hi there
own a Northshore 27 with my girlfriend. We go sailing together most weekends but I want to be able to go out on the odd occasion and sail by myself with both the furling headsail and the main up. When we together, she steers and I winch the headsail on during changes of tak.
Below is a photo of the cockpit of a NS27 but not mine.
My questions are; how do do handle the headsail when sailing solo and steering by myself? When I have finished for the day, do I heave to in order to drop the main. What are the techniques for this kind of sailing. Cheers.

a small tillerpilot is your friend. with a little practice these can take over all the helming duties, apart from docking. a cheaper alternative which works for some boats is a elastic or sheeted off tiller. having roller furling and lazy jacks on your main can assist single handed operation, but are by no means prerequsites. just give yourself plenty of sea room and practice...

The old man had a furling heady on his N27, sailed solo heaps no probs, grouse little boat, enjoy!

Lazy jacks make this a fairly easy operation. Deck layout and a tiller that you can steer with the cheeks of your butt help. Tacking upwind just leave the main cleated on, drive the boat through the tack releasing the genoa at the right time and haul in on the new side and turn up on the winch. Often you can manage a tack with out having to use a winch handle.

Lowering the main is easy with lazy jacks. After you have furled the headsail, haul up the topping lift a little and tension the lazy jacks. Have the halyard set up so that it can be dropped and run free. Round the boat into the wind and let the halyard go. If you have full battens the sail will usually drop neatly into the lazy jacks. If your still using a soft sail you will probably have to wander up to the base of the mast and pull down the sail. Leave the mainsheet set in about the close reach position and with the tiller free, the boat will just close reach slowly or just sit there. If your halyards go back to the cabin top you can also rig a down line for the main, light cord through a block at the base of the mast and run it to the top sail slide. Main can be pulled down with this from the cockpit. Downside is there is a lot of excess cordage laying about.

Practice sailing solo when your girlfriend is out with you. Work out the best methods for heaving to etc. Your boat may hove to in the traditional way or it may need the head sail furled and the main just hauled in hard. See how you sits laying a hull in a bit of a breeze. Practice picking up your mooring solo just using the main. Try setting up your tiller steering with a shock cord to self steer etc.

Do you have a tillerpilot? The boat has provision for one, find out what brand the electrical connector is, & a new one should just slot straight in.

What Ramona said. I sail my boat solo quite a bit including offshore overnight. It isn't difficult if the boat can be steered with your backside. On my boat the tiller fits neatly between my legs when I am between the sheet winches and have the halyard/reefing winches on the cabin top right in front of me.

A tiller pilot that automatically tacks is very handy but not essential. I have one, a Simrad TP32.

Reefing is the evolution I think takes the most practice solo, especially as you are doing it when the wind is getting up.

Reefing I get on the wind, say 60 degrees, and trim the headsail so she is sailing on the heady. On most boats they will maintain this course without the need to actively steer.

I then bring the topping lift on to take the load off the boom, ease the mainsheet until the main has no wind in it and release the halyard. If I am putting a reef in I have the positions marked on the halyard and when I get to that position I go up to the mast to put the luff cringle/D ring on the reefing hook and return to the cockpit to pull the luff up to the required tension. Pull in the reefing line to complete the reef.

I also use this to drop the main, as well as the procedure Ramona uses.

Most importantly, have jacklines well secured so that you can clip your harness on when going forward or in the cockpit in rough weather. 1st rule, don't go over the side but if you do and can't get back on, if you carry a PLB you will stay with the boat and be able to set off your beacon.

Don't forget to read this book, a lot of good ideas...free dowload ...

Free download is here.... www.sfbaysss.org/resource/doc/SinglehandedTipsThirdEdition.pdf

There is more but through Amazon