Is Single-handed cruising Fun?

[drivn2ironman]

Single-handed sailing is a personal skillset that you must develop. You will hear a lot of legal materials, but that is not your questions.

I grew up sailing since I was a few days old. I was born and raised on some islands in the south pacific. I now reside in California, and still love to sail.
Sailing by yourself come in two format. The coastal sailor and the blue-ocean sailor.

For coastal, you must be a lot more alert, and really monitor all the traffic around you. So going sleeping below deck would not really be advised. Maybe sleep/nap more like in the cockpit would be more appropriate with an alarm for 15min later. You have to pay attention!! Make sure you fly the proper flag and Nav-lights you need when performing a solo handling. Make sure that others are aware of what you are doing if you are sleeping. CRITICAL for the safety of all sailors.

For Offshore/Blue Ocean, you are still liable at all times what may happen. But the traffic congestion will be more minimal if you stay out of main shipping lanes. Also always have an AIS Transceiver to monitor and wake you up if something is coming up within your vicinity.

Overall, I love single-handed sailing and wouldn't sail otherwise. I've discovered over time that I was personally made to sail single-handedly and just love the solitude that you have when you are with mother ocean. Then the wind is going to be present at night and you have a full moon, their is just nothing to describe how it feels. There is a magic that is just beyond this world.

Just remember, it is not for everyone, and not everyone can do long passages. One great recent example; look at the Australian who took himself out of the Volvo Solo Race. It was two weeks into the race, and he realized that he was not made for it. When looking at his credentials (Paratrooper, summited Mt. Everest 3 times, etc... a very skilled athlete), he still could not adapt to solo racing. It is not for everyone, and you have to know/discover yourself. KNOW your LIMITS!!

If you find it is for you, Fair seas!!

[Peeew]

I enjoy sailing singlehanded but wondering about the social aspects of cruising solo. I will have a few friends to help sail the 5 day offshore passage but will likely be alone in the Bahamas for most of my cruise. Months or? When cruising with my girlfriend we met lots of nice folks. Mainly couples though so I wonder if a single guy will be as welcome.

[PommyDave]

Originally Posted by mindsofman

...it beats arguing with a woman.

Indeed.

[picklesandjesse]

[QUOTE=drivn2ironman;

Just remember, it is not for everyone, and not everyone can do long passages. One great recent example; look at the Australian who took himself out of the Volvo Solo Race. It was two weeks into the race, and he realized that he was not made for it. When looking at his credentials (Paratrooper, summited Mt. Everest 3 times, etc... a very skilled athlete), he still could not adapt to solo racing. It is not for everyone, and you have to know/discover yourself. KNOW your LIMITS!!

If you find it is for you, Fair seas!![/QUOTE]

It was Kevin Farebrother, and the race was the GGR. He sounded like he'd had enough of not sleeping and would sell his boat real cheap.

[dwedeking2]

Its not a strength/weakness thing. It takes a type of person, one that can go through isolation for longer periods of time. I've done it on a boat and on land (longer on land).

And yea, couple months alone and you get diarrhea of the mouth when you get back to civilization.

[Jim Cate]

There are literally 10,000 X as many boats out there cruising as there were 50 years ago, when this practice was no big deal.

Be serious! I was just starting longer coastal cruising voyages around 45 years ago, and while there were fewer cruising then, it might be a factor of two or three, not "literally 10,000 X as many".

Such exaggeration does little to support your point of view.

Jim

[Amnesia II]

Sailing alone about 3yrs ago, November and sort of out of the usual season I cruised around to Port Davey on the usually wild west coast of Tasmania. For the entire 10 days I was the only yacht there in that great expanse of protected waterway. The shear majesty of that wild scenery in the kaleidoscope of weather and changing light, I was often reduced to tears of joy and accomplishment...I’d feel a bit silly in company!

[Buzzman]

Originally Posted by mindsofman

NO, but it beats arguing with a woman.

ROTFLMAO

Heck, belly-crawling across a concrete carpark covered in broken glass is preferable to that...!!

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Foolish

You will meet far more people singlehanding then you ever would with a crew or with your wife. This is just the same as any traveling adventure. When alone, you will naturally speak to your neighbours on the water or on the dock or at the bar. And they will be very happy to speak with you. You will get invited to more dinners or drinks on board other boats by wives who are just plain tired of talking to their husbands every evening, and if you can tell a good story, that will increase exponentially.



When with your wife or a crew, you stick together most of the time. When alone, you naturally speak to others.

Depends a lot on the wife. Mine is our social director. Ive met far more people with her than I would solo. My social needs are pretty minimal, so I can be happy in my own little world ashore or afloat. She is much more outgoing and makes all of our social arrangements, I just show up when told. [emoji1787]

Also, I think couples tend to gravitate to other couples...balances out the social interaction better than just a couple and a single.

[Over Budget]

Out of necessity, I’ve been sailing single-handed my entire 25-year sailing life. Although there are times I wish I could share some experiences with my wife, because she dislikes sailing I enjoy those moments by myself, take pictures and share them with her later. But my love of sailing keeps me on the water. If you truly enjoy sailing, go it alone. There is a FB group of single-handed sailors where you can pick up tips and share common experiences. Join.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by thomm225

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The sailing, being alone, etc I have no trouble with but adjusting to sleeping onboard is the thing to me that's the toughest

I sleep much, much, much better on the boat than I do at home or anywhere else for that matter.


Even before we bought a piece of 4 inch foam that I just laid on top of the old cushions, I slept better on the boat.


I slept better on our C22 than at home, and that was with my wife along.


I slept better on our C25, with my wife and single handed.


I sleep better on our C34, with my wife and single handed.


All the "cautions" about planning ahead should be no different for a singlehander than for a fully crewed yacht. Why would you NOT drop your sails and deploy your fenders outside your marina? Why would you NOT get your anchoring gear ready before you needed to drop the hook? Why would you NOT fill up the water tanks and empty your holding tank just because you're by yourself? Why would you NOT plan ahead? Th eonly difference is that it takes longer because there is only one person to do everything. One quickly learns to avoid going back & forth to the bow or up & down the stairs because YOU forgot something! No one else to blame...



Either you run the boat properly or you don't. Has nothing to do with whether you have crew or not.


And I agree with the skipper(s) who said it's easier to dock singlehanded. I sidled into a dock recently and someone on the dock said, "Throw me your line, and I'll pull you in." "Thanks, but we'll just let her settle in by herself, I'll hand it to you when we get there." All from six feet away. What's the hurry?


I'm 72, we've had this boat for 20 years and have owned boats since 1983. I've singlehanded all of them. I learned to sail as a kid in summer camp in Massachusetts, single handed Beetle catboats when I was "yea high."


I enjoy parties and people. I enjoyed my four nights and five days out myself last week. I don't like crowds on boats, especially my boat. I sailed for years with a good friend every Friday, every single one, for over six years. We had two other crew for a finals race and it felt crowded - both of us admitted afterwards.



I do not plan to and have not crossed oceans. I "just" cruise locally and mostly anchor out at night, rarely marinas, sometimes park docks. I used to sail at night back in SF but the observations of many about on-shore lighting obscuring navigation lighting taught me the dangers of doing so, although sometimes I've sailed through dusk to dark to get to an anchorage. Dusk is great, I call it "Magic Time," and love how it lasts so much longer here in BC than it did in SF. Whether moving or at anchor, it's my favorite time of day.



I do all the work on my boat (save bottom jobs and standing rigging). There are very few things work-related on my boat, or most other boats of "regular" size, where more people will be of help rather than just handing over tools - there simply isn't that much room! We've all heard the tales of contortions required to get some access to certain things, right?


Whenever we got a new boat there was a learning curve for the new boat. For example, our current boat has double line reefing. It took a few outings to learn how to use it properly.


Give it a try, you'll find out whether YOU like it or not, 'cuz YOU are ALL that counts in this issue.


Good luck.


PS - My wife still loves to sail, but simply can't because we moved here to be caregivers to her 97 year old father, and one of us always has to be home. In two years we've been together for all of two nights together on the boat. I do miss her. But she knows how much I love the boat, whether sailing or doing maintenance/repairs, insists I "GO!," and enjoys my tall stories as much when I get back as I did making them up! Sh's really good at not saying "You haven't finished fixing that yet?!?"

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

I sleep much, much, much better on the boat than I do at home or anywhere else for that matter.

Even before we bought a piece of 4 inch foam that I just laid on top of the old cushions, I slept better on the boat.

I slept better on our C22 than at home, and that was with my wife along.

I slept better on our C25, with my wife and single handed.

I sleep better on our C34, with my wife and single handed.

You are very lucky then.

For me, I think it will be like trying to sleep near 80 other people in the military after either having my own room or sharing it with my brother for years.

It took me maybe two weeks before it seemed perfectly normal but then they made us stay up for the first 24 hours then gave us 2 hours sleep before beating on the trash cans at 4 am

The weird thing is that I felt pretty good each morning last weekend after I did get my 3-4 good hours of sleep after 3 am

I let the air out of my 8" Coleman blowup in the V berth also and now just use either a 1" Alps self inflatable Mountaineering Pad on the settee or a 2" in the V Berth

I also put some tape in the grooves for my sliding stairs to quiet the creaking noises when the boat is rolling in the waves. I'm normally still in open water when anchored just off to the side of the bay or the other

[centaur]

Im an inshore sailor but I've regularly cruised alone 2 weeks along the East coast of Ireland. Almost always enjoyable. Usually try to sail maximum of 6 hours but on occasion 12 hours is needed to get somewhere special like the Isle of Man.
Can't say I've ever felt drowsy on passage but I do let the autopilot do most of the steering in open water.
Nipping below to put the kettle in or put a pizza in the oven breaks up the journey and enjoying the freedom is well worth any on passage anxiety caused by the usually busy inshore traffic, especially the trawlers