I have two questions about heavy weather in our F45, which could
apply equally to any Freedom with a self-tending jib (ours has been
converted to the roller furling kind).
First, how does one heave-to with the self tending jib and sloppy
headstay? I am thinking that you would use some form of a barber-
hauler to tie off the jib to windward. Has anyone tried this and
does it work well? Do these boats heave-to well or at least in
acceptably?
Second, has anyone tried sailing with just the jib in heavy
weather? One tactic I would like to explore is setting the jib and
bearing off so as to maintain controlled speed sufficient for
steerage? Using the jib would be preferable here in order to lessen
the chance of a broach, but how safe is it considering the
freestanding rig. I recognize the freestanding rig now is a proven
design, but I’m less sure when it comes to flying a jib alone, as
the stresses on the mast are decidedly different.
Also, I’m not talking about dealing with 25 knots in Long Island
Sound or a similarly protected body of water. We are starting to
plan a Bermuda trip from the U.S. east coast, and I am working
through our options on dealing with sustained 45 knots in the open
ocean.
Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences and thoughts.
I sailed roundtrip NY-Bermuda in June this year in a F32 and had the following experiences regarding jib sailing:
Over 30 knots wind we used jib sailing with the wind abaft the beam. Ahead the beam you need the engine to keep up the bow.
We found that you can “heave to” acceptably by close-trimming the jib and lock the wheel a quarter of a turn towards the wind. The boat moves slowly forward at about 2 knots. At one time we left the boat like that and had a nice night’s sleep in some 35 knots wind. The boat moves between say 25-40 degrees off the wind and takes the waves very well.
First, how does one heave-to with the self tending jib and sloppy
headstay? I am thinking that you would use some form of a barber-
hauler to tie off the jib to windward. Has anyone tried this and
does it work well? Do these boats heave-to well or at least in
acceptably?
On the heave-to part: I’m can’t get my cat-sloop (F32) to heave to. I
only have a total of about an hour into serious attempts, on 2
different occasions, both in 20+ knots of wind. No joy either time.
I tied the Camberspar to leeward while sailing, then tacked so it
would stay to windward. I had one reef in the main. The boat seemed
to want to stay there for a while but sooner or later it would jibe.
I’ll have to try it again sometime in milder conditions and try a lot
of different combinations, I’d like to work it all out when I wasn’t
so afraid of breaking things. I saw enough hope while trying it to
think that there probably IS a perfect combination of reefing,
sheeting, traveler position, rudder and jib angle to do it, I just
never found it. Still, part of me also thinks that maybe this might
be one of the few shortcomings of our boats. I have noodled and
eyeballed it quite a bit since then and I think the mast being so far
forward is a problem. A strong wind has too much leverage on the
front of the boat while stationary, the boat wants to jibe.
Conventional wisdom has it that the fin keel/spade rudder doesn’t
help anything either.
If anyone has anything they’ve done that worked I’d love to hear it.
Heaving to would be great for cooking a meal, taking a break, waiting
for daylight, etc. It would be great to have “heaving to” as a tool
in the bag.
Rick
Try just the main double or triple reefed. I have done that on a F36 OK in gusty wind, but relatively smooth sea. I have also done bare poles, running before 60 mph wind. Also, I was careful to avoid letting the jib flog in high winds. I either kept the jib loaded up, or dropped the jib. I kept the jib topping lift adjusted so that I could sheet in hard and drop the jib quickly if need-be.
----- Original Message -----
From: rick_simonds
To: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 1:03 AM
Subject: [freedomyachts2003] Re: Heavy Weather in a Cat Sloop
First, how does one heave-to with the self tending jib and sloppy > headstay? I am thinking that you would use some form of a barber-> hauler to tie off the jib to windward. Has anyone tried this and > does it work well? Do these boats heave-to well or at least in > acceptably?On the heave-to part: I’m can’t get my cat-sloop (F32) to heave to. I only have a total of about an hour into serious attempts, on 2 different occasions, both in 20+ knots of wind. No joy either time. I tied the Camberspar to leeward while sailing, then tacked so it would stay to windward. I had one reef in the main. The boat seemed to want to stay there for a while but sooner or later it would jibe. I’ll have to try it again sometime in milder conditions and try a lot of different combinations, I’d like to work it all out when I wasn’t so afraid of breaking things. I saw enough hope while trying it to think that there probably IS a perfect combination of reefing, sheeting, traveler position, rudder and jib angle to do it, I just never found it. Still, part of me also thinks that maybe this might be one of the few shortcomings of our boats. I have noodled and eyeballed it quite a bit since then and I think the mast being so far forward is a problem. A strong wind has too much leverage on the front of the boat while stationary, the boat wants to jibe. Conventional wisdom has it that the fin keel/spade rudder doesn’t help anything either.If anyone has anything they’ve done that worked I’d love to hear it. Heaving to would be great for cooking a meal, taking a break, waiting for daylight, etc. It would be great to have “heaving to” as a tool in the bag.
well i have an f21 and have been out in steady 24 mph and gusts of 28 or so
two reefs and no problems sailing or handling the boat. I do knot that my little boat is not quite the same characteristics as its larger brothers.
i have not run the spinnaker in more that 15 mph.
and i take down the staysail between 12 or 14 to reduce heeling .