NEWS AND NOTES
Blue Water Sailing
June 3, 2010
The Boat Rat's Tip of the Week: How to Heave To
Hurricane Season is has officially begun and although we hope never to be caught by one, we need to know how to protect ourselves and our vessel in storms.
When you are sailing in open water and need to stop the boat in order to make repairs, eat or otherwise take a break, heaving-to is the maneuver you and your crew must perform. As with everything in sailing, there is a process to it, but basically heaving to means to position the boat across the wind and slowly drift to leeward–that is, away from the wind. The net result of heaving to is that the boat is steered into the wind while the jib sail catches enough to slowly push back. The two cancel each other out, and the boat makes little progress, giving you and your crew time to make repairs or rest. It is important that you are aware of your surroundings before you attempt the maneuver, for carelessness can be disastrous, especially when sailing.
What You'll Need:
Tiller
Jib sail
Mainsail
Alert Crew and Skipper
Step 1: Check for Obstacles to the Leeward Side
Before heaving-to, the most important thing is to check for obstacles down wind. These include other boats, buoys, reefs, docks, land or anything else your boat could drift into. When you are sure there is nothing in your path, begin the process of heaving-to.
Step 2: Give Oral Command
A vital part of sailing etiquette is the commands that are given and responded to by the skipper and crew, respectively. Before heaving to, the skipper will call out ‘ready to heave-to’. Only when ready will the crew call out individually ‘ready’. After every crewmember has indicated their readiness, it is time to perform the maneuver.
Step 3: Hard Alee
The skipper calls out ‘hard alee’ and the helmsman pushes the tiller to the leeward side of the boat. If the wind is blowing from the port or left side of the boat, the leeward side is the right or starboard side.
Step 4: Ease the Mainsail
When the tiller is pushed to the leeward side, the boat’s bow will pass into and eventually through the wind. As this happens, the crew eases the mainsail. This means that the sail is released partially from catching wind. The jib sail, on the other hand, remains sheeted or taut to the wind.
Step 5: Tiller to New Leeward Side
After the bow of the boat has passed through the wind, the jib sail, because it has not been altered, will be blown back towards the stern of the boat. The helmsman turns the tiller to the new leeward side. Now that the wind is coming from the right, the tiller will be pushed to left. With the bow of the boat pointing into the wind and the jib sail backed by the wind, the boat’s movement is all but cancelled.
A successful heaving-to maneuver will cancel most of the boat’s movement. The mainsail can be trimmed a little so the boat moves slightly, but with the tiller and jib sail in their correct positions, you can safely let down your guard a bit and do what you need to do, whether that is eat, relax or make repairs.
When you are ready to resume your normal course, do this:
Unlock your wheel or unlash your tiller. Turn it all the way to the other side (it was locked to starboard, so turn it all the way to port.) The boat will turn almost to a complete 360 degrees and you will find yourself back on the port tack you were on before the beginning of the maneuver.
Be sure to practice this as you would any complex maneuvers so that when you need to heave to in bad weather: not all boats react the same way to a heave to position. So if you intend to use this technique, we suggest you try it in smooth waters with moderate winds (at least 30 knots).
Courtesy of boatsafe.com.
