Heaving-to in a Cape Dory 30' in extreme conditions?

[Guest]

Ky

I don't know if you'll read this as its so late on after the initial posting. I have a CD 30 and have always been very interested in what I should do in storm conditions with enough searoom. I have read quite a lot and combined with my own experience in a CD30 and have decided due to the forefoot cutaway in the CD30 design heaving too, lying ahull or streaming a sea anchor from the bow would be dangerous for 2 reasons;

1 - the boat would not lie with the weather on the bow and would end up lying beam on increasing the likelyhood of capsize and loosing your masts - particularly in breaking seas. The boat is at risk of this as it is too small to create a 'slick' of smooth water and is just to small to cope with rogue waves

2 - lying too the bow will causing snatching and the boat would alternate between sailing off and stalling. During a stall the boat would be at risk of going backwards resulting in rudder damage

In my opinion the safest way would to stream something really effective from the stern - preferably serial drogues on a long weighted line but these would take up valuable space for the blue water sailer in a small boat and a suitable custom built drogue/seaanchor may be a good compromise. The benefit with this is it could be deployed and recovered from the cockpit also.

These are just my thoughts and may be nonsense. Miles Smeetons book Once is Enough provides food for thought on this topic.

Good luck with everything.

[The Patriot]

... Kerry [Armond], Thanks for the link! I read your account. This is more what I expected, after reading the Pardey’s Storm Tactics (heaving-to under double-reefed main). Do you have some insight into the idea of heaving-to in CD with jib alone, as mentioned above?

I have a storm jib that I have never used (since 1981). I also have a spitfire # 5 jib (roughly 65 or 70 % LP) that I have used on a few rare occasions. This sail is for all practical purposes one step up from the storm jib according to the boat's sail plan.

I just returned from a cruise to Bermuda where I had occasion to heave to 2 or 3 times enroute. In each instance I used a double- or triple-reefed mainsail only. This seemed to work satisfactorily. In fact, when I think about conditions where heaving the boat to is indicated, I just cannot picture myself going up on the foredeck, handing whatever jib is in use, bagging the sail, dragging it aft to the cockpit and stowing it below, and then hauling out the storm jib, dragging it to the foredeck, hanking it on, hoisting the sail, and then finally laying to. In my view this would be an extremely risky procedure involving many transits forward on a small boat with a heaving deck. I can assure you I have a very effective system for jacklines and harnesses, etc., but even so there is no reason to tempt fate.

Much easier for me is to simply tuck in 2 or 3 reefs, set the main traveller to leeward, put the helm down, and just watch the boat relax. It seems to me that with few exceptions, the folks who write books and magazine articles describing a detailed and rigid set of procedures for nasty weather are often not the same folks who actually encounter nasty weather on a short-handed small yacht.

[Kyheinze]

Kerry,

What you say about a storm jib being harder to use than a reefed mainsail makes sense.

Concerning your recent heaving-to experiences: were you on a Cape Dory 30'? How extreme were the conditions and how did the boat behave?

[Kyheinze]

Peter,

Thanks for your comment. Most of my information is based on Lin and Larry Pardey's book Storm Tactics (plus their video). THere, they give directions for heaving-to in boats with various under-bodies, information they seem to have gained from their experience on deliveries. THus, I assumed that we would be able to safely heave-to in our Cape Dory 30'. One interesting comment that the Pardey's make in their book is that their full-keeled boats require (in extreme conditions), a storm-trysail with a center of effort fairly far aft. They say that this is because waves will catch the full forefoot of the boat and push the bow away from the wind. From this, I gather that with a cut-away forefoot, it would be easier to keep the bow from falling away from the wind. However, as I think about it, it occurs to me that a cut-away forefoot could result in the bow falling to leeward, if one had significant windage on the bow.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. As you see, I don't have any experience to back it up. I am grateful for your comments and would welcome further discussion.

[tartansailor]

Before hand, have a down haul line for your headsail leading back to the cockpit.
Now:
Douse the main and secure.
Stream warps.
Douse the head sail.
Go below, stay there, and pray.

Dick