Single Handed & Tiller Pilot

[Hud Smith]

I mentioned a sea anchor because I was thinking only of our boat, a ketch with worm gear steering, which tends to sail for hours without touching the wheel.
As far as operations you can control with a PLC, they include DC actuators- like an electric ram, and any electro magnetic valves. So, you could cut lines, open compressed air valves, etc.
That's all good, but I don't know what operations would have to be carried out to heave to. Troy ?

[Hud Smith]

Troy-
Just saw your heave to posting. That's the problem. How can you heave to without having the auto pilot engaged? A tiller wouldn't be too hard, you could deploy a drag over the stern which might make the boat circle (JV), but with a wheel it seems a lot harder.

[Troy Scott]

Hud,

I don't remember exactly how I did it in the early 80s, but at the time I was sailing a series of small Cape Dorys. I could always get the boat, without an autopilot, to heave to, balanced, long enough to have lunch, use the head, or even take a short nap occasionally. As I recall it was fairly easy. Maybe someone else here remembers this trick...?

[John Vigor]

Troy, as I indicated above, the easiest way to heave to on a sloop is to trim the sails for a beat, then simply go about without touching the jib sheet. As soon as you have come about, and way is off the ship, lash the tiller to leeward. You might also find it necessary to give the mainsheet some slack.

The boat will lie 50 degrees or so off the wind, pointing slightly into the waves and drifting slowly, roughly at right angles to the wind.

She will look after herself nicely in this position with no further attention, although you can get her to point up more into the waves by sheeting in the mainsail, or let her lie more broadside on by paying out the mainsheet.

Cheers,

John Vigor

[j2sailor]

Most boats can be sailed under main and headsail or headsail alone. That works against you if you go overboard with or without the vane, wheel or tiller engaged. Consider a boat sailing with main ,jib and vane engaged.
* If you disable the vane
The boat might still retain enough balance to sail herself. She'll round up and perhaps tack or jibe, but she might sail off too.
* If you disable the main
The boat might sail off with a headsail set. Boats have crossed oceans under headsail alone.
* If you disable the jib
This might work--and here's why. With mainsail only, even with vane engaged, the boat is completely out of balance. She'll round up, fall off, round up, fall off... But she most likely will not sail off. (I had a Monitor on my CD27 and she hated this). So how do you disable a headsail and get it to flog completely, streaming off the boat? (which will help slow the boat).

You might consider a toggled clew arrangement. Not that efficient and it might shake loose, but that's where engineering might help. But if you're alone, this may work. I was thinking about how the CG coxswains stayed alongside ships in heavy seas under perfect control...

CG lifeboats ride alongside a large ship in a seaway using a lark's head and toggle arrangement. The mothership passes a sea painter with an eye in one end. The boat crew takes the eye, passes it through the legs of a bow cleat. Then, they pull the eye over the standing part and insert the toggle. The toggle has a small lanyard attached to the fat end. When ready to cast off, the boat seaman yanks the lanyard on the toggle and the sea painter slips away.

Transfer this image to the clew of any headsail: hank-on or roller furler, working jib or Genoa, storm jib or staysail. Use one long line for your headsail sheets. Form a slipknot with a large eye in the center. Pass the eye through the clew ring and toggle it to itself. Make an extra long lanyard in the toggle and pass it back to the cockpit, staying outside of shrouds. Keep it slack and attach it to your safety harness or wrist. If you tack or jibe, you'll need to pass the lanyard around the other side. But it might work.

Best - J.

[Richard G.]

Noting an earlier post about the Wichard EBL which I have ordered, but not yet received to try.

I have in the past used, tried a small rope ladder with plastic rungs, which always did swing under the boat when I placed my feet on it. I am hoping that the Wichard, being longer, might not swing under as much.

I am also wondering if attaching a line from the bottom rung of the ladder to the attach point on the boat might restrict the "swing", without shortening the ladder thereby making it too hard to get your feet on it. I will try this out and report back to the board.

Certainly there is not better solution than to stay on the boat. Having a shorter tether made up.

[Kemah]

Searching for unusual types of ladders, I came across a new ladder made by Majoni. It's apparently only available in the UK and Ireland. Here's one source (used "fender ladder" as search term):

http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/fenders- ... er39.bhtml

On various websites, it comes in blue or white, 3 or 4 step.

I'm trying to figure out whether I could stretch it out on my aftdeck/transom or have it in the cockpit with a line which I could grab from the water. Still a danger of line tangling, of course. Perhaps just deploy it like a fender when solo sailing.

[Russell]

Fender ladder looks interesting, however two problems I see:

Being semi-rigid, I dont imagine it would have as much a problem of rope ladders of swinging under the boat when putting weight on it, BUT, the darn thing is going to float, how do you get your foot in the first rung if its sitting on top of the water?

Also, when not in use, its an awfully big item to find storage for!

[eb1smith]

I wear a Inflatable Lifevest with a PLB (smaller EPIRB) on it. I figure I would not get back on the boat but at least I can send a message for help.

--Eric Smith
s/v Larissa

[Lee Kaufman]

I purchased a rope swim ladder from WM and mounted it on the stern of my CD 25 thinking it would be less likely to swing under the boat there than anywhere I could mount it on the side. It was almost a year before I had an opportunity to try it. It did swing under the boat, one of the rungs broke (possibly due to ultraviolet degradation) and I almost didn't get back on the boat even with bloody toes. To be fair, I took it back to WM and they gave me a refund without question. I then went to Bass Pro and purchased a folding ladder ( http://www.basspro.com/ ) item #38-554-844-00 which I mounted on the stern of the boat. The first step is barely under water, which I know is not ideal, but is much more substantial. I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet and may have to lower it.

When SCUBA diving I have boarded boats in quite a bit of swell. The trick is to time your mount when the boat is down and let it raise you as it comes up.

I can't see any possible use for a rope ladder.

[Troy Scott]

John Vigor,
Your heave-to description sounds right to me. I don't think I had to loosen the mainsheet. I just tied the tiller to leeward. So, maybe the automated MOB machine could come about without touching the jib sheet, then turn to leeward. This should be easy to program. If the autopilot is already on when the MOB event happens, fine. If not, it should turn itself on!

Lee, I'm wondering What the Hell happened.