Most Difficult Thing About Single Handing ?

[centaur]

Originally Posted by Eleven

You've almost convinced me to put some more money into the ocean/boat and buy that tiller pilot to hold the course set. That gets rid of one redundant member/source of unreliable course keeping and dubious decision making. Making coffe, bacon butties, becomes possible again. Trimming sails, reefing, changing headsheets, lifting un-photgenic fenders all become possible. And it doesn't smoke or talk back or want to go a different way. And of course it doesn't eat it's weight in rations either, or need privacy on the loo, - .
I'd better stop now.

Spot on, my auto helm, came with the boat, went terminal early this season. I played around with it and a spare someone had but no joy. Lost a month before taking the plunge and getting a Simrad TP10.
The freedom of having a reliable helmsman with all the attributes described above is well worth the money.
Now if only it would stop raining
Centaur

[Eleven]

Indeed. I spent 3 days with Boatman61 form Ipswich to Poole. The autopilot (tiller thingy) enabled the two of us to keep a good watch with time to zoom in on the chart plotter and have a good look for shallows, rocks, and pan out to check our 5mile passage.
It really worked so very well. And total respect to Boatman.
Solo, well I'd be looking for anchoring overnight, or pontoon stops for two nights.

[sabray]

Hardest part of single handing?
1) yelling at crew
2) being okay with existing crew.
3) energy management.
4) good sleep skills
5) not freaking out over every scenario that suggests solo sailing is a death trap.
6) trusting yourself
7) cooking in more then one pot.
8) cleaning the pot
9) finding my damn glasses. No homey to find them for me.
10) sex

[Eleven]

10) sex? What's that got to do with sailing.

ps. I'm married and old.

[Eleven]

9) look on your head, idiot. That's where mine always are, to the great enjoyment of the crandchilders.

[KORINA]

Originally Posted by Jacko

I think you should also ask what are the great things about sailing alone
as I find the amazing personal insight and beauty of increadable peace that comes from being alone and totally in charge of your life I have been solo sailing for a decade and find it hard to sail with company some will say its selfishness but that is not so it is the joy of sailing into a deserted anchorage and dropping the pick and feel pleased with yourself that gives many solo sailors the real BUZZ
Woooops forgot about the sea gods Sorry Fellas Cheers Jacko

I thoroughly agree !!
I sailed the Ionian by myself this year for 6 weeks. Steep learning curves benefit from plenty of searoom.
Doing everything right gives great pleasure even if no one is looking.

[rtbates]

Originally Posted by Multihull

+1
Best approach as backing up gives much more control.

NOT in my FULL KEEL Cape Dory world!! Planning on my part means I PLAN on backing as little as humanly possible. It's amassing what you can do in a small space without ever backing down...

[Capt Phil]

Amen, Jacko... Capt Phil

[carstenb]

coming in to a Med landing requires backing in. Most Med harbors have floating docks which means they are very low. If I come in bows first, my wife needs a parachute to jump down from the bow to the pier. Coming in stern first means she can just step over.

But some boats do have horrible backing characteristics. I lay alongside an S&S Nautor Swan from 1969 this summer. When he went out he had to have someone pull his bows out through the windeye. As he said, "This boat backs like a snake, sometimes it goes starboard, sometimes it goes port, sometimes it goes both ways. I don't know how to back a snake"

But what a beautiful boat. A design that can bring tears to the eyes of any old salt.

[zeehag]

"But what a beautiful boat. A design that can bring tears to the eyes of any old salt."

be careful what ye say--i am not enchanted by the lines or looks of swan--they are not pretty to my eye. i prefer old and salty clipper ship look. there are many like me.

some call nautor swans naughty swines....i don tknow them well enough to make that comment, but, not all salty souls like that look--the lines are way too much like all the other fg lookalikes.

[carstenb]

Ahh Zeehag - you may be right but notice I said "old salt" which by my male chauvinist thinking would exclude "old saltesses" or young ones for that matter.

Beauty, as some philosopher once noted, is in the eye of the beholder. To me, some of these boats have a beauty not matched by todays designs. But I will happily grant that there is a wide variance of opinion on that thinking (and most other thinking).

It is a bit like cars - the most beautiful car ever to be put into production was the E-type Jag from the 1960's (convertible). Some will disagree with that - but to my mind they simply have no appreciation of true beauty.

[MacG]

Sailing bad weather. - Ultra bad weather as last weekend proved - .
I could handle the boat but had no time to get some warm gear to protect myself against the thunderstorms and ultra-heavy rain that came in rows on the IJsselmeer.
Sailing from Hoorn to Muiden was a very chilly affair. We are speaking August 6th.

Some weathersamples: 1) Neala back at homeport; 2 & 3) IJsselmeer in bad conditions ...... at midday the thunderstorm that raged the IJsselmeer took the boat for a 360 degree jig and tried to press her under the waterlevel.
Fortunately she is heavy as a farmer' s maid and did not falter.
Last picture is from another yacht of a friend who followed me suit.

[zeehag]

gooood storm pi!!!
as re: cars--yes e type 1960s --awesome--that aluminum body number was impressive....

true--beauty IS in eye of beholder--is why there are so many different kinds of everything....

[foolishsailor]

Originally Posted by conachair

I would never go without a kindle

And some wasabi sauce. Since you mention preparation.

+++++++1

Does one need any more than this? If all the rest falls to **** you still have a pile of digital books and sashimi to tide you over till either you drift onto something large and rocky or the family calls in the cavalry.

[foolishsailor]

Sleep seems to be a recurring theme in the difficulty for single handers and cruisers in general.

Try googling polyphasic sleep for some great tips. We all do this without having a name for it, but there are some great guidelines for how to make it work better.

For me the first 72hours are a bitch, part from adreniline part exhaustion, but after that it gets much easier....

...anyway check out some of the links on google it really is informative and made my single/short handing much easier.