May want to bear in mind that hove-to on a port tack versus a starboard tack has its pros and cons when rules of the road are applied. Great simple video, and indeed a lunch break opportunity.
How lucky I am To have found you. I’m a newbie and was wondering how this is done. Watched a few vids that were, well... ok. Then came across yours... really easy to follow and more importantly, remember. Thanks!
Excellent video, well done and narrated. Beginning ASA certification in August and your videos are really helping me grasp not only the how to, but the why you need to know these maneuvers for safety, pleasure and confidence.
Actually the best video example of hove to bare none. Most forget to cover basics on sailboat, 1) release the main sheet 2) after you are hove to stop steering boat & wait till boats stops moving then turn rudder to opposite side & lock rudder & enjoy some lunch.
Great to see you putting your winch handles away and not leaving them in the winch. For your rudder to have any effect in keeping the bow to wind, you must still have some forward motion, with no motion the rudder does nothing. All boats will heave to in a slightly different way and you are so lucky to have a boat that heaves to so easily, I'm guessing she has at least a long fin keel. These modern boats may be a knot or two faster but they don't like heaving to and its not all about the speed, is it. Thanks.
The initial stopping is very temporary as the boat actually puts some weigh on quickly, notice the 1 knot on the GPS. Once that movement starts, the wheel to windward becomes and remains effective. The Pearson 31-2 has a fin keel. I have have found one source of difficulty in heaving-to with various boats is if you keep the mainsail trimmed. On some boats having the main trimmed keeps the boat moving even when in the hove-to position., others the main trim does n't seem to have much effect. Thus my advice is to always release the mainsheet when heaving-to. After the boat is hove-to, you can experiment with trimming the main back, the effect is to cause the boat to sit closer to the wind, just stop trimming before the boat self-tacks out of hove-to.
So I'm new to sailing and got into a bit of trouble in my cal 20. I was single handing it, full powered, but my main was cleated on the mast. The winds picked up and I couldn't depower and the boat was heeling to near knockdown. I learned that I need to be able to release the main from the cockpit. Also, this is where my self-tending jib worked against me (while trying to keep it into the wind, the boat would tack and power up). I have so much to learn. Thanks for the great video. Does heaving to work in high winds?
Not only does heaving to work in high winds, but it's also a necessary maneuver to know if you're riding out a storm. Sailors have been known to survive winds in excess of 50 kts thanks to this technique.
Great video - thanks. I agree with Paul below - your boat seems to be easy to hove to. I have a P31-2 also. I have done some practicing but still need to do more and will re-look at your video before I do. I think you have a smaller genoa than my 135. I've tried furling it a little and that seems to help. Yours looks like a 100 or 110? Anyway, thanks. Ron
Ron The sail is in fact a 135%. Two points that I think help slow the boat for heaving to - 1. after tacking to heave-to, keep the boat in the close-hauled position till it stops 2. let the mainsheet run free (so the main will not produce any drive that you dont need...) Let me know if this helps you at all.
Thank you for the video. QUESTION: Would it be good for the crew, as a first step, to be certain the jib sheet is TIGHT, as it was in your video, to help assure the heave-to will work correctly?
Yes, however specifying to start the heave-to from a close hauled point of sail covers that issue as the point of sail requires that the the sheet would be trimmed in close.
The mainsheet may not NEED to be tensioned, however, by apply some tension to the mainsheet, you can affect the angle of the boat to the wind. On some vessels, should you trim the mainsheet fully in, the main may cause the boat to tack out of hove to.
I have had boats that heave to easily and I have been on others that no combination of sail trim will work. Depends on the rig. My friend's boat is an older 28 with a full keel. We have tried endless combinations and have had zero success. Makes me wonder if some designs just can't do it.
new sailor question. If the main is eased out, how does one prevent it from jibing if the boat gets tossed around in the event the wind comes from a different direction? Great video though
If the wind changes direction gradually, the boat should rotate to follow it's new direction. If the wind were to change direction instantly, then anything can happen...
I agree with what mrmrlee says below, "As I understand heaving to, the mainsheet is kept sheeted in, meaning the boom remains on the centerline of the boat, and the leading edge of the mainsail is blanketed by the jib sheeted to the windward side, helm to windward..."
When close hauled you can trim the main some to adjust how the boat is sitting to the wind, but if you center the wheel the boat will rotate and go downwind, dropping out of heove-to.
As I understand heaving to, the mainsheet is kept sheeted in, meaning the boom remains on the centerline of the boat, and the leading edge of the mainsail is blanketed by the jib sheeted to the windward side, helm to windward. Reason being, as the boat is rolling in heavy seas the boom will not swing wildly about, becoming a safety hazard to the crew unless a preventer is rigged. Also avoiding the possibility of the foot of the mainsail catching any seawater as the boat sways to leeward, a very bad situation indeed. So good video otherwise, but definitely recommend keeping that main sheeted all the way in!
Thank you for your comment. It is my experience that keeping the mainsheet trimmed in when heaving-to, often results in the boat tacking out of the hove-to position, as the pressure on the main overcomes the backed jib. Perhaps this result depends on the relative sail sizes... After releasing the main and heaving-to, you can of course trim in the main some to alter how the boat sits to the wind. If you find your boat happily sits hove-to with the main trimmed in all the way feel free to do so. Alternatively you can drop the main and secure the boom...
Agree, I like to cleat in the main a bit so that weather helm from the main and the then the rudder to windward will both serve to point the boat back up, only to be countered by the jib and bow's lee helm. The main goal of all of this is to be as peaceful and comfortable as possible so you can have a "timeout and a cuppa", so whatever works to do this is great. If you understand the beautiful feedback mechanisms of this stable servo, you can do it. Heaving to can turn a thrash into a nice day in an instant.
I am not sure what benefit a preventer might provide in heaving to. The main is largely out of the equation, serving at most as a means to adjust the angle of the boat to the wind while hove to. So I dont know, but never tried it...
I am a fairly long time subscriber and agree the videos you make are great instructional tools. I revisit and refer them to newbies quite often. But the choice and volume level of the "music" is simply a big distraction. Not meant as an insult but please consider corrective action...also the video's content ends and then the recording runs with black screen for almost four additional minutes. Please edit...and thanks again!
Can this maneuver be used for man overboard instead of doing the figure 8 maneuver with the boat in order to reduce the distance between the person in he water and the boat?
Yes, it is an alternative that I find a little simpler than the figure 8. Actually both maneuvers are defined to involve sailing about two boat lengths away before returning, so its not really an issue per se pf distance, although it is a common mistake for people sailing a figure 8 to sail further than is needed fora sharp exercise. Sort of a common error. I do plan to do videos on both the figure 8 and the quick stop MOB procedures, once the boat is back in the water....
I donn't see how hove-to replaces the maneuvers to position the vessel downwind of the MOB in order to approach the MOB keeping in mind that the MOB will be not be stationary.
Backwinding the Jib is the fastest way I know to stop a boat. Once it has stalled, you can release the jib, fall off the wind, come down below the MOB and then work your way back to the MOB in a slow and controlled manner. The distance from the MOB is kept to a minimum, which allows your crew the best chances of keeping the MOB in sight. I have never seen a better way to recover a MOB while going upwind.
I've been sailing for a few years, and didn't know about this. Thanks. Dunno if this is important to you, but the black space which goes on for about four minutes at the end will kill your stats (watch time) and push your videos down in the lists. Used to be you could edit this with yt software, but I think they dropped it.
Option 2: Don't delete this video (most important), because it gets a lot of hits. But DO put a note at the beginning of the video to click on "this link" to see a "better version" of it, and then upload and link a corrected version. The new version will pick up traction where this one leaves off.
Robert, I am not sure how that question relates to this video. One rigs a preventer when the boat is running, which the boat is not during this video. If you are commenting regarding a luffing main while hove-to, then the available solution is to trim in the mainsheet to minimize any luffing. If you tried to rig a prevent, the boat would be forced to tack...
By having "completed the exercise", I assume you mean that the boat is hove-to. The instructions for heaving-to say to release the mainsheet, that instruction remains valid while hove-to: just leave the mainsheet released. One can trim the mainsheet a bit to adjust the angle of the boat sitting to the wind, but you also just leave the sheet run out.
Colregs is short for COLlision REGulations or "International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea". See my video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dsY_iNGkEqM.html
@@SailFanatics Thank you. This is a very informative vid. I am a mate on ship 343 Sea Scouts and this vid (and some of your others) will be great to teach the scouts. Thank you again
“It’s holding perfectly” please! You’re using an adverb. I speak for the one-woman Adverb Protection Society. Sorry to be picky in an otherwise excellent video lesson.
