hove to

RonE58 · Post by **RonE58** » Aug 28th, '07, 19:19

I have been practicing my 'hove to' frequently lately, I don't now if this is the proper way, but I really like been able to relax for a half hour and have lunch and not hassel with having to drop the sails and anchor.
I bring the sheet in tight and back wind the jib.
I then tie a preventer on the boom and back wind the main.
I tie the tiller over to the other side with a bungee cord.

I was sitting so pretty last Friday on the sound off a beach somewhere between hempstead and oyster bay, that a couple of old timers tacked over concerned that I went a ground. When I told them that I was just hove to and eating lunch they were either impressed or wondering about my methods.
Do other CD owners use a similar method to hove to.
Ron

Joe Myerson · Post by **Joe Myerson** » Aug 28th, '07, 19:38

Ron,

I find myself heaving-to fairly frequently, because it's a good way to keep things under control while I tuck in a reef (or, on occasion, two reefs).

Since I'm usually working on the main, I've never tried to backwind it. Rather, I get onto a port tack, tack onto a starboard tack without bringing my jib around (this is supposed to give me the right of way, although I've never had to test that).

Then I lash the tiller hard over to leeward, usually with a bungee cord.

I bring the main in as close to the center line as I can and proceed with the reefing process.

I recently had to heave-to in very heavy Buzzards Bay wind and seas to tie up a little rubber boat that I was towing (I wouldn't dare call it an inflatable or a true dinghy). My sailboat slowed down nicely, but she was almost parallel to the swells, which made things a bit uncomfortable.

Perhaps if I had also backwinded the mainsail, it would have been easier.

This is the first year that I've sailed with a genoa, and I'm finding that I have to roll my 130 genny up to the size of a working jib, or even smaller, before starting to heave-to. That may be why I was so far off the wind when I was trying to hang the rubber boat from my stern pulpit.

It was on this board that I learned how to heave-to; our very own John Vigor gave the clearest directions on how it's done. And you're right, several times when I was hove-to, people in other boats came by to ask if I was OK.

--Joe

Sea Hunt · Post by **Sea Hunt** » Aug 28th, '07, 20:30

Hello Ron:

I am a "rookie" and tadpole sailor, so my thoughts are worth less than $.01.

But, from what I have learned, I agree with Joe on not backwinding the main. I think it should be loose or adjusted so that it counteracts on leeward the "backwinded" jib. When done right, as I understand it, you are sort of moving in a small "s" motion - bearing away (because of the backwinded jib), coming up (because of the main to leeward and tiller lashed to leeward), bearing away, coming up, etc. Although I have never done so (and hope I don't) I am told that heaving to is a safe way to ride out a bad storm.

Check out the following US Sailing website and video. If the link is correct (I am not computer literate

) it shows a video and describes the process of heaving to.

http://www.videos.sailingcourse.com/heaving_to_wmv4.htm

I think there is a way to enlarge the video. On the left side of the above screen there is a small rectangular box that says "Heaving To". Click that and then click the box on the right of the next screen that says "Download Speed". Select the fastest for your computer and click. You should be able to enlarge the video to a reasonable size.

Fair winds,

Al Levesque · Post by **Al Levesque** » Aug 28th, '07, 21:30

Just to add to the chorus, I also frequently heave to but I am not sure I understand what a preventer does to the main. I harden the jib and main sheets on one tack then change over to the other tack. This leaves the jib backwinded. Then I gradually bring and secure the rudder to windward to oppose the backwinded jib.

I have read of some that let the main way out and use a preventer to keep the boom out. I don't recall what they did with the jib but if it is down or loosely sheeted the boom being held out amidship keeps the boat from making progress.

When dropping the jib, and after the jib is down I get brief relief by sheeting the main in tight and letting the helm go. The boat then goes through short tacks on its own but stays mostly into the wind and makes little progress.

Matt Cawthorne · Post by **Matt Cawthorne** » Aug 29th, '07, 12:04

I have always been told not to backwind the main, just the jib. When on my way home from Maine this summer my crewmember hooked yet another fish while we sailed close hauled at 7 knots, southeast of the faux-turkey at the entrance to Buzzards bay. I offered to heave to while he cleaned the fish, because I was a bit afraid of loosing him and/or the fish while he cleaned it if we proceeded the way we had been. Since I had the staysail up, I rigged a preventer to it, furled the yankee and tacked. That was it. I left the helm up and the boat made about 1 knot perpendicular to the wind. It was far easier than I had suspected. In order to get the boat moving again the preventer on the staysail was eased off. The boat started making good progress to windward with crew and a good dinner still aboard.

Matt

Bob L · Post by **Bob L** » Aug 29th, '07, 22:06

Matt,

What did you do with your main?

BobL

Matt Cawthorne · Post by **Matt Cawthorne** » Aug 29th, '07, 22:25

BobL,
It was reefed, and it just tacked over. One sail was driving forward (main), and one backwinded and driving the boat aft. The combination kept the boat from rolling very much and it moved slowly.

Matt

Dean Abramson · Post by **Dean Abramson** » Aug 30th, '07, 18:51

My limited experience with heaving to is to just have the sails trimmed for a beat, then tack without touching the jib sheets. The jib backs, and the main stays sheeted in, but on the opposite tack. Then secure the wheel or tiller as to turn the boat into the wind. It tries to tack, can't, falls off, tries again, etc. The amount of sail up would be appropriate for the wind strength. I have not yet tried heaving to on my 31 (I did on our 25D), but my guess is that the staysail and a single-reefed main would do nicely in a range of conditions, but I would have to use a preventer to keep the staysail (on its boom) from tacking itself. In other words, do as Matt says about his 36.

It seems to me that heaving to with the yankee would cause it to chafe on the inner forestay. Do any cutter-rigged boat owners have any advice for me?

I personally have never heard of backwinding the main to heave to. Just sheeting in. But maybe with a bigger jib up, that is necessary to create the stalemate...? If the jib is on a furler (on a sloop), I would think that partially rolling it up would be a better, and safer, way to achieve the balance than to backwind the main.

Dean

Angela and Tom · Post by **Angela and Tom** » Aug 30th, '07, 19:40

I’d like to hear more detail on how to backwind a club footed jib. We’ve successfully hove to a few times by attaching a piece of line to the back end of the jib boom and tying it to a stanchion base. Very crude, clumsy and hard to tie and untie. Certainly nothing that could be easily accomplished under adverse conditions. And can’t be very good for the stanchion either.

Anyone have a good method?

A
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Steve Laume · Post by **Steve Laume** » Aug 30th, '07, 19:52

I added bails to the end of my main and staysail booms. The main bail works to haul out a jib or rig a preventer. The staysail bail works great for rigging a preventer. The bail on the end of the boom does not have a great angle for winging out the staysail to run down wind. I have also hove to by letting the main and staysail tack and just keeping the yankee sheeted on the original side. Chafe doesn't seem to be a problem. Everything sits pretty solid. You might not want to ride out a storm that way but for most things it works just fine. Heaving to is easier than tacking. Our boats really seem to like sitting around that way. It is kind of a time out thing. Fair winds, steve.

Dan F · Post by **Dan F** » Aug 31st, '07, 13:54

Regarding how to heave-to with a club-footed foresail (such as my staysail), I've considered just moving the traveler all the way to leeward before tacking-- thus holding the jib more or less to windward after the tack. I haven't tried it yet, so not sure if it will be sufficiently backed to work.

Peter Kozup · Post by **Peter Kozup** » Sep 1st, '07, 03:06

Heaving to is one thing that my boat (a CD 26) does well, even with me as the skipper!! I use it often to take a break, use the head, have lunch, or lower or reef the main. I really don't do anything with the main and it doesn't seem to affect the boat, though I suspect that the drift downwind might be greater with the main sheeted in tight, though I'm not sure about that. I think that CDs are among the best sorts of boats to heave to on. I have many people tell me that they can't heave to on their boats and some are even impressed that mine heaves to so well. I basically just backwind the jib and move the tiller to turn the boat into the wind. Works great! Unfortunately I have no experience with a club footed jib.

The Cape Dory Board

hove to

hove to

I never tried backwinding the main

Staysail

Heaving to with a self tacking jib