Showing posts with label singlehanding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label singlehanding. Show all posts

Monday, April 1, 2013

Things that make Seas the Moment easy to singlehand

Anchor locker with a bow roller
A bow roller leading to an anchor locker makes for easy anchor deployment and retrieval, we have several anchors on the boat but rarely use any other than our primary anchor which is a Fortress with 30 of chain.

Harken roller furling
This makes the job of unfurling and furling a breeze, and to a certain extent, allows me to reef the jib while sailing.
Note:  I wrote "to a certain extent" because headsails on furlers are allegedly not really designed to be reefed much... But I'm not an expert on that subject to elaborate much... I believe the sail stops acting as a foil after being furled in to a certain extent...

Main halyard led back to the cockpit
One of the previous owners added a couple of blocks, a winch, and a cam cleat which makes raising the mainsail possible from the cockpit.  I generally prefer to raise it by hand right by the mast, then I tighten it up from the cockpit.

Lazyjacks
Lazyjacks act as a kind of cradle that prevents the mainsail from spilling all over the place when being dropped.

Autopilot
Boats with fin keels such as Seas the Moment generally don't track as well as boats with full keels.  When her sails are well balanced she will hold a course upwind, but when going downwind, this is almost impossible due to the waves lifting the stern at an angle... However, our tillerpilot (autopilot) takes care of that for us, when engaged, it will hold a course based on an internal magnetic compass that allows it to keep the right heading.  We named our Autopilot "Andres" in honor of a third crewmember that could not make the trip.

Amazon Kindle
This is not necessary for operating the boat singlehanded, but it will entertain you during long hours of boring sailing. I love it and it broke recently, I will most likely go crazy as a result of this event!

One thing I would love to add to her would be an Aries Windvane or something like it... This would enable her to hold a course (relative to wind direction) without using any electricity!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Transitioning into a singlehander

Yesterday, we decided that I will continue this trip by myself!  Lorena needs to go to Colombia for some family matters and I will be continuing this little adventure on my own.  It was a tough decision for us but I think it will be a fun challenge.  I will miss her dearly...

I have been preparing for this possibility for a while by doing many of the tasks by myself... Our autopilot has been working well (knock on wood) and I'll have to rely on it a bit more when doing some of the trickier tasks such as reefing while under sail... Most of the other tasks that usually require both of us to be engaged simultaneously will have to be tackled with better preparation or planning (docking, anchoring, cooking under sail, etc).

I must admit that I was a bit concerned about having to singlehand, but then I also know that plenty of people cruise singlehanding without issue, often on boats that are more difficult to handle than Seas the Moment (Catalina 27) which is a pleasure to sail...

As I write this post Seas the Moment is morphing from tiny home to tiny bachelor pad.  My surfboard is in plain view and all the girly things are slowly being packed away...

Wish me luck!