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Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Hove-to?

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mday
Navigator

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197 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/16/2005 : 18:33:19

The other day I thought I'd take a lunch break and hove-to for a while. It didn't seem to work very well in a moderate 5-10 mph breeze. Anyone tried this?

What I tried was to roll in the jib halfway. I was on a port tack. I came about to a starbord tack, eased out the main to luff, and left the jib tied off as on the port tack. I waited for momentum to slow and turned the wheel back into the wind and set the wheel break. I still seemed to be wandering around rather than settling into a leeward drift or very slow forward as expected. I ended up having to fool around with the rudder position through lunch ..... which wasn't the desired effect for "lunch break".

Maybe I should just buy a new autohelm, eh?

Max

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Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

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1913 Posts

Response Posted - 12/16/2005 : 19:20:50

What I found is I need to come to a complete stop, if theres any forward motion things don't work well.

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Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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2984 Posts

Response Posted - 12/17/2005 : 08:21:05

Tom is right...heaving to is about stalling the rudder and keeping it stalled. Required is holding the boat near a close beat course on the wind... if it blows off the wind too far, it will gain speed which gives the rudder lift and a hove to position is lost and rudder correction is needed.

When the main was eased to luff...it may not have been powered adequately to hold the boat up, leaving it to blow off the wind and gain speed. You may have falsely interpreted this to be too much main power because the boat wanted to come up and tack...but in fact it was likely not enough power to hold the boat high on the wind in a stalled condition.

Next try... keep the main firmer.

A side thought is the rudder on the 250... the 3rd generation rudder has a very thick foil. Thick foils generate more lift at slower speeds than do thinner foils... Heaving to requires that the rudder is virtually stalled. Two situations can destroy the near stalled condition...the one just mentioned...falling off and gaining forward speed... and the other is too great of leeward drift which impacts the hard over rudder and seeks to pull the bow off wind and subsequently driving the boat and gaining speed. The main must be fairly firm to provide enough windward force to keep the bow near a close beat position.

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.