Offshore Sailing to Puerto Rico - Episode 33 

Thanks, Bruce! Yes so happy to have a 'Gary' onboard! His engineering skills have saved us so so many times!

The sailing footage is always our favorite...well we love drone and underwater too! It's hard to capture sometimes but we always enjoy sharing it. Thanks, Richard! ♥️

Thank you so much Rimas!

If only we could be sipping on margaritas while we sailed across oceans. 🤣 Love you Mol 😘

Hey Mark! Yep, we can see what video you are commenting on! 🙌 Yeah there is always someone who knows better, ya know? This is one of our fav videos, we are happy you liked it too!

Thanks, Gibb! Florida is always fun!

Rolly anchorages suck for living on a sailboat!

Thanks Brian! 🍻

Yes, it can be exhausting sometimes without the autopilot. We have learned on which points of sail we can balance it out and lock the helm to get a break for a bit. And hand-steering has definitely made us better sailors! But, there were autopilot parts waiting for us back in Florida, and the fixing will be in an upcoming episode. Are you hanging out in the Rio for hurricane season?

@@SailingOneLife absolutely. Rich culture and good food (cheap). Modern marine facilities. Fresh water swims daily.

Sounds like a place we should check out!

Yes we have seen some neat setups for that! Unfortunately the way our sheets are routed back to the cockpit and the way our wheel is set down between the cockpit benches would make it very difficult to rig up to try. Maybe we were just destined to hand-steer everywhere! 🤣

This sail was entirely dead downwind with 25 to 30 kts true wind behind us. The sea state made hand steering on a broad reach nearly impossible, so jibing our way downwind was out. You want wing-on-wing? Ever try that in 30 kts offshore with an in-boom furling main (and no pole for the headsail)? We don't claim to be experts, but I think we have a good grasp on how to safely and comfortably get around in our vessel in various offshore conditions. Would you like to tell us and everyone else exactly why headsail alone here was wrong? Or are you simply just wanting to spread negativity?

@@SailingOneLife Apologizes for my yes all too negative comment. Try not to be overly sensitive when you put yourself out their for all to see. So lets start again and spread some facts. Designers and pure physics want to keep your rig vessel and sails in balance. The center of effort is determined by the sails that are in use. On most boats, using just a jib only or double free flying, furling, sail independent on a the fixed forestay means that the COE is going to be forward of the CLR and that will tend to leave the boat out of designed balance with possible lee helm, mast pumping and improper rig structural loads. The boat in difficult sea will be all over the place, creating an uncomfortable ride and potential for a nasty broach. Yes dead down wind is a challenging point of sail. Most will choose a VMG course rather than follow a direct rhumb line. Sailing performance software calculate isochrones for best VMG which is rarely dead downwind. If you must as you yourself suggested a poled out headsail; (or better yet proper A4 heavy air runner) and a main with a properly setup preventer (a whole subject in itself) might be the way to go. Take a look around and see the last time you have seen a professionally run boat flying a jib only. Or better yet study the way offshore racing vessels take care of business. Of course in the end I was not there in your shoes and do not know your boat or skill level, but I can tell you after my time both professional and leisure I have never in any conditions flown a headsail on the forestay alone. Only since the advent of roller furling headsails have become common place do I see far to many amateur cruisers using this improper technique.

Ahh, happy to respond to constructive criticism like this. We always want to learn more about sailing. For us, we aren't racing, so VMG is at the bottom of the priority list, after safety and comfort. We are fully aware that DDW is rarely the fastest course. But given certain wind and swell angles, it can be the most comfortable and easiest to hand steer. We have no pole and additional sails (such as an A4) are not in the budget, so we sail with what we have. We had minimal, if any, lee helm with this configuration. In fact, she was quite balanced. We only had about half the jib (genoa) out for most of the sail. Fully understand the mast and rig loading concerns. We have aft and forward lower shrouds, the inner forestay with aft shrouds from it's attachment, and it's a masthead rig. Rigging is tuned with mast prebend. So, pretty minimal concern about mast "pumping" or other harmonic issues. We've met lots of sailors out here from newbies like us to professionals, and most of them say they fly headsail only at times. It's easy, and it works. 👍

@@SailingOneLife "We’re cruisers not racers. We’re more concerned with safety than handling that will squeeze out the last fraction of a knot". Or other people are doing it. Is at best a weak rebuttal. I have rarely if ever I seen a professional mariner use this bad practice. If so they are really not be the professional they might claim to be. I have heard this far too many times, The reason is good handling and performance is paramount and go hand in hand with safety. A boat with poorly trimmed out of balance sails will miss tacks and roll like a drunkard downwind when the waves are up. On the other hand, a vessel that is properly balanced will agilely swing the boat through tacks even in rough weather, and provide secure steering that helps prevents broaching in rolling seas downwind. Good performance in my opinion is overlooked by many cruiser. Ocean racing techniques and setups are excellent guides for everyday cruisers. As a responsible Skipper we sail our craft as safety, professionally, proficient and smooth as possible. I find it intriguing that many have a far too high an opinion of innate knowledge start off knowing nothing. A year or two later, with a few miles under their keels, think that they know everything. A true professional will spend most of there sailing lives coming to realize just how little they really do know. Those who might end up experts of course understand that an expert is someone who knows an impressive amount about next to nothing, a workmanlike amount about a number of other useful things and zip about near everything else. Hope to cross paths someday and we can debate the issues over drinks. 😘