Storm tactics with single mast rig

[Michel]

Hi Numbknots, nice story! At least we now know why you have a brand new set of non-wraparound sails!

[TonyB]

I know that this in an old thread, but if you haven't seen Skip Novak's video about trysails it is worth watching. He probably has more heavy weather sailing experience than just about anyone on the planet. For those that don't know he did four laps around the world racing in the Whitbread races and runs an expedition charter sailing company in the Southern Ocean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P66FPQhRwy8

Another thought on reefing. Although it is nice to have all your reefing points pre-rigged, you can reef two, and then leapfrog as you go. So when you go from the first to the second reef, drop your halyard all the way down to the third reef point, move your first reefing lines to the third reefing point, then hoist the main back up to the second reef. Then if you have a 4th reef do the same when you switch from second to third.

[RadioZephyr]

Do you have a second sail track on your mast for a storm trysail? I've only ever seen it on the 40/40's, but I don't know if it was a factory option or what. Does your main have a 4th reef? For whatever reason, the previous owners of my boat stuck with the standard 2 reef points when they had new sails made a couple years back. Over the winter I had a 3rd reef added, and it makes a huge difference. In my opinion, the second reef on an F38 is woefully inadequate for sailing in any serious wind.

[TonyB]

My 40/40 does not have the storm trysail track. After watching folks try to rig trysails for practice and also the video I linked to above, I don't think I would ever rig one. I have never seen it go very smoothly when people practice with them.
When I bought Circe she had a mainsail less than a year old with only one reef point. She was in San Diego which is known for light winds, so that made sense, but the sail was made from very heavy fabric, so kind confused! Any how before bringing Circe up the coast to SF I had a second reef put in. I knew we probably wouldn't be sailing at all, as the trip is usually a motoring bash. But I wanted a least a second reef available. At some point I will add a 3rd and maybe a 4th reef.
Right now the sail is in the shop getting a new tack added. The original one was a small ring with webbing. The webbing chaffed through (this sail saw almost no use before I bought the boat and has had only about 15 days sailing since). I think that the rings was too small and it chaffed on the tack point. Having a bigger ring and heavier webbing installed, as well as a cunningham ring so I can flatten the sail better.

[NeuBerner]

The Pardey's storm tactics book promotes laying to a sea anchor, presuming a lee shore is not an issue. Has anyone on the forum experience using this tactic?

[Castaway]

NeuBerner asks:-
"The Pardey's storm tactics book promotes laying to a sea anchor, presuming a lee shore is not an issue. Has anyone on the forum experience using this tactic?"

The P.O. of Castaway, a very experienced ocean sailor, recommended towing a long (50m +) line in a loop astern, which he found to be helpful. He also said that when things got really bad, he just lay a-hull, and tightened the lee cloths. The article in Yachting Monthly, "Castaway's knock-down" has been posted on another thread on this site, and will come up in the search facility. The advantage of a loop – or two – over a sea anchor is the ease of recovery: one end of the loop is freed and the other end hauled in, whereas a sea anchor has to be tripped by a line which will inevitably be wound many times around the anchor line. I have seen it practiced, once, but never actually tried it – the demonstration was enough.

We have had 'success' with heaving to in a North Sea gale, off the coast of Norway. It was quite uncomfortable, as the seas were very rough, but safe, and we only fore-reached 5nm in 8hours.