Association Forum - Single Handing May Mainsheet/Forum Discussion

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

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.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Single Handing May Mainsheet/Forum Discussion

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Peregrine
Admiral

Member Avatar

830 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/20/2009 : 16:50:25

In the May Mainsheet there is a terrific article by three of our members, David Bennett, Jerry Limoncelli and Bill Holcomb, see page 12.
They discuss the pleasures and some techniques for single handing our C-25’s.
In the Mainsheet Tech Tips, page “T”28, I have attempted to look at some more of the techniques used to single hand the C-25.
Please read the article and the Tech Tips and let us know what you do to single hand.
The areas touched on in the Tech Tips are;
Safety
Staying in the Cockpit
Steering
Sail Handling
Anchoring

There are many more subjects and they should be discussed in more depth than the Tech Tips pages allow.

Hopefully this will help make the Mainsheet more interactive and useful for this subject and for subjects in the future.

Note: Although the Tech Tips in the Mainsheet are under the C-25 area I placed this thread in the general forum because many of the techniques would work for all the boats in our Assoc.

John Gisondi
Peregrine #4762

*

Edited by - on

aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 05/21/2009 : 10:26:27

I found the article pretty complete. One safety/nice-to-have item I would add to the C25 is a rigid boom vang. I have one and it is huge advantage over the topping lift when reefing or stowing the main. It completly eliminates a step in the process of dealing with the main.
Garhauer has them already set up for the C25, with or without the pop top.

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 05/22/2009 : 08:19:05

Imported here to from another thread...

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Prospector
 I am either going to touch a nerve here or show my incompetence, either way, I can handle it if you can...

The latest mainsheet tech tips for single handling suggests an anchor hanger on the bow pulpit as a way to make anchoring easier. I would suggest that this may be a bad idea. Here are my reasons why:

Hourglassing - in a single-handed race last summer, I was flying my 155% genoa and on a less than lovely gybe I hourglassed the sail. I ran forward to release it, and as it started to unfurl, I ran back to the cockpit. looking forward, the sail was still hung up, but was now a big balloon with only its bottom corner "stuck". In coming out of the hourglass, it had caught on the crossbar of the danforth hung on the bow pulpit, and managed to rip a nice hole in itself so that it was now very securely in place. A dangerous situation.
Collision Damage - Another boat in our fleet put her anchor through a competitor's window, then "anchored" there until after much yelling , jumping, prying and so on the anchor came free. Had the anchor not been there, the two boats would never have locked together.
You have an anchor locker - keeping the anchor in its locker keeps the bow clean, is easy to get out and prep for deployment, and allows you to measure out your scope before you have to set the hook, for me this works well.

Again this is just my observations, YMMV.

We have removed our pulpit hangers, and will be swapping them away at our club's next "swap meet"<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Peregrine
 All good points Chris.
I included the hangers for the single sailor as a way to minimize time away from the cockpit. There are times when a close quartered or crowded anchorage requires a quick deployment without having to get the anchor out of the locker, feed it around the pulpit then set it.
I should have noted that I would not use hangers as a permanent place to “store” an anchor. I would use them as a preparatory position when entering an anchorage, otherwise you are right, the proper place for the anchor is in the locker.
I feed my anchor rode out of the locker, onto the bow roller, around the pulpit and back into the locker. That way I can just send the anchor out the side of the pulpit and drop it.
I also have a bungee with a plastic clip glued to the inside of the locker lid so it can be held open by clipping the lid to the pulpit.
I also have the bungee and clip on the lazerette so I don't get my head bonked when I need something out of it.

For further comments, suggestions and other opinions on the May Mainsheet single handing articles head over to the
"Single Handing May Mainsheet/Forum Discussion" in this forum. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Thanks for the clarification John... At risk of further showing my ineptitude, After moving the anchor to a permanent stowage in the locker, I left the hangers on.

On 2 separate occassions, the jib sheet found its way into the side of the hanger with the swinging clasp that opens to release the anchor. This is an event that you don't notice until you tack/gybe, and then things get ugly.

On Iris, the anchor hangers have since been removed altogether. I might consider these for mounting stuff on the stern rail where there is less going on, but I would dissuade folks from using them on their bow pulpit, again this is one guy's experience, YMMV.

Edited by - Prospector on 05/22/2009 08:19:43

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 05/22/2009 : 08:30:18

One last point with anchoring alone...

I usually try to anchor in 7 feet of water or less. The reason is because I'm lazy. The boat is 25 feet long, If i run forward to the anchor locker, grab the end of the chain and bring it back to the cockpit, leavin gthe anchor in the locker (I have 25 feet of chain on my anchor), once I get to the cockpit I have 50 feet of chain/rode laid out in a straight line on deck. That is a 7:1 scope or better as long as I am in 7 feet of water or less.

Now that I'm in the cockpit, I can check the depth, idle down the OB, check th ewind, be sure no lines are going to foul the anchor, have a light lunch, do what I please.

Going forward, I grab the chain where it ends (right at the back of the cockpit) and go forward to deploy. I know that I now have about 12.5 ft from the anchor to wher eteh chain doubles over itself (halfway up the boat). Since I'm in 7 ft of water with the engine idled down, and drifting along at about 1-2 kts, I don't have to worry about the bottom too much, and I can set the hook without worrying about the prop catching the line. 12 ft should be enough to reach bottom with.

Once the hook is set, the chain can be fed out, then the line. It shouldn't foul if it has been laid out nicely on deck, and there is no circus act with trying to reverse the boat single handed. Seems to work for me on our lake with a bottom of mostly weeds, sand, and mud.

Edited by - Prospector on 05/22/2009 08:31:18

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 05/23/2009 : 04:58:05

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Prospector
 The reason is because I'm lazy.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Going forward to retrieve 25' of chain which you layout along your deck back to the cockpit then going back to the bow again to deploy your anchor is not what I call lazy.

Lazy is what I do. I go to the bow and drop the anchor. Markers in the rode tell me how much rode is payed out.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 05/23/2009 : 08:52:51

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by dlucier
 Lazy is what I do. I go to the bow and drop the anchor. Markers in the rode tell me how much rode is payed out.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">No, lazy is what I do--push a switch and watch for the markers in the rode as it pays out of the windlass. To weigh anchor, I push the switch the other way and wait for the anchor to go clunk.

BTW, in 7' of water, 50' of rode is more like 5:1 scope. 50 / (7+4)

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 05/23/2009 09:01:15

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 05/24/2009 : 06:10:54

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Dave Bristle
 No, lazy is what I do--push a switch and watch for the markers in the rode as it pays out of the windlass. To weigh anchor, I push the switch the other way and wait for the anchor to go clunk.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

You win, but I wouldn't exactly classify using an anchor windlass as being lazy. It's just plain smart.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 05/24/2009 : 10:28:40

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by dlucier
 ...but I wouldn't exactly classify using an anchor windlass as being lazy. It's just plain smart.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Singlehanded in a crowd in Great Salt Pond on Block Island, it's priceless.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

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.