the rudder in an emergency.  You won't always be able to count on using the engine or dropping the anchor. It is a good skill to have in reserve.

Also, whatever MOB drill you practice, do it in such a way that you drop boat speed almost to a dead stop as you come up to the MOB. This will teach you a lot about the momentum of the boat when you turn head to wind in various wind and sea conditions.  Retrieve, then back the jib to bear away. If you have a large genoa, you may find that you need to partially furl to do this well.

That being said, I am still learning how to back mine into the slip as well! Plenty of large fenders seems to be the secret...

Tony

[Kyle Ewing]

I agree with dbpaul.  I learned more about sailing as crew in a 3 day regatta than in several seasons of daysailing and cruising.  Go out in conditions you wouldn't otherwise before you're surprised by them.

Maneuvers under power I practice are torque turns (pivot turn), backing, and docking at other docks when they're open.

Under sail I practice reefing--I haven't figured out how to reef single handed without the engine--and different sail trim.

[Stu Jackson]

REEFING without the Engine

Kyle,  while some of it depends on how your reefing setup is laid out (i.e., single or double line reefing, & I also assume that your reefing lines are led back to the cockpit), the easiest way we have found to reef is by sailing.  Really.

Just head upwind with the jib out and drawing properly, drop the traveler, and let out the mainsheet to luff the mainsail, and drop the pre-marked halyard to the first reef point and pull in the reef line(s).  We have a double reef setup, previously written up in the Mainsheet Tech Notes (Nov. 2003), but a single reef line will also work.

The trick is to sail upwind essentially on the jib, while you luff the main and drop it.  We've done this many times, once when a sudden blow came on right before a race and we were literally out of control for a few minutes.  Some of our crew were new to the boat, but once I explained the maneuver, everyone got the hang of it and we were reefed in less than a minute.  I do it singlehanded with no trouble.

Some still have hooks at the gooseneck for the first reef tack, but we have our first reef tack line led through the cringle from a small cleat on the mast and back to the cockpit, so the line is what keeps the tack down (same as the clew), so no one ever has to go forward.

But even if you still have the factory setup without the reef lines leading back, it can still be done: first, let the mainsail down as described to luff it while sailing on the jib (preferably on starboard tack so you can access the clew line on the starboard side of the boom), drop the mainsail to the pre-marked spot from the cockpit, then go up on the cabintop and pull the reefing lines taut.

There are many hits from a search on "reefing" on this board, and more in the Knowledgebase.

[Kyle Ewing]

Stu,

Thanks for the advice.  The piece I was missing was dropping the traveler.  That explains why I'm not able to get close enough to the wind to reef without the help of the engine.  Otherwise I end up falling off or tacking, especially single-handed.  I'll add this next time I practice.

Kyle