Heaving To:

I find heaving to very useful, even in mid range weather, to relax for a while or to have lunch at sea for instance. But I have noticed that our Swans with their very large genoa (and long nose) tend to position themselves with their rear too close to the wind (ie 120 to 130 degrees to the wind rather than 50 to 90 degrees) which I beleive is not really very adapted to heavy seas.

I wonder what is your general practice in that case, such as furling part of, or all the genoa???

Many thanks, and happy new year to all.

Philippe. 41/022

Philippe,

I don't have experience trying this, but I recently read a description of heaving to by Cap'n Fatty Goodlander in his book Red Sea Run.  His boat is an S&S Hughes 38 with an underwater configuration similar to vintage Swans.  In his account, he first rolled up the storm jib, so that the only sail he had up was a triple reefed main.  He then put the helm down and by adjusting the traveler, the mainsheet, and the rudder, the boat was made to lie 45 degrees to the wind with no way on.  I was surprised that a jib was not needed to counteract the force of the rudder, but I guess the classic heave to configuration is for boats with fuller keels forward.   

Best Regards,

Alan

Thank you Alan, I will give it a try, but I wonder whether this is a very stable position since a wave or reduced wind on the forward end of the hull can induce a tack...
May I say that I am really surprised that no-one on the site has such experience, including those who have crossed oceans...
Happy sailing to all.
Philippe 41/022

Hi Phillipe,

On my Tartan 41, flying a #3 jib, reefed 30%, and a double reefed main, I was able to heave-to in 35 knots successfully.  This was many years ago, but I think I am recollecting correctly.

Chris

Hi, my opinion is that you should roll the genoa , even two thirds of it, and thereafter begin the manoeuvre, this video might help, Fair wind!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbjwP6F_N9s

Hi Phillippe,
We are ocean crossers, and agree with Matteo about rolling the genoa up to position the boat and wind just where you want it. I really don't think that you want a full genoa out when heaving to. A well-reefed main and well-reefed genoa keeps us nice and stable. However I must admit that when we hove to, it has always been in fairly benign conditions. On the passage from Fiji to New Zealand, our course had us close-hauled, and we had gale force winds. We reduced sail down to hardly a scrap of head sail and fore-reached along. It was quiet and gentle like heaving to, but it allowed us to continue making progress. Fair winds, Rod Lambert

Hi folks,

we hove to our 47 on a passage from NZ to Minerva reef in 50+kn for 12h at night. We used solely our staysail, sheeted to windward, rudder up. The boat behaved just beautifully, lying at about 50-60dg to the wind, stable as a rock, flattening the waves to windward to a certain extend and drifting downwind at about 1-2kn. The next day we made an interesting discovery: In about 35-45kn it was possible to get the boat sailing to windward like a freight-train (5-6kn) at about 50-60dg steering itself with just the staysail and the rudder fixed (unexpectedly) up a few degrees. This seemed to balance the opposing forces very well, picking up speed, rudder bites, turns the head up, speed goes down, bow is pushed down, boat picks up speed, etc… eventually balancing to a semi straight course on a nice bowline. This way the boat went with a gradual windshift over 12h, without us interfering at all. Teatime instead. Fantastic boats.

Best regards, Britta and Michael / SV VERA