Heaving to better, for fin keels and roller furler rigs

[markxengineerin]

My pacific seacraft 37, with fin keel and roller furled genoa and staysail, like many similar boats, will not effectively heave-to. It sits close to square to the wave pattern, and it's not comfortable at all.

I saw this diagram somewhere and saved it:


But don't like the idea of dragging anything in the water- seems unnecessary risk and big effort in those circumstances.

So what about trying to increase windage aft? The furled genoa is maybe 40 feet long, 6 inch diameter, that would give an area of 20ft^2. This seems roughly the same size as one of those anchor riding sails that's rigged from the backstay. Has anyone tried one as a method to heave-to better? How did it go?

This is also not that "easy" to deploy, lots could go wrong, so I'm wondering about other ideas as well. No good ones yet..

[Nekton73]

Have you tried heaving to under main alone?


My boat behaves similarly and, depending on the wind strength and sea state, I am able to heave to by furling the jib completely, or just leaving a small scrap flying, and using the main under whatever state of reef is already set for the given conditions.
This has never resulted in the 'perfect' heave to with zero forward movement, textbook angle, and a beautiful slick on the windward side. Instead I end up with about 1Kt of fore reaching, a decent angle, and a modest slick, certainly effective enough to allow me to go below to make dinner, use the head, or just take a break. I've never tried it in over 20Kts.
I do have weather cloths that I can tie on to wrap around the cockpit and have wondered whether they would make heaving to easier, but have not yet tried that either.

[Kettlewell]

IMHO if you are in need of heaving to you will not want to be setting additional sail aft. Many people with boats with modern underbodies find it is best to keep sailing slowly in order to maintain some steerage and be able to possibly dodge breaking crests. Many people today even use the engine to help in thos conditions. Of course, there comes a time when having any sail up is too much, and that's when the drag devices come out. Don't underestimate the amount of windage create right forward by a rolled up jib. I've removed my roller jib many times upon the approach of a hurricane and I am always surprised by how much the pull on the mooring or anchoring gear is reduced.

[markxengineerin]

Have you tried heaving to under main alone?

Yes, always, otherwise there's no chance at all of success. The conditions I'm interested in are high winds, say 40+ knots, when I want to sleep without worrying, or just "tread water" waiting or a more favorable wind speed or direction. By that point I'm on my last reef (3rd) for main if trying to go upwind at all, or more likely just a bit of staysail if anything downwind. I have not tried using more main to get better pointing, but don't really want to in those winds. Wish there was a better way. The slowly forereaching is brutal, waves crashing on deck, boat tilting side to side way too much for easy sleep.

[JPA Cate]

Fwiw, for our boat, which is quite different from yours, we do like fore reaching, because the boat does not roll side to side. But, it takes some main plus some staysail. I'm thinking your boat would fore-reach okay, but needs more mainsail, trimmed for being close hauled. You really prefer to not fall off the wind more than about 40 degrees.

On our previous boat, we have done it up to sustained 45 kn. winds, with the windvane reefed down and steering. She was a fin keeled sloop.

Something else would be to try your full staysail, and 3 reefs. But if you're rolling side to side, my thought is that you're not going fast enough. One virtue of being hove to or of fore-reaching is that you stay heeled to the same side. It's comfy enough for the off watch to sleep deeply and soundly. Do want a sea berth amidships, and with a lee cloth or board so your body does stay relatively stable.

The other virtue of fore-reaching is that, albeit slowly, you can continue on your desired course, and make some progress, rather than none towards your goal.

Ann

[Kettlewell]

The other virtue of fore-reaching is that, albeit slowly, you can continue on your desired course, and make some progress, rather than none towards your goal.

Unless your course is downwind, where heaving to and drifting might lose less ground towards your destination. I have set a parachute sea anchor several times for damage control, and they do work as advertised. The biggest problem is getting them back in when you want to get going again!