Heaving To

[Tim Roberts]

On our Cape Dory sloop we often will Heave To to take a break, put in a reef or, whatever.  That is easy to do in a sloop, how would I do that in a Nonsuch?

Tim in Saint Louis  

[R D Young]

Tim, You cannot heave-to on a standard Nonsuch. I have never tried this but in a real emergency I wonder if you could fore-reach slowly by double reefing the main, sheeting it in real flat, then add just enough engine RPMs and helm to keep it from either tacking or falling off. Might work but it would not be a set it up and forget it deal.

David Young

Bay Cat, 30U #402
Traverse City / Suttons Bay, MI

On Dec 30, 2016, at 5:21 PM, Tim Roberts <slai...@gmail.com> wrote:

On our Cape Dory sloop we often will Heave To to take a break, put in a reef or, whatever.  That is easy to do in a sloop, how would I do that in a Nonsuch?

Tim in Saint Louis  

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[Mark Powers]

Tim, there are more experienced sailors on this forum then me and hopefully they will respond. I also believe that there are some previous discussions on the forum on this subject that you could check out.

As far as I am aware it is not possible to heave to with a cat rig. At least not in the usual or traditional sense. I have, however, been able to get La Reina to fore reach at low speeds by heading up to a close reach and easing the sheet until most of the drive is out of the sail. I then lock the wheel down. As she builds a little speed the weather helm builds and she will head up taking power out of the sail. The speed drops and the weather helm is reduced. The wind on the bow and the rudder will then push the bow down until the sail starts to provide more drive and the sequence is repeated. Speed through the water seems to be about 1 to 1.5 knots. If the wind speed changes everything needs adjusting. I have not tried this for reefing but expect that the change in sail area will change the balance. I have used this approach to allow the boat to sit quietly on her own for a short while. It differs from being in irons in that while the sail luffs it does not flog.

As I say, hopefully those with more knowledge and skill will wade in on this.

Mark Powers
La Reina 26C
Vancouver, B.C.

[Katmando]

Hello lads, I have "hove to" in my NS30u many times, to reef sails, fix an issue, have lunch, go fishing etc etc and so forth. I bend a 30' line on to a five gallon pail, throw it forward of the bow and tie it off on my anchor post. It turns her into the wind and acts as a sea anchor. I will admit to using the windlass to bring it back in.
It keeps the boat stable and her nose into the wind.
You really cannot heave to on a cat rig but this is a good and functional substitute.

Brian
NS30u #262
WHITBY Ont.

Sent from my Commodore 64

[Joe Valinoti]

I tend to agree with Mark having done that to reef or fix something.
However, I don't know how long it would stay hove too.

Joe Valinoti
S/V IL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA

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