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Franrick said..

andy59 said..

scruzin said..

frant said..
Seems that a lot of people have an interest in short handed/single handed sailing. Do you race or cruise? How do you manage watch keeping and sleep deprivation and still maintain shipboard harmony and safety at sea. How is your boat set up so that you can solo handle sail systems. How is your navigation system set up and what redundancy do you have in those systems and why? What provisions and catering techniques do you employ?
Treat me as a newbie, I have so much to learn.

I cruise single handed, but I've never single-handed overnight so I can't comment on sleep deprivation. I routinely sail 10 or 12 hours single-handed though and my top tip is to get yourself a reliable timer and to get into the habit of setting it to go off every 15 minutes. That way if you get distracted or nod off, you'll be rudely reminded. The old-fashioned mechanical kitchen timers, such as shown below, are ideal.

As for setup, obviously you'll need a reliable autopilot (or self-steering system), and ideally all lines will come back to the helm, or at least very near the helm. Ideally you never leave the cockpit when single handed (unless to go below). In my case, I installed an extra electric winch at the helm to avoid the need to go the mast to raise or reef my main sail.

Andrew Evans has a free guide, "Thoughts, Tips, Techniques & Tactics For Singlehanded Sailing" which is definitely worth a read:
www.sfbaysss.net/resource/doc/SinglehandedTipsThirdEdition.pdf

I did a review on my blog, which also has a few more tips of my own:
blog.arribasail.com/2013/05/techniques-and-tactics-for-single-handed-sailing.html

Thanks for that link Scruzing. The only problem is now I can't stop reading it and I am supposed to be working!

Hi Andy, thanks for the link. I have downloaded the file but not looked at it yet but with 80 pages I am sure it has some useful information.
Like a lot of sailors I am an avid reader so look forward to seeing what it has t offer.
Cheers, Rick

No worries Rick but the link came fro Scruzin. But it is a good read with lots of interesting tips and opinions

"The Long Way" by Bernard Moitessier is also a great read. He ended up tripping a bit. Whatever you do leave "The Strange Voyage of Donald Crowhurst" on the shelf. It is the most depressing book I have ever read.

In my singlehanded tips book I recommend that you read both of the above. The line between genius and insanity has never been so fine.

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Foolish said..
"The Long Way" by Bernard Moitessier is also a great read. He ended up tripping a bit. Whatever you do leave "The Strange Voyage of Donald Crowhurst" on the shelf. It is the most depressing book I have ever read.

In my singlehanded tips book I recommend that you read both of the above. The line between genius and insanity has never been so fine.

Welcome to the forum. Tell us more please.

So nice of you to welcome everyone to your forum Cisco.

It is not my forum. It is ours. "Foolish" just made his first post and is in Canada. It is common practice that we welcome newcomers to our forum.

Why the sarcasm??

Thanks for the welcome. Yes, I'm up here in Victoria, Canada. The only place in a cold country where we can sail year round. In fact I was just out on Sunday in 25 knots of wind and heavy rain.

Several others in this thread have pointed you to my singlehanded sailing book. You can download a slightly newer edition of the free version here:
www.sfbaysss.org/resource/doc/SinglehandedTipsThirdEdition2.pdf
It has already been downloaded more than 25,000 times. Parts have been translated into a dozen languages and the entire book into Russian. The most recent published version is up on Amazon.

In the book I've got a long chapter on the mental and emotional aspects of long distance singlehanding, including hallucinations, hearing voices, crying jags, etc. Even the famed psychologist Carl Jung was a sailor and he made statements appropriate to singlehanding that I found very appropriate: "It's something that we cannot tell anybody. We are afraid of being accused of mental abnormality - not without reason, for much the same thing happens to lunatics... Isolation causes an activation of the unconscious, and this produces something similar to the illusions and hallucinations that beset lonely wanderers in the desert, seafarers and saints."

I have experienced all of the things mentioned above, but I can't tell you whether I fall into the category of lunatic, seafarer or saint. If you read the Moitessier book along with the Crowhurst book, you will see what I mean about the fine line between genius and insanity. Have fun.

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cisco said..

It is not my forum. It is ours. "Foolish" just made his first post and is in Canada. It is common practice that we welcome newcomers to our forum.

Why the sarcasm??

cisco said..

It is not my forum. It is ours. "Foolish" just made his first post and is in Canada. It is common practice that we welcome newcomers to our forum.

Why the sarcasm??

Hey Cisco, don't worry about Hoops comment. He probably thought he was on the Kitesurfing forum. That's how some of the pole dancers and tea baggers talk to each other to show their affection. (gee, I forgot I'm a tea bagger to)

I once sailed with a skipper, we would do half a day on watch each then two hours on/off through the night, I'd do my watch, checking the charts, listening to music or books on the ipod, watching, he'd come up, I'd go below to commence my off watch, the first thing I would hear would be his snoring!!! He could never understand the problem I had with it . It's wasn't quite single handed (but it may as well have been).

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Foolish said..
Several others in this thread have pointed you to my singlehanded sailing book. You can download a slightly newer edition of the free version here:
www.sfbaysss.org/resource/doc/SinglehandedTipsThirdEdition2.pdf
It has already been downloaded more than 25,000 times. Parts have been translated into a dozen languages and the entire book into Russian. The most recent published version is up on Amazon.

Thanks for the download Andrew. A quick look at the contents page promises interesting reading.

Hey Foolish , thanks for your book !!! I have seen your yacht club in action running the Swift-shore , very impressive organisation and such a beautiful place.

enjoy !!

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scruzin said..

andy59 said..

Ramona said..
I sail solo almost exclusively. I sail a Currawong 30 which is a delightful, easily handled boat for a single hander. I sail almost exclusively with a windvane because I am an enthusiast. My sailing is mostly day sailing because that's what I do in my retirement after 50 years of watch keeping! Reefing is easy, see points 2 and 3.
I use SeaClear on a laptop mounted on chart table [see photos] Garmin handheld back up, some photo copies of charts in a plastic folder. I eat out of cans cold.

eating out of cans cold thats hard core

You can say that again!

I don't like sailing with the gas turned on, or cooking while underway, so I treated myself to a 12V slow cooker (www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013IR88A). It only takes a minute to duck below and grab some hot nosh.

And it's fantastic for making cioppino

That slow cooker looks interesting especially if you are generating excess power but I have no idea what a cioppino is??

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andy59 said..

That slow cooker looks interesting especially if you are generating excess power but I have no idea what a cioppino is??

cioppino = fish stew

Basically just throw in any seafood your have on board (fish, crab, squid, mussels, razorfish, etc), tomatoes, some herbs and spices to suit, wine, and hey presto!

I grab the opportunity to say thank you for your worthy book and the fact that you made it freely available to all of us to contemplate and enjoy!

It is your other comment, about the thin line between normality and madness, Moitessier and Crowhurst, which should be food for thought not just for us single handers but to everybody.

Fair winds

if your motoring wrap some food in foil and put it on the motor Ive seen those slow cookers in local camping stores
Used to put my meals next to the furnaces at Alcoa when I worked there years ago 1200 degrees soon warms them up
I dont think the slow cockers I saw were 12 volt they appear to keep warm them selves and keep cooking