RE: catalina27-talk: Single-handling

[Phil Agur]

There’s Single-handing and then there’s really Single-handing. Most days where I sail in the summer you can swim to a shore within a mile (at spring high water a center bar is missing that could double your swim). Since there are boats passing by all the time it’s hard to feel really alone. In fact, it can be so laid back we fly a chute on the Autohelm one day in light conditions, trailed some knotted lines and started diving off the boat.   However, sailing offshore Single-handed is another matter. While not actually single handing but standing night watches offshore in Mexico the concept of being tethered took on a whole new perspective. Conditions worsened every night and sea built until some nights the crew below was getting airborne as we fell off the crests. It didn’t take much to imagine that out on the foredeck the boat could drop away and pitch to one side leaving you with at best an insecure landing. And that was a +20,000 lbs boat, so everyone on night watch was tethered at the wheel.   Off the coast of Northern California we have what we call sneaker waves. All of a sudden on the rarest of occasions you get broken over right out of the blue. I personally have never had the pleasure while on a boat but I did get a first hand introduction on a beach one day. Waves were breaking and sliding up the sloped beach stopping several feet short of the dry sand under a clear sky. A single wave broke and delivered enough water to crest the beach slope and bury the dry sand by a couple of feet all the way back to the cliff 100 feet away. A secluded beach instantly became a lagoon; at sea such things can sweep you over board.   There is of course a Single-handed Sailing Society that is focused on this very topic, and puts on a single handed event to Hawaii out of SF. We had a local club member get an itch in the late nineties with only about three months to qualify buy an Olsen 30, refit it, had it inspected, sailed the qualifier (sextant required), and finished successfully. There’s double handed Express 27 and a crewed Santa Cruz 50 that are local Pacific Cup regulars too.   Phil Agur                    s/v Wing Tip Commodore,             Call Sign WCW3485 IC27/270A                   MMSI 366901790 www.catalina27.org      Vessel Doc# 1039809 -----Original Message----- From: catalina27-talk@memberclicks.com [mailto:catalina27-talk@memberclicks.com] On Behalf Of Patrick R Ford Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 10:55 AM To: catalina27-talk@memberclicks.com Subject: Re: catalina27-talk: Single-handling   Makes you think ---- I'm retired, live 4 blocks from the Marina, I dock in a slip, in Port Washington, WI  on the West shore of Lake Michigan.Coming up on my 4th year of sailing my C27. From April to October I sail about 4 times a week single handed. If it's 25+ knots with 3 to 5 ft seas I just don't sail. I don't own a tether, I almost never wear a PDF. I have EVERYTHING rigged to the cockpit. I have nver had a close call or even thought about going OB. Now--- reading this thread for two days I'm thinking        HOLY CRAP.   Pat Ford Seabiscuit C27 3692 Port Washington, WI ----- Original Message ----- From: John Bedford To: catalina27-talk@memberclicks.com Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 12:09 PM Subject: catalina27-talk: Single-handling   This is funny - I would suspect that this is the most feared issue with single-handing. I've been sailing for about 30 years, but only the last 5 on my own boat. It wasn't until last summer that I ventured out on my own - the thought of falling overboard never really came into mind. I've never once, in 30 years of sailing, ever fallen off a boat (accidentally). I would even say that there has never been a close call of falling overboard either. My first trip out alone was simply to test my new autopilot - at first, I was only going to motor around in the bay outside of our club to calibrate the unit. It worked so well, that I headed out into the lake and stayed out for a couple of hours - it was incredible. The feeling is hard to describe - it sounds sappy, but I truly felt at one with my boat, there's nothing like it.   My first attempt to get back to the dock alone was a non-issue... I read somewhere, can't recall where, that you appr! oach the dock at a speed just a little slower than the speed at which you feel comfortable hitting the dock. With that in mind, docking is pretty simple, as long as you prepare for it (lines, fenders, etc.). You must step off with both bow and stern lines in your hand! I use a "Hail Mary" line that is fixed to my finger dock that clips (quickly) to a sliding ring on my port side Genoa track (all the way forward) to stop all forward motion, if necessary.   My boat isn't even rigged for single-handed sailing. None of my lines (other than main sheet and jib furler) are rigged aft. It would be more convenient to have all lines led aft, but it's certainly not impossible to sail alone without this. The autopilot is what enabled me to feel like I could sail alone - not sure what others feel about it. I sail on Lake Ontario, so I guess if I fell off the boat, it would wind up aground - eventually.   JKB MCC Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've been tempted to go out alone and one day I will give in.  I really am not so worried about falling over. I figure the life jacket will keep me afloat.  The Chesapeake is fairly poplular.  The boat will run aground somewhere ("It" does it with me aboard so I figure it will when I'm off! ).  To be honest, the thing that keeps me from going out alone is bringing it back to the dock!  The vision of splintering wood and fiberglass...or the thought of people asking me how I got the boat in the slip sideways...makes me a little tenative. DT