Single handing

[Teaticket]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum. I'm looking for any opinions on the advisability, or ill-advisability--of singlehanding a Passport 40. They're supposed to be single-hander friendly, but this will be the bigget boat I've owned and I'm feeling a bit hesitant. Anybody with more experience want to weigh in?

[Pete7]

Welcome to CF

Surely this applies to anyone buying their first yacht or a bigger one, did to us.

For single handing you will need a good reliable auto pilot as a third hand when your'e raising sails, going to the heads or making a cup of tea. Second suggestion is a midships mooring line when you come alongside. Get that on first and then you have control and time to sort the rest out.

Fin keel and skeg hung rudder should give much easier control in tight spots like a marina, so that is a bonus.

Nice looking yacht, take your time, spend a weekend practising bumps and grinds alongside an empty pontoon and stopping on a mooring ball etc to give you confidence. Then find some empty space at sea in calm weather and practise raising the sails etc.

Someone once told me that learning something new is easier in little bites, bit like eating a biscuit. That is so true, take your time and enjoy the new boat.

Pete

[B23iL23]

Agree with Pete above on many points - especially the autopilot and lots of practice. Autopilot is second crew and keeps the boat into the wind when hoisting/dropping sails. For leaving the dock and coming back get a system in place that you are comfortable with and practice in light winds first.


I had a sporty Beneteau 40.7 years ago (all tricked out for racing, kevlar sails, no furlers, no lazybags) and used to love taking an afternoon off and going for a spin. Coming back into the dock just required practice and understanding how the boat handled - I always docked stern first, get one line to the dock and then use the engine to pin the boat to the dock while I secured everything.



Got caught out once - was 20+ knots when I went out and sunshine (rare thing in Ireland) but just as I came into docking a squall hit. Went to 40+ knots and the boat was heeling at 20 degrees with no sails up. I just drove it around in circles for 20 minutes until conditions improved. Be prepared to do that rather than chance it and break something.

[thomm225]

Have you considered a smaller boat?

An autopilot was mentioned as essential which I agree with but not to steer the boat into the wind to raise sails (should you have a smaller boat)

I pretty much raise and lower sails at any angle to the wind as long is the wind is reasonable while the autopilot is steering my boat on course to my next destination. Usually I don't have to use the winch to do this either

As far as squalls and docking, I did the same as above a few times which is to stay out and wait for them to pass

I only have a 5 hp engine so during most squalls I usually just try and keep the bow into the wind and watch the GPS to make sure I'm not in the shipping channel.

Sometimes the wind just lays the boat over on a drastic heel but usually there will be a gap in the wind where it comes back up and you can complete the turn

[hpeer]

It me and the Wife but that means I’m pretty much single handing. I don’t know the Passport 40 but have heard good things. Our boat is 44’ with a long keel and a 5’ sprit and can be a bear at times. Handling in tight quarters is difficult.

Other than that you just need sail conservatively, reef even earlier and, as said above, be patient.

When you talk “single hand” do you mean day sail, coastal cruising, or ocean passages? Those are 3 different things with coastal cruising the toughest.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Teaticket.
➥ Passport 40

[boatman61]

Yes it can be managed comfortably, just work out routines for things, preparation is vital and.. get the feel of maneuvering at low speeds and in reverse as well as forwards.
Practice makes almost perfect..

[dcstrng]

Single-handing is an art in itself -- an enjoyable, self-indulgent art… with the fin-keel, spade-rudder I now have, I’m not as fond of it as I used to be with longer keel boats – no autopilot/helm, so I just concede the dang thing is going to go where it wants while I’m at the mast, or forward and I need to allow enough room, etc., and I can’t just sit and vegetate in the cockpit like my older longer-keep boats or I’ll end up in a different jurisdiction while I’m day dreaming. The rest of it is just as others have said – plan and execute. Docking is the usual, lay out the lines and fenders – usually a midships line and if possible, use the power to hold things there while… My little B24, I used to sail into the slip when the wind cooperated, but it didn’t seem to know how to misbehave. There is a guy near me at the boatyard now who has a Bob Perry design and according to him the Perry under body accelerates nearly like a fine-keel, but holds course more like a cut-away full keel – should be light load for an autopilot that it sounds like everyone but me has these days.

[charliehows]

This is an oft repeated trope; there will follow the usual circular arguments around technology, sleep cycles, routing, etc, etc, blah blah blah.
Heres something to consider; are you ready to face yourself with nothing but the universe in your field of vision? Have you sought the buddhist answer to the origins of suffering? Are you ready to encounter your failure of character? Or are you just wondering whether you should buy the right type of sheet rope? Go forth, pilgrim, on your internet voyage of discovery; at least this will not test you beyond the usual attention span of a laptop jockey.

[Teaticket]

Thanks for the reply Pete. It all sounds like good advice. I've kind of ended up with more boat than I intended. But it's so beautiful and the price was right. And now I can comfortably have company if I want.

[Teaticket]

Makes sense Kevin. But I worry what if the weather lasts for days instead of an hour or two. Heave-to and pop no-doz I guess.

Thanks for the perspective.

[Tillsbury]

Bigger boats are always a little intimidating at first. I learnt to sail in a 28-footer, and then chartered mid-30s boats most of the time. When I first bought a 41-footer I thought it was huge. Being centre cockpit it didn't feel as big as it was, and I soon got used to it.

When looking for a boat over here, I was looking at 40-45' boats in a pretty fresh day in Auckland. The broker pointed me to this boat that the vendor was very serious about selling, and I started walking from the cockpit to the bow (into about 30kts of wind at the dock). I immediately turned around and said to my wife no, this is way too big for us to handle comfortably.

As it turned out, the vendor really was keen to sell and I ended up buying it a couple of weeks later. It was a little intimidating taking it out of the slip for the first time, fuelling up and then sailing it the 600nm or so back home.

Within a couple of weeks I was throwing it around the marina and sailing it without concern, single-handed or not.

It's amazing how quickly you get used to the next bigger sized boat. A 65-footer near me looks absolutely enormous to my eyes. I'm sure it would be a piece of cake within a very short time.

[Teaticket]

Thanks for the encouragement Tillsbury! I was looking for something in the low to mid 30s but just fell in love with the Passport 40 which is way bigger than anything I've sailed before. The price was right and it's roomy enough that I can bring family and friends along when I can find them. I was just nervous that it'd be a lot to handle when I couldn't find companions. Kind of hoping to sail long passages.

[roverhi]

As long as everything goes as planned and nothing screws up or breaks, size is immaterial. It's when you misjudge your approach to the slip or have to change a sail in a blow that size becomes a concern. If the boat is full keel, will it be easy enough to move around in the marina and stop any boat if you need to do it with muscle?? Will you be able to haul a bagged sail forward, hank it on and hoist it in high wind/sea conditions. A forty footer shouldn't be out of the equation but you have to take into account your physical condition and the forces you'll be contending with.

Might want to go down to the boat and practice schlepping the 135% genoa around and always have a spring line rigged for those 'Oh S**t' moments at the slip.

[Tillsbury]

Indeedy. You want to spend a few days over winter doing some preparation for single-handing and making things easier for yourself. Obviously ensuring everything works smoothly is a critical first step, including the autopilot of course. Ruthlessly going through rigging and adjusting to make things run better is an ongoing process. I recently re-rigged all three reefs and the vang and outhaul in dyneema to make everything quick and easy from the cockpit as I am almost always single-handing.

Another place to look is at your equipment and tricks for anchoring, mooring balls, and coming alongside. These all need working through in detail and you should ensure you have exactly the right bits of rope in the right places to make this easy single-handed.

I had a lot of fun with a 135% genoa just this Sunday, when the thing decided to jam up completely half-furled and was not going to play, exactly when the winds suddenly hit a steady 30kts in the harbour. I ended up on what was effectively a number 3 jib sailing into the marina, then fixing the wheel such that I was motoring in very slow circles in a space in the protected inner harbour where I could dismantle the furling gear, unwind the whole genoa (whoa, that's a lot of sail in this wind), and then haul it down on the foredeck as it came around head to wind. Fairly exciting in strong winds and only just enough room to play. But all turned out ok in the end, nothing broken and the same number of boats at the end of the day as I started out with.