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Thread: Better broaching for singlehanders

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    77

    Default Better broaching for singlehanders

    After singlehanded broaching lots and lots and lots of times, I’ve learned a few lessons that I thought I’d pass along. You can download my paper here:
    https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D7718709_68878570_6221527

    And don’t forget the paper I wrote on the invaluable gybing without shifting the pole here:
    https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D7718709_68878570_6206596

    And my older paper on meal planning for improved performance in long distance singlehanded voyages here:
    https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D7718709_68878570_6823572

    Have fun!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2015
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    907

    Default

    Thanks for continuing to share your findings!

  3. #3
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    Aug 2009
    Location
    Sausalito CA
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    Default

    Figaro Gybe Technique....Who here Gybes their Main first?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNUhZqYhaEo

    Thanks to Foolish for more great info!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    3,688

    Default

    If you do that with an asymm, a wrap is likely as the wind starts coming off the main from the opposite direction after it jibes.

    So I always jibe the kite first, often sailing wing-on-wing briefly before the main jibes itself.

    He almost gets a wrap too, after the main jibes and before he pulls the pole back on the new side.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
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    Alameda CA
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    Default

    I'm a general proponent of the main first gybe, with the caveat that you need to practice it and find what works in a variety of conditions and your boat.

    eg, on Domino with a shorter rig and generally less twitchy, I could get away with staying fairly deep and not worry so much about easing the sheet (new guy) forward before moving forward.
    with Hedgehog, I've learned the hard way that I MUST hand drive through the wind (AP is way to slow), ease the old sheet/ new guy almost to the forestay & steer farther up on the new gybe than seems comfortable in order to prevent a wrap (or worse - plant the pole while wallowing too deep).
    I also need to constantly remind myself to make sure the AP is settled in to the new angle before moving forward. Sailing at a hotter angle helps that process (for me and my boat)

    Practice it; it works but it takes repetition - your mileage may well vary.

    DH
    Last edited by DaveH; 11-26-2019 at 10:24 AM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    3,485

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Oceanslogic View Post
    Masterfully done, but without the additional line of a safety tether to tangle one up. I don't think this is an unserious point. Last Saturday I had a dozen opportunities to gybe on my big heavy Dura Mater. So I took them.

    The wind out at the Lightship was 3 knots, gusting to 7, so I felt confident doing so. With the changing directions of the wind I tried every which way: gybing the main first before gybing the spinnaker and then gybing the main after gybing the spinnaker. My drifters gybe without a pole, so those are a dream, although not much help except on a beam reach.

    I had a couple of wraps during those oh so many hours out there, but ALWAYS I attached before going forward. And I went forward ALOT.

    I no longer get caught on the winch: Oh, no! That is so yesterday! But still my tether catches on the clutches and then I on the shrouds in my haste to untangle something somewhere (on the spinnaker pole chock! On the lifeline! on one or the other of the bow cleats!). I don't worry about being found floating with my fly undone, but neither do I want to fall off my boat.
    Last edited by Philpott; 11-26-2019 at 02:37 PM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Posts
    77

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    Hi Guys. I was taught the main first gybing method by a Figaro sailor, so it's no coincidence that this is what I wrote in my book. And it was by doing this that I realized that I don't need to move the pole at all for short term situations. In Victoria, I always need to gybe around an island on my way home. But the wind over current often causes it to be really nasty for 500 yards. So I just wait until I'm past that part before I shift the pole.

    Philpott, this method really doesn't work in very light winds, like the 3-7 knots that you were facing. The chute will just collapse and wrap. It's actually best in 15 knots. You need enough wind to keep the chute full when you move to the other side.

    Do you know how to unwrap a spinnaker by gybing to the other side? If this isn't well known, I'll write a short paper on it some day soon.

    For the Figaro video, this is pretty well how they all launch, gybe and douse. I would not have eased the sheet quite so far before gybing the main. I like to have the clew of the chute about 3' from the forestay. My question is, before the launch, how do they keep the chute from falling in the water when it's up on the bow like that, and the wind is blowing 20 or more? And it would be even worse with some waves crashing over the bow. The turtle would be full of water. And once you're up and surfing at 15 knots in big waves, I don't know if I'd want to crawl to the bow to recover the turtle.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Sausalito CA
    Posts
    96

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    I wonder if the Figaro class is allowed to have zippers or velcro on their chutes? It would help to explain how they seem to keep the tack under control on the hoists....Here is another Figaro douse on a reach courtesy of Sam Goodchild...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owJHGbzKSVA

    Similar to the first video with a little variation. I continue to enjoy your books Andy and thanks for all the helpful input!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    37.205346,-121.963398
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    I do (jybe the main first) and I don't depends on wind speeds mostly. Often it goes first in windy condx.

    As for the un wrap technique, Mr. K. Richards described this technique to the skippers for a Catalina race in the 80's. Have used that un wrap techique many times with 99% success. Only once, when I managed to wrap the kite in the head stay, and a 3/4 raised spin net somewhere around 145W Long. did I have to pull the entire mess down onto the deck and spend a windy evening on the foredeck untangling.
    Last edited by brianb; 06-22-2020 at 02:46 PM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    448

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    Remember Ray Thayer on his Brewer 60 Wild Thing? He had 3 - count 'em: 3 - roller furling headsails mounted on the giant 90' carbon spar. The boat also flew an enorous spinnaker (in a sock). This is what I remember of the story he told us in Hanalei after the finish, about his spinnaker wrap from hell during the race...

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    Ray, in 1996, was sailing well, Wild Thing was tracking along deep downwind in the trades, headed for Hanalei, when he had the worst spinnaker wrap he'd seen - it captured all three of his furlers leaving a big open hourglass of the kite way way up in the air. He spent several hours on deck winching on lines and working the sail to see if it would let go. It stubbornly held on. That was clearly not going to work.

    Ray figured he'd climb up one of the furlers and unwrap the kite from bottom - that didn't work, he wore himself out and got banged up pretty bad as the boat rumbled along downwind with the giant main out. Ray got back to the deck and sat there for a while, trying to figure out what to do next.

    He decided that perhaps attacking the problem from the middle would work, as he couldn't climb up the headstay perhaps he could swing out from the mast. He set about and climbed well up the spar on a halyard, then shoved off from the mast like spiderman on a halyard and flew out towards the furler closest to where he was was half-way up the mast. He missed the furler and came crashing back into the mast. Carbon fiber is not as soft as one might think. He repeated that a couple of times, each time when he thought he would make it - the furler would slip away just beyond reach of his fingers. Failure, plus more bruises.

    Thinking there might be an even better way to get to the sail, he decided to go all the way to the masthead and from there he could then shimmy down one of the forward furlers to where the sail was actually stuck, gravity would be onn his side, no leaping from the mast required. At 90 feet in the air it was most difficult to hang on to anything what with the masthead flying all over the place, let alone try to get organized and get something done. From that vantage point he wrapped his legs around the middle furler and lowered himself down towards flapping spinnaker. He got to the kite and grabbed up the open bit, hugging a growing bundle of nylon as he descended to the main wrap. He spent quite a while working away at unwrapping the sail by wrestling it into a big pile, working the pile around the stay, and trying to hang on all at the same time, one slow unwrap at a time. Part way through he lost control of the kite, still not un-wrapped, it filled with a bang sufficient to overpower the autopilot, broach the boat, go into a chinese-gybe, and the spinnaker immediately re-wrapped itself around the furlers - only this time Ray was stuck inside as the sail wrapped around him. He hung on to the furled headsail as there wasn't much else he could do, the spinnaker had so cocooned him that he couldn't move much. He hung out there for a fair while, wondering how this was going to look when they found him. It wouldn't be good. Finally the autopilot sorted itself out and gybed the boat back. With an enormous bang the main came across, the kite eased up some, Ray was then able to work his hand into his pocket and retrieve the knife. From what I recall he killed the spinnaker right there on the spot, eventually lowering himself down the headstay to the deck and bringing with him the halyard, both clews, and the head patch.

    If anyone in the Seattle area knows Ray, it would be wonderful to hear the original story again.

    - rob/beetle
    Last edited by tiger beetle; 06-22-2020 at 10:04 PM.

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