The Art of Heaving To

I have to admit that I have sailed all my life and have put in many tens of thousands of miles offshore and coastwise, yet I have never had to heave to by necessity. But, I have hove to many times in differing circumstances. When making a landfall at night on a coast with no lighted buoys or lighthouses and questionable chart accuracy – South Pacific, Indonesia, Red Sea for example— we’ll routinely heave to until daylight so we can eyeball our way into harbor. Or, if we are heading toward a crossing of the Gulf Stream or any major ocean current and are faced with adverse wind-against-current weather, we’ll slow down and heave to await a more favorable forecast and sea states. And, if we need to work on sail repair, engine repair or we have a sick and uncomfortable crewmember, we’ll take a time out and heave to. If you have never hove to, you might be surprised at the calming effect it has on both ship and crew. Modern sloops, with overlapping headsails and light displacements, don’t heave to easily. You need to reduce the mainsail to a scrap and back the two-thirds-rolled-up headsail by tacking without releasing the genoa sheet. But, if the sheet leads outside the side stays and cap shroud, it will chafe through in hours, so you may need to lead a second sheet inside the stays and through the genoa sheet car. Heaving to is a useful skill and should be practiced in varying wind and sea conditions before you really get the hang of it for your particular boat and rig.