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Old 29-11-2015, 11:31   #136
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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OK, my report on the Beaufort to St Martin passage

Just finished the 10 day passage.
The Gulf Stream was good. It was blowing 18 from due north and still the sea was dead flat.

The GS was exactly 50nms across with no eddies before or after.

I 'lost' exactly 20nms from my course line. (but see how exact my loss prediction was!)

(I have to change computer to upload the charts)
Note: I didn't touch the auto pilot, so the deviation is just current. The inner and putter edge were my estimates which were pretty spot on.

So I am very happy with the crossing and recommend the area for those conning out of Beaufort.

Other interesting things: after the GS it did not cool down much, so it wasn't cold like the land side. I did have warm gear on a few days but nothing extreme.

I went out to 24n 63.5w before turning S to St Martin.
Mark, it seems like a foolhardy risky adventure to do a 10 day solo passage without a helmet for the post passage celebratory drinks in St Martin. Bar stools can be very dangerous especially when you still have your sea legs and you are fully tanked on dry land

Obviously you need to choose the correct cans
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Old 29-11-2015, 12:20   #137
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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True, the 3rd reef has a lot of line, but not really a problem shaking it out, and when it comes to the reefing, better to be only using one winch than two when solo
With 2 lines, I only need the halyard winch. I am not winching the luff down. Simply release the halyard and pull the luff down with a single part line tied to the luff cringle. No tension. Then cleat that line off and immediately winch the luff tight again against that line. I use a homemade electric winch. Now the boom is supported by the sprung kicker strut which of course had earlier been freed. Then it's easy to pull in the leech line by hand with perhaps a tiny bit of winching to get more final tension. Then tighten the kicker pull in the mainsheet and go sailing.

I made 1 and 2 reefs deeper than usual. The 3rd reef cringles are still there and I could pull it in the old fashioned way if I wanted too, but 2 is so close to 3 that if I need 3 I pull the main down and I can sail fine on the jib alone.

I also have a jiffy reef which only pulls in the leech from a cringle maybe a couple of feet up. The line returns to a fixed point on the boom. No adjustment to the luff. Free the kicker, and the main sheet. Pull in the line and it takes out all the fullness built into the bottom of the main. It also lifts the boom a couple of feet at the end. (or whatever it is). That's why I can make reef 1 deeper than usual because the jiffy reef is good for 15 / 20 knots.

Everything goes back to the cockpit. I have a stack pack sail cover. With a light downhaul line tied to the top sail slide I can also drop the main from the cockpit and it's held down by the downhaul.
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Old 29-11-2015, 12:27   #138
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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Obviously you need to choose the correct cans
Fantastic! I will order this safety equipment immediately!
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Old 29-11-2015, 12:30   #139
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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A bike helmet might be a good idea for a beginner, but not for experienced sailors.
.
So the Americas Cup cat sailers are not experienced? They wear helmets better than bike helmets. Kayakers also often wear helmets in white water.
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Old 29-11-2015, 12:45   #140
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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I have 2 timers. I set them both for th same time and sometimes an alarm clock for backup set at 1 hour.


ETC ETC ETC

And I hope that's the way I will continue To be alive and happy and I don't give a rats bum if I am a week longer doing it than anyone else because I have an extra week of being in the best place on earth: At Sea!
Well, if that didn't all help the OP, it certainly helped me. Thanks for all that MarkJ.
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Old 29-11-2015, 12:52   #141
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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Mark, it seems like a foolhardy risky adventure to do a 10 day solo passage without a helmet for the post passage celebratory drinks in St Martin. Bar stools can be very dangerous especially when you still have your sea legs and you are fully tanked on dry land

Obviously you need to choose the correct cans
The can's are all wrong
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Old 29-11-2015, 12:54   #142
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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So the Americas Cup cat sailers are not experienced? They wear helmets better than bike helmets. Kayakers also often wear helmets in white water.
I know this will be obvious to everyone else, so this response is for you Graham. The America's Cup Cat sailers and Kayakers are not 'cruising'.. They are out for a single day or a single event, going at times very very fast with high likelyhood of obstacles.
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Old 29-11-2015, 12:57   #143
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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The can's are all wrong
Could be worse, they could be Fosters

(UK forum members are probably now wondering what's wrong with Fosters )
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Old 29-11-2015, 13:14   #144
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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Nothing wrong with two lines, but to say that single line reefing doesn't work is just incorrect. Actually, you point out an important limitation of the in-boom single-line reefing systems like Selden: the amount of sail you can pull down is limited by the length of the boom. In my case, the second reef is at the limit, so if I decided to add a third reef it would need to be a conventional 2 line style.
Correct for me that 2 lines are better but obviously incorrect for you. I didn't say it doesn't work, just that it is harder to pull out than to pull in. I also tried a single line with small blocks shackled to the cringles which improved it a little but I found 2 lines much easier.
You're free to give your opinion.
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Old 29-11-2015, 14:07   #145
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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I know this will be obvious to everyone else, so this response is for you Graham. The America's Cup Cat sailers and Kayakers are not 'cruising'.. They are out for a single day or a single event, going at times very very fast with high likelyhood of obstacles.
It's fairly obvious enough to me too. I've watched them in action both in SF Bay and training in AK. They are experienced sailors and they do wear helmets.
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Old 29-11-2015, 14:09   #146
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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It's fairly obvious enough to me too. I've watched them in action both in SF Bay and training in AK. They are experienced sailors and they do wear helmets.

Well, would you like to comment on the differences then? On the WHY they wear helmuts?
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Old 29-11-2015, 15:03   #147
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pirate Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

I have a hard luck bike helmet. I have tried to sell it at two different events. The damn thing will not go away. I don't use it on the bike anymore and I am certainly not gonna wear it sailing. But I can now bill it as an AC training helmet! Ka Ching!
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Old 29-11-2015, 15:15   #148
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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So the Americas Cup cat sailers are n ot experienced? They wear helmets better than bike helmets. Kayakers also often wear helmets in white water.
To all beginners, learn about sailing from books or sailing courses. Then come to sailing forums to argue.

The Americas Cup Catamaran Sailors wear helmets due to the speed of their boats.

I'm a excatamaran racer and have almost been knocked out several times hitting the hull with my head during pitchpoles, and I was only doing 23 knots or so when those happened.

These new Americas Cup Cats get up to speeds near 50 if I remember correctly

This thread is about some dude in Colorado that thinks single handed sailing would be something he liked. My point was your average experienced slow boat monohull sailor is already used to the motion of the boat and knows when to duck because the boom is about to swing across. He probably doesn't need a helmet

But if you are new to boating/sailing maybe you do especially if you are old and slow and don't yet know the motions of the boat in most all wave conditions.

As I said earlier, when you do 15-20 tacks and gybes during the prerace starts you get sort of used to the boom coming across. It's all about experience was my point
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Old 29-11-2015, 15:30   #149
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

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Well, would you like to comment on the differences then? On the WHY they wear helmuts?
Cruising isn't racing.

Cruising is very slow paced and usually the boats are going slow and the sailors are at home with the motions of the boat and the sea.

As far as the Americas Cup Sailors wearing helmets, it's about the speed and possibility of collision or pitchpoles

Try coming into the bottom mark at 50 knots. I've done it singlehanded many times at 20 knots and it does become a concern even to a racer when there are 5-10 other boats coming in at the same time.

The bottom mark is the downwind mark. You have to drop the spinnaker (and get it in), round the mark, sheet in the main, lower the daggerboards, get back out on the trapeze and head upwind while readjusting mast rotation and downhaul all the while trying not to hit another boat!
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Old 29-11-2015, 16:35   #150
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Re: Tell me about Solo Sailing

If you approach long distance single handed sailing from the viewpoint of managing resources like energy, food, water, etc and prioritize, then what is the most critical and potentially weak link in the analysis? Why, that would be you. When you have been awake for 30 hours and need to make a sail change in bad conditions, unlike on a crewed boat, you need to spend a lot of time planning out step by step how you are going to do it. You also need to recognize that your thought processes might not be at their optimal, so you need to think it through 2 or 3 times. It might well take a couple of hours to perform a simple operation.

That being said I, have done a fair amount of offshore short (single/double) handed racing and frequently cruise solo (well, with the dog). I get tremendous satisfaction from both. Not to say that I don't enjoy cruising with the wife on occasion....
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