HOW TO HEAVE-TO?
One of the best ways to heave-to in a modern sloop is to use the tacking method. Start off close-hauled or on a close reach. Turn the bow of the boat through the wind slower than you would during a normal tack and DO NOT release the jib. The goal here is to let the jib backwind and stall the boat's momentum.When the bow has passed through the eye of the wind, the jib will be backed to windward. As pressure on the backwinded jib forces the bow to leeward, ease the main and feather the boat into the wind. If you have too much momentum, the bow will want to tack back through the wind, so go slow. Eventually your speed will diminish to a point where the rudder will lose steerage and stall. At the same time the rudder stalls, the bow will blow down. When this happens, turn the helm hard to windward and lock it in place. If you are on a tiller steered boat, push the tiller to leeward and lash it down.

From this web site and confirms what I have said.

Check skip novaks heave to video.
He does it without turning the boat which to me makes sense. He sails in the southern ocean so is constantly in 40 + knots

Select to expand quote

Sectorsteve said..
Check skip novaks heave to video.
He does it without turning the boat which to me makes sense. He sails in the southern ocean so is constantly in 40 + knots

Yeah, i liked the way he did that, he tried to balance the boat and it did'nt look like the boat would try to gybe or tack etc.
I think it would be very uncomfortable and dangerous if the boat found itself beam onto the wind with close hauled sails.

A couple of things
- Heaving to - I don't get the gybe method. Many boats won't even bear away without easing the mainsheet. On a big wind day you will have to fight most boats to get them to gybe without touching sheets. Whereas heaving to by tacking requires only that you push the helm to leeward and then gently push it to leeward again after tacking. Maybe ease some headsail sheet and play with the mainsheet. I for one never bear away without easing the main, most good sailors steer with the sails as well as the tiller - ease the main to bear away, trim it in to head up.
I once had to use the heaving to method after we lost the steering on a Cav 32 right on Swansea bar. I let the boat tack automatically (Love that weather helm) and then trimmed the backed headsail and mainsheet so that we were closehauled and doing about 1 knot. To tack again I put the headsail on the "correct" side, the boat tacked and we hove to again, with backed headsail and did our 1 knot until we were far enough offshore to fit the emergency tiller. Just tack and heave to - takes about 2 seconds.
As to the NSW coast - just day sail. If you want to really get some time done do long days. I have sometimes left at 4am and sailed through to 10pm. You get a lot of miles done and sleep well. All nighters are not good for me and I feel stuffed after them. I lie down after about 1am with a timer on my chest set to 20 minutes. It goes off and I get up and look around. I do this and after about 3am I wish I was anchored somewhere for a few hours sleep.
If you are heading north from Sydney anchor at Newcastle, Port Stephens, Broughton, Crowdy, Port Mac and Coffs. Then off to Yamba and beyond. We go a bit faster than a Tophat but unless I had good winds and a good partner I would not like to do more than one overnighter along the coast.

cheers

Phil

Select to expand quote

keensailor said..

Yes. That image shows exactly what I am saying. The rudder must be put in the position that if the boat was still sailing on the stbd tack as that picture shows the boat was originally doing, the tiller would be hauled to windward ie the yacht steered to leeward.

As I said, different boats behave differently and in that figure the mainsail is considerably eased. You may have to do that after doing the heave, and as I said, it depends on whether the yacht is main or head sail powered.

The aim is to put the Centre of Effort in line with the Centre of Lateral Resistance so that there is no resultant movement of the yacht.

The quickest and most efficient way of achieving this is to gybe the boat with a hard sheeted main.

Select to expand quote

Kankama said..
Many boats won't even bear away without easing the mainsheet. On a big wind day you will have to fight most boats to get them to gybe without touching sheets.

You have got to be kidding me.

You are hard on the wind doing close to hull speed and you are saying that if you steer the boat hard to leeward that it will not come to the gybe.

I have sailed a ketch with mizzen mast well aft (almost a yawl) with main and genoa up but no mizzen sail and the damned thing would not tack. The only way I could get onto the other board was to gybe it.

Select to expand quote

cisco said..

Kankama said..
Many boats won't even bear away without easing the mainsheet. On a big wind day you will have to fight most boats to get them to gybe without touching sheets.

You have got to be kidding me.

You are hard on the wind doing close to hull speed and you saying that if you steer the boat hard to leeward that it will not come to the gybe.

I have sailed a ketch with mizzen mast well aft (almost a yawl) with main and genoa up but no mizzen sail and the damned thing would not tack. The only way I could get onto the other board was to gybe it.

Hay Cisco, l'm with Kankama on this one. I have seen more accidents on the race course where boats have tried to duck the stern of a boat but gone straight ahead because they did not ease the main. The same as when you hit the gybe mark of the race course at full speed in a blow and even worse in a catamaran.

Absolutely not kidding. There are a lot of boats out there, including most modern factional boats that don't bear away well with sheets on. Go to the top mark of a race course and watch what happens if the sheethand doesn't ease the main. The rudder turns, aerates and the boat heads down a bit and then whammo, the rudder loses all bite and she rounds up. As stated above, this is also the case with port tack bear aways. I have seen more than a few bingles because boats won't do what the rudder tells them if the mainsheet isn't being moved in tandem. Easing sheet is totally standard on any reasonably sailed boat in a bear away.
Most boats have a fair bit of weather helm and if so then you would have to fight hard against it to bear away. I don't doubt that your method may work on boats with neutral helm and in lighter winds but I would not recommend it for twitchier boats that are mainsail driven.
When I taught sailing I really had to drum into people sailing S80s and Solings that they would not steer well if you steered with only the rudder. Steering with both the rudder and the sheet - that almost always works. Faster and safer too. When I sail factional rig boats like a Farr 1104 I trim and talk to the skipper lots in heavy air. If I don't ease the main in a gust the rudder lets go and we head upwind - very very slow and a worry in racing quarters.
As to the ketch - I think it may have had lee helm and maybe a long keel. This would alter handling compared to a fin keel and large main boat and make it happy to bear away. Different horses and all that.

cheers

Phil

Yes the ketch was a full keeler. I see your point on the rudder losing bite.
Every boat I have had and most I have sailed on have been deep fin keelers with fairly neutral helm. I will keep your advices in mind and do some experimenting when I am back in the water.
Cheers.

So, can someone explain to me in diagrams of one syllable how to use your main and rudder to steer.
There has been times when the boat has not responded to the rudder as expected and I have had to fire
up the engine to get out of a situation. I thought that as long as I had good forward motion the boat
would steer and I couldn't understand why it didn't.

Select to expand quote

samsturdy said..
So, can someone explain to me in diagrams of one syllable how to use your main and rudder to steer.
There has been times when the boat has not responded to the rudder as expected and I have had to fire
up the engine to get out of a situation. I thought that as long as I had good forward motion the boat
would steer and I couldn't understand why it didn't.

Think of an old windsurfer. No rudder, mast tilts forward to come away from the wind and backward to come up into the wind. It's all about working sail area balance in relation to centre of lateral resistance (fin keel, centreboard). More working area forward takes the bow off the wind. More area aft pushes the bow up into the wind. That is why Kankama was saying that unless the main was eased at the top mark it would overpower the effect of the rudder as the rudder cavitated and push the bow up into the wind. In this case easing the main lets the jib pull the bow down and let's the rudder do it's job.

Gday Sam

As Josusa says it is like a windsurfer. Your boat has a underwater balance point about which it pivots - the centre of lateral resistance. (Google an image of this phrase) If the designer doesn't get this point right, the boat may be a real pain to sail.

Your rig also has a balance point - the centre of effort. If you get both exactly in line (the CE over the CLR) then your boat goes straight. If you get the CE aft of the CLR the boat heads up and visa versa.

The best sailors I have ever raced against always steered with both sheets and rudder - always together. In a pre start you know when your competitor is heading up because the winch or ratchet block on the main comes on. The helmsman is right next to the main trimmer. You need to be locked together and talk, always communicating. Too much weather helm, ease main. Neutral helm, more mainsheet on.

So if your boat is not answering the helm it is probably because the sails are steering opposite to the rudder. I never pull the tiller to windward without first easing mainsheet. I push the tiller down to head up as I pull main on. Tiller up - sheet off. Tiller down - sheet on. SAME TIME ALWAYS.

Get yourself on a moderately good race boat and just watch the helm and sheet. You will learn a lot about balancing a boat that will make you safer if needed. I never needed to sail a boat through a bar without a rudder until the day I helped a friend deliver his (old) but new to him Cav back to the lake. But we steered the Cav back through the bar and out to sea because I could steer her with just the sails.

The rudder is for fine trim only.

cheers

Phil

And I thought me and the Missus were doing so well !!!!!

Select to expand quote

samsturdy said..
And I thought me and the Missus were doing so well !!!!!

Sam, it doesn't matter how long you have been sailing. You still keep learning, that the great thing about sailing.

Heading north

Sam - at the risk of thread overload I thought I would give a summation of my thoughts on cruising the NSW coast. I have done about 7-8 trips north to the reef depending on how you count it.

I think you deliver the NSW coast and cruise the QLD coast. The NSW coast has almost nothing you can't get to in a car. Your main aim is just to get north. Have fun sailing of course but your boat gets really worthwhile once you get inside Gold Coast Seaway. Get your family on board over the Seaway bar. Sell them the dream then, not on a long passage between Port Stephens and Coffs.

Wait for weather, always wait for the weather. The NSW coast is a dream, it is benign, it is lovely. Until it is not. You must sail to the conditions. Timetables are the enemy of a good trip. Go hard when you can and snug up when you can't. There is no reason to get caught out in bad weather. It is so well forecast it can only mean you were cutting things too fine. So you can learn by heading up the coast. It doesn't matter if you sail home or you just keep heading north. Take some tools, learn from your experiences and just keep turning left out of the harbour. Turning right isn't safer than left. meander your way up the coast. Think like a jellyfish - not a train on a timetable. Go when the wind blows you. Get Zen. Wait at anchor, row around the anchorage, clean out the carby. Paradise is not found at Airlie, Zoe, Musgrave, Keppel, Percy or Hill inlet. I have spent weeks at each place and never found paradise. I found nice places but they are just as nice if you see them later.
Or don't see them at all. If you can't get to Percy - okay. You are Zen, aren't you. Scawfell will be nice instead. Be flexible. Being rigid is really dangerous - a case in point.
We were hanging around the Sandy Straits and a big blow was forecast. We hid up a creek and played on the sand flats until it blew itself out. Then headed out to Musgrave in a flat calm to see one boat on the reef flat and another sunk. Musgrave to us was calm and beautiful. To the silly guys who didn't heed the forecast it was a Venus flytrap - be flexible always.
Heading up the coast is nothing really. You sail north and don't head back to the mooring. It is not rocket science but you can get treated roughly if you think like a daysailor or a racer. Cruise, chill, ease along, be like a jellyfish - blown along by a benign wind. Snug on anchor when the nasty stuff comes so you can walk the beach and watch it from ashore.

Get going - it can be great

Phil

Select to expand quote

Kankama said..
Heading north

Sam - at the risk of thread overload I thought I would give a summation of my thoughts on cruising the NSW coast. I have done about 7-8 trips north to the reef depending on how you count it.

I think you deliver the NSW coast and cruise the QLD coast. The NSW coast has almost nothing you can't get to in a car. Your main aim is just to get north. Have fun sailing of course but your boat gets really worthwhile once you get inside Gold Coast Seaway. Get your family on board over the Seaway bar. Sell them the dream then, not on a long passage between Port Stephens and Coffs.

Wait for weather, always wait for the weather. The NSW coast is a dream, it is benign, it is lovely. Until it is not. You must sail to the conditions. Timetables are the enemy of a good trip. Go hard when you can and snug up when you can't. There is no reason to get caught out in bad weather. It is so well forecast it can only mean you were cutting things too fine. So you can learn by heading up the coast. It doesn't matter if you sail home or you just keep heading north. Take some tools, learn from your experiences and just keep turning left out of the harbour. Turning right isn't safer than left. meander your way up the coast. Think like a jellyfish - not a train on a timetable. Go when the wind blows you. Get Zen. Wait at anchor, row around the anchorage, clean out the carby. Paradise is not found at Airlie, Zoe, Musgrave, Keppel, Percy or Hill inlet. I have spent weeks at each place and never found paradise. I found nice places but they are just as nice if you see them later.
Or don't see them at all. If you can't get to Percy - okay. You are Zen, aren't you. Scawfell will be nice instead. Be flexible. Being rigid is really dangerous - a case in point.
We were hanging around the Sandy Straits and a big blow was forecast. We hid up a creek and played on the sand flats until it blew itself out. Then headed out to Musgrave in a flat calm to see one boat on the reef flat and another sunk. Musgrave to us was calm and beautiful. To the silly guys who didn't heed the forecast it was a Venus flytrap - be flexible always.
Heading up the coast is nothing really. You sail north and don't head back to the mooring. It is not rocket science but you can get treated roughly if you think like a daysailor or a racer. Cruise, chill, ease along, be like a jellyfish - blown along by a benign wind. Snug on anchor when the nasty stuff comes so you can walk the beach and watch it from ashore.

Get going - it can be great

Phil

very nice words mate. nice read!

Select to expand quote

Sectorsteve said..

Kankama said..
Heading north

Sam - at the risk of thread overload I thought I would give a summation of my thoughts on cruising the NSW coast. I have done about 7-8 trips north to the reef depending on how you count it.

I think you deliver the NSW coast and cruise the QLD coast. The NSW coast has almost nothing you can't get to in a car. Your main aim is just to get north. Have fun sailing of course but your boat gets really worthwhile once you get inside Gold Coast Seaway. Get your family on board over the Seaway bar. Sell them the dream then, not on a long passage between Port Stephens and Coffs.

Wait for weather, always wait for the weather. The NSW coast is a dream, it is benign, it is lovely. Until it is not. You must sail to the conditions. Timetables are the enemy of a good trip. Go hard when you can and snug up when you can't. There is no reason to get caught out in bad weather. It is so well forecast it can only mean you were cutting things too fine. So you can learn by heading up the coast. It doesn't matter if you sail home or you just keep heading north. Take some tools, learn from your experiences and just keep turning left out of the harbour. Turning right isn't safer than left. meander your way up the coast. Think like a jellyfish - not a train on a timetable. Go when the wind blows you. Get Zen. Wait at anchor, row around the anchorage, clean out the carby. Paradise is not found at Airlie, Zoe, Musgrave, Keppel, Percy or Hill inlet. I have spent weeks at each place and never found paradise. I found nice places but they are just as nice if you see them later.
Or don't see them at all. If you can't get to Percy - okay. You are Zen, aren't you. Scawfell will be nice instead. Be flexible. Being rigid is really dangerous - a case in point.
We were hanging around the Sandy Straits and a big blow was forecast. We hid up a creek and played on the sand flats until it blew itself out. Then headed out to Musgrave in a flat calm to see one boat on the reef flat and another sunk. Musgrave to us was calm and beautiful. To the silly guys who didn't heed the forecast it was a Venus flytrap - be flexible always.
Heading up the coast is nothing really. You sail north and don't head back to the mooring. It is not rocket science but you can get treated roughly if you think like a daysailor or a racer. Cruise, chill, ease along, be like a jellyfish - blown along by a benign wind. Snug on anchor when the nasty stuff comes so you can walk the beach and watch it from ashore.

Get going - it can be great

Phil

very nice words mate. nice read!

Spot on Phil, best description I've read of going north, read just like my trips north as well

+10 Phil!

Very philosophical Phil, and if we ever get going I think the ' flexible' attitude is definitely the
way to go. Thanks mate. However I'm still pondering the easing mainsail when tacking advice.
A while ago I was in Pittwater in a 20+ knt Nor'easter I was heading East. The tiller was over
towards the stbd side (lee side ?) pretty much all the way across Pittwater. When the time came to tack
to Port I pushed the tiller over as far as it would go and the head started to come round and then
it stalled, the bow came back to the original heading and because I was running out of room I turned
the boat to stbd and ran downwind for a while. So, what should I have done ??. Should I have
eased the mainsail as I pushed the tiller over, or should have eased it earlier to to counter the lee helm ??.

A couple of things

- First - having to push the tiller to leeward to get the boat top go straight is a really big sign there is something wrong. I think your boat is a Santana 28 and seems pretty nicely cared for so I don't think it is the boat. It must be you. That is a good thing.

So why do you have heaps of lee helm? I really don't get it. Even with just the genoa up the Santana should be okay - just a bit of lee helm. So maybe you are pinching too.

Remember that you are never allowed to tell the boat what to do without listening first. Big lee helm may occur in big wind when we pinch, push the boat up too high, and if there is lots of drag from flogging sails. Was the wind up and were you trying to keep her upright by easing the sheets? This causes lee helm due to high drag.

I would like to see your boat sail to windward in 10-12 knots. Main traveller on centreline, genoa winched in until the leech just starts to get close to the leeward spreader. Then do not make the boat point where you want - ask it how high it can point. If the genoa luff shakes, gently bear away. Stop bearing away when the shaking (luffing ) stops. This is fundamental stuff and you will do it after 30 years of sailing.

Never tell a boat where to go upwind. Always listen and adjust. The boat will let you know.

With well trimmed sails you should have slight weather helm. The boat will want to gently round up. Then to tack you need to push the helm to leeward and whip off the genoa sheet.

This brings me to the second point - Main ON to head upwind. Main OFF to bear away. On a powerful skiff the person who actually determines how high you sail is the sheethand. Tight mainsheet forces the helm to pinch. Looser sheet makes them bear away. So to tack you need the main pulled on.

If you are sailing around in a big noreaster with flogging sails to keep her upright change down headsails and reef the main. Ask the boat what it wants. Lee helm, she needs main on and genoa off or changed down. Too much weather helm she needs main off (down traveller).

Heel comes into this too. Heel makes weather helm, flat boats bear away. So pull the main on to tack when you have good speed. Your boat should do 5 knots easy to windward in a nice breeze and should have only a little weather helm.

Hope this helps

Phil

Select to expand quote

samsturdy said..
Very philosophical Phil, and if we ever get going I think the ' flexible' attitude is definitely the
way to go. Thanks mate. However I'm still pondering the easing mainsail when tacking advice.
A while ago I was in Pittwater in a 20+ knt Nor'easter I was heading East. The tiller was over
towards the stbd side (lee side ?) pretty much all the way across Pittwater. When the time came to tack
to Port I pushed the tiller over as far as it would go and the head started to come round and then
it stalled, the bow came back to the original heading and because I was running out of room I turned
the boat to stbd and ran downwind for a while. So, what should I have done ??. Should I have
eased the mainsail as I pushed the tiller over, or should have eased it earlier to to counter the lee helm ??.

Sounds like you were a bit over-canvassed and pinching her to reduce heel. Hence not going very fast. You need speed before tacking, as it is the momentum that gets you through the eye of the wind. So 20 knot head wind, low speed, and then you "pushed the helm over as far as it would go".
If you move the tiller over more than 15 degrees, it starts to become a brake, as the rudder stalls. Looks like not enough speed, headwind, and brakes on, and she ran out of puff.

This has been a great thread and credit to our members.

I don't think anyone mentioned that the relative size of the sails makes a big difference. On my boat to heave to nicely I need to have the 120% genoa furled in quite a bit, otherwise it overpowers the boat beam on. It is important to not be too impatient as it can take several minutes for the boat to settle down and it will also wonder a bit, so take your time and fiddle. But once you have got it, it is really empowering.

Another way to get a feel for steering by sail is to just push the boom around by hand in light winds and see where the boat goes (assuming < 30').

A

OK, I got all that. As I don't aim for a destination, instead I just sail to and fro for fun, I probably don't worry
too much about the boat being perfectly trimmed. However, I do remember the occasion when she wouldn't
tack. Now I generally use my ST2000 to tack as it leaves both hands free, but on this occasion the pilot had
pushed the tiller so far over that there was not much left for it to move before it reached its limit of travel. I had
to disengage it to get the extra tiller movement but the boat wouldn't go through the wind despite reasonable
boat speed. So I'm accepting responsibility for the sail trim, and I was probably trying to point too high. So
should I have come off the wind a bit as I was crossing Pittwater or should I have altered the sail trim.

So should I have come off the wind a bit as I was crossing Pittwater or should I have altered the sail trim?
You need speed before you throw a tack, and to do that you may need to ease off the wind a bit. As you ease off towards a reach, so the sails need to be eased off as well.
Check the set-up of your autohelm. Is it mounted at the correct distance from the rudder pivot? Too close, and it moves the tiller beyond the efficient limit.

Yes Yara, I know I need boat speed and that wasn't the problem. The tiller pilot mounting is all
correct and OK, The problem was, however I had set the trim up meant that to stay on course
I needed a lot of lee helm (what caused that?). The pilot is compass driven. What I want to
know is...what should I have done to correct the lee helm so when the time came to tack I had
the tiller centered and full rudder movement. It seems to me that because of restricted rudder
movement I couldn't bring the bow around quick enough or far enough to complete the tack
before the wind caught us and forced the bow back.

I'm going to give this a go tomorrow. My boat has an inner forstay effectively permanently in place so thinking to trial with an extra sheet run so can readily back the headsail. If stronger wind is just use the staysail instead.

Select to expand quote

samsturdy said..
Yes Yara, I know I need boat speed and that wasn't the problem. The tiller pilot mounting is all
correct and OK, The problem was, however I had set the trim up meant that to stay on course
I needed a lot of lee helm (what caused that?). The pilot is compass driven. What I want to
know is...what should I have done to correct the lee helm so when the time came to tack I had
the tiller centered and full rudder movement. It seems to me that because of restricted rudder
movement I couldn't bring the bow around quick enough or far enough to complete the tack
before the wind caught us and forced the bow back.

hey Sam, there is a good explanation of helm balance here:

www.jordanyachts.com/4023

in the situation you described, your sail trim has your Centre of Effort (CE) too far in front of your Centre of Lateral Resistance (CLR), blowing your bow off the wind and giving you lots of lee helm.

essentially you have too much pressure on the headsail compared to the mainsail...

Ah, thanks Fisho. I read the artical but your simple explanation nailed it for me. I should have eased
the headsail a bit. It was probably due to me trying to sail too close to the wind and I had everything
pulled in tight. Thanks mate. Love this forum.

Select to expand quote

interesting backs up what cisco said ........... from Lisa Blair recently .........see below .

Version:1.0 StartHTML:000000253 EndHTML:000399574 StartFragment:000398644 EndFragment:000399467 StartSelection:000398644 EndSelection:000399467 SourceURL:lisablairsailstheworld.com/blog/2017/6/21/large-winter-storm-in-the-southern-ocean Large Winter Storm in the Southern Ocean ??" Lisa Blair Sails the World








I also have found it preferable to gybe the boat to get into position in these conditions rather than tack the boat.? My reasons are that I only have a very small amount of sail up with the 4th reef in and providing I centre the boom and make sure that the mainsheet is winched in very tight beforehand it is quite easy.? If I try to tack in that much wind with such a small amount of sail up it can be very hard just to get the boat through the wind and complete the tack, it would also take me several goes to tack this way but I can gybe the boat ever time with no issues.? So, for me this is the easier path.? So, the rest of the night was spent with the boat hoved too as I sailed through the cold front associated with this nice big low-pressure system.? Tonight, I am battling with the rest of the storm system.

Select to expand quote

samsturdy said..
Ah, thanks Fisho. I read the artical but your simple explanation nailed it for me. I should have eased
the headsail a bit. It was probably due to me trying to sail too close to the wind and I had everything
pulled in tight. Thanks mate. Love this forum.

More likely you needed to bring the main in harder. Or both. The main will push the head up into the wind, the headsail will push it away. If you are out of balance i.e. the tiller is way off centre, you need to adjust the sails to counteract the helm. Most yachts have a little bit of weather helm, i.e. the boat is trying to come up into the wind. This is desireable as it means the boat will head to wind and stall if it all gets too much. Lee helm means it will bear away and gybe if left to itself.

Given time to get experience, if you have a reasonable understanding of physics, it will become obvious what is happening to the boat.