Heaving to vs. fore reaching: defining characteristics

[Don C L]

The article helps show the virtue of adding a removeable forestay and staysail to a sloop in preparation for longer journeys to give the ability to keep the sail plan balanced (especially for a high aspect main and a hull with a fin keel and spade rudder) when heaving to in higher winds. The PO of my boat had that in the works but I have not needed it yet.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by JPK

I am unsure if all of this was directed at me, but I will disagree with you on several points. First off, this is straight from Tom Cunliffe's excellent book "Living Through The Gale." Per Tom's diagram, the boat is, in fact, slipping backward while it is also being blown to leeward. I'm happy for you that you've been heaving to in a way that works for you since 1983, but this is not the technique that I'm asking about.



Secondly, "heaving to" is the correct term. Not heaving too, or heaving two or any other such nonsense. Not sure what your point was with all of that, but I will agree with the others here that nobody appreciates the grammar police.

I clicked on your helpful attachment, but wasn't able to read much of any of the text or photo captions. I did look at the technique on the left diagram with some, shall I say, amazement. Why would anyone heading upwind then go downwind and jibe any sail to merely go back upwind? For me, to heave to I only simply tack without releasing the jib sheet. While I admire and have read lots of Tom's stuff over the years, this one had me confused, at best, without being able to read the stuff.



As far as going backwards, I fail to see how this is possible with a mainsail in place. It has not been my experience in over 35 years of sailing my three different sloops and OPBs. Perhaps others have had different experiences. I would think choosing a heavy weather tactic that places the rudder working against itself would be more questionable and would have elicited lots of feedback over the centuries, but wadda I know?


Glad we agree on how "to".


Thanks again.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

As far as going backwards, I fail to see how this is possible with a mainsail in place. It has not been my experience in over 35 years of sailing my three different sloops and OPBs. Perhaps others have had different experiences. I would think choosing a heavy weather tactic that places the rudder working against itself would be more questionable and would have elicited lots of feedback over the centuries, but wadda I know?


Glad we agree on how "to".


Thanks again.

Easy peasy.. a triple reefed main sheeted slightly to leeward of centre so it luffs just before the bow goes head on, as she falls off she will drift back till the wind fills the main to head her up again.. roughly 40*-55* variations.. plus the 1.5+ southbound current in the Biscay with a 35kt-60kt N'ly breeze boosting the surface current..
Gave me a reversing SOG of around 40nm/day.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Easy peasy.. a triple reefed main sheeted slightly to leeward of centre so it luffs just before the bow goes head on, as she falls off she will drift back till the wind fills the main to head her up again.. roughly 40*-55* variations.. plus the 1.5+ southbound current in the Biscay with a 35kt-60kt N'ly breeze boosting the surface current..
Gave me a reversing SOG of around 40nm/day.

Thnx Boaty. Any concerns about going backwards with rudder perhaps hitting something first?

[JPK]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

I clicked on your helpful attachment, but wasn't able to read much of any of the text or photo captions. I did look at the technique on the left diagram with some, shall I say, amazement. Why would anyone heading upwind then go downwind and jibe any sail to merely go back upwind? For me, to heave to I only simply tack without releasing the jib sheet. While I admire and have read lots of Tom's stuff over the years, this one had me confused, at best, without being able to read the stuff.

I agree with you, as does Tom. What the text that goes along with the diagram says is:

"The easiest way to heave-to is to tack with a small or very much reduced headsail onto a tight headsail sheet, but if you would rather heave-to on your current tack and you don't want to work too hard winding the headsail across to weather, then run off and pull the sail over in the reduced apparent wind, bring the boat to, and lash the helm 'down'. In practical terms, this means lash the tiller to leeward, or steer a wheel hard to windward and put the brake on."

So the diagram is for those instances where you want to heave to on the same tack that you're already on.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by JPK

I agree with you, as does Tom. What the text that goes along with the diagram says is:

"The easiest way to heave-to is to tack with a small or very much reduced headsail onto a tight headsail sheet, but if you would rather heave-to on your current tack and you don't want to work too hard winding the headsail across to weather, then run off and pull the sail over in the reduced apparent wind, bring the boat to, and lash the helm 'down'. In practical terms, this means lash the tiller to leeward, or steer a wheel hard to windward and put the brake on."

So the diagram is for those instances where you want to heave to on the same tack that you're already on.

Many thx for the clarification and your time to do so.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Thnx Boaty. Any concerns about going backwards with rudder perhaps hitting something first?

Not really in those conditions, anything floating is gonna be drifting at more or less the same speed in the current and it's pretty much the same risk as sliding sideways onto something.
The biggest risk is being lifted by a wave and dropped onto the corner of a 'legendary' container.. in which case it likely won't matter which end hits first.

[OneBoatman]

Your hull shape and rig will dictate how you can best rest or "ride out" as we say in a gale. Also, the sea conditions vary with the fetch and bottom depth so I would say there is no one best answer. Heaving to takes practice to see how you boat behaves in high winds. That said you don't normally deliberately volunteer to practice heaving to in gale force winds. I haven't sailed aboard a boat that can "foresail" using only a reduced mainsail as in my experience this encourages rounding up followed by being pushed back then having to reverse the helm to gain momentum enough to control the boat. No rest there. You will likely have it easier going bare on the main and flying a storm jib.

[boatman61]

One sets the main so it luffs before the critical point so the boat then falls off till driving force comes back on the main, pretty much how it works in normal heaving to using the jib..
The main drives you upwind, the jib stops you and pushes you back as the main depowers.. only in this case it's just windage and a slower speed.
As for conditions, as you say the type of sea dictates tactics.. in one Biscay gale from the SW (winds reached 70kts at times) against the dominant current the troughs were so close and steep there was no wind as such and sails flogged till you crested when the sudden force threatened to knock you back down the wave not a controllable situation with no helm control and loss off speed with flogging sails.
I took down all sail and laid ahull for 38hrs till the worst passed and wind was back down to F7 and dropping before continuing to La Coruna.
Being on the fringe of the shipping lanes I called a passing ship and asked them to give my position to Ushant Traffic as a Securite advising shipping of my NUC situation.

[mowerandy]

My second (and current) sailboat would never heave-to like my first one. Both fin keel boats, my current Adams 31 would just tack itself within a few minutes regardless of how many reefs in the main. Would still tack and take off again even without any main at all. Even with a full number one headsail back-winded up front!... and then I tried losing the dodger, which although foldable was a somewhat massive and ungainly structure - yay success - now parking in her own keel slick - phew!
Now I cant decide whether to completely redesign the dodger for much lower windage (and lose a lot of the commodious dry comfort it provides in foul weather) or just harden myself to fold that sucker away when the weather comes up...

[Night_Sailor]

Originally Posted by JPK

Fore reaching: Active technique (helm cannot be left untended). Sailing on main alone. Main sheeted tight. Making slow forward progress in an "S" pattern through the swells as the the boat pinches and then falls off. Slick trailing to leeward off the stern.

Here's the specific situation that prompts the question: recently I was in a course and we were practicing heaving to. We executed it per the "textbook" US Sailing procedure, i.e., backwinding the jib, easing the main and turning the wheel to windward and locking it down. The boat took a few moments to stabilize but eventually settled into a position with the bow about 45 deg. off the wind and sat there (as expected). All good, except our slick was trailing off behind us, indicating that we were still making headway rather than making leeway with our slick off our bow. So... were we hove to or were we fore reaching?



<snip>




As I understand it, one of the main benefits of heaving to in heavy weather (other than that it is a "passive" technique that allows you to go down below and regroup for a bit) is that the slick trailing off the bow to windward causes waves to break on the slick rather than breaking on the bow. So having our slick trailing behind us seems to negate one of the main benefits of heaving to as a heavy weather technique. (SNIP)

Many boats will still forereach. Forereaching simply means you are sailing out of your slick.

Heaving-to is surprisingly effective. It has to be done in a gale to appreciate how well it really works. More side slipping increases its effectiveness.

For example a full keel boat will tend to want to still move forward with a backed jib. I sailed on to Hawaii on a schooner in 1997 we arrived at night. We forereached back and forth waiting for dawn.



Once after 9/11, Sailing outside due to foreign flagges vessels not being allow to pass through manhattan, I was caught in gale conditions and was taken aback--in other words we were hove to with full sail. The boat suddenly became rock solid steady. This was a fin keel Swan 53, as I recall. I was super impressed at how comfortable it was.


Ignore the textbook method as it may not work for your boat. Instead think about balancing the forces. A large rudder might work where a small rudder won't work as well. Think about the balance of forces more than the text book method. Think about how the forces change in higher wind conditions. It depends on the rig, freeboard and windage, and wind conditions.


To heave to, you balance the force turning into the wind with the pressure trying to turn the boat away from the wind.


You may have to experiment with various sails to accomplish this. For example, in high winds, on a ketch or yawl, there may be enough force on the bow to turn it away from the wind and you may not need a jib or staysail set, and instead need a mizzen or reefed mizzen to help turn it into the wind to heave-to.

Another option is to set a parachute type sea anchor on a bridle as described in the Pardey's book storm tactics, taking care to control chafe. Using a para-anchor is superior to heaving to, particularly if you use a bridle to set the bow at an angle to the wind. You do not want the wind on the boat's bow to yaw back and forth from one side of the bow to the other.

A sea anchor does a much better job of creating a Von Karmon Vortex than a keel, rudder and underbody at an angle to the wind. Both together are even more effective.


Good luck

[MJH]

Originally Posted by JPK

Curious to hear what everyone thinks are the defining characteristics of heaving to vs. fore reaching. Here's how I understand them:

Heaving to: Passive technique (helm can be left untended). Jib backwinded, main eased, helm locked to windward, boat pointing ~40-60 deg. into the wind, boat slowly makes leeway with a slick trailing to windward off the bow.

Fore reaching: Active technique (helm cannot be left untended). Sailing on main alone. Main sheeted tight. Making slow forward progress in an "S" pattern through the swells as the the boat pinches and then falls off. Slick trailing to leeward off the stern.

Here's the specific situation that prompts the question: recently I was in a course and we were practicing heaving to. We executed it per the "textbook" US Sailing procedure, i.e., backwinding the jib, easing the main and turning the wheel to windward and locking it down. The boat took a few moments to stabilize but eventually settled into a position with the bow about 45 deg. off the wind and sat there (as expected). All good, except our slick was trailing off behind us, indicating that we were still making headway rather than making leeway with our slick off our bow. So... were we hove to or were we fore reaching? As I understand it, one of the main benefits of heaving to in heavy weather (other than that it is a "passive" technique that allows you to go down below and regroup for a bit) is that the slick trailing off the bow to windward causes waves to break on the slick rather than breaking on the bow. So having our slick trailing behind us seems to negate one of the main benefits of heaving to as a heavy weather technique. Obviously if you're just heaving to to have lunch it doesn't really matter. I know that the specifics of heaving to (or the ability to heave to at all) vary from boat to boat (FWIW, this was a Jeanneau SO 389). What, if anything could we have done differently in this situation?

This entire discussion begs the question of being prepared for an offshore passage. Having the right boat and knowledge/experience aboard helps.

My boat is a cutter and has a long fin keel with skeg rudder. On our 21.5 day return from Hawaii to Washington we hove-to about 100-150 nm off the coast (Graveyard of the Pacific) aiming for the Strait of Juan De Fuca. She held her course for 30+ hours until the gale passed making about 2K with fully reefed main and staysail. Hove-to works.

Going offshore? Hope for the best but plan for the worst!

[Dirk01]

Originally Posted by Briis

IMO every sailor doing longer passages should practice heave to regularly if the boat has decent keel and sailplan balance. Most boats should perform well enough to help you rest in rough conditions without changing your position too much to start again in a day or two once the worst passes.

You’re absolutely right, thank you remember me!

Cheers
Dirk

[Benz]

Every boat I've hove-to on behaves differently, and different wind/wave conditions may call for different tactics on the same boat. It's easiest on a full-keel, stern-hung rudder, heavy displacement hull; usually just some mainsail and no headsails at all will do but even then, I've forereached when I had too much mainsail up (didn't want to go upwind just then, since I had a windward shore). Reefed down enough, that same boat sits nicely in her slick.
Another boat with fin keel and skeg rudder wouldn't stop tacking until we flew a little stay'sl to push the bows off.
Best to learn each specific boat you're sailing on.