Jib sheet handling during singlehanded tacks in high winds

[Christian Williams]

It is true that a singlehander is a one-armed paperhanger--a joke that only scores if you remember the act of hanging wallpaper.

Sometimes technique can be specialized. When tacking, the jib quickly trimmed to max, before it is pressurized. Then only releasing the sheet is necessary, not winching. To trim a sail to windward, head up for a luff, no hard winching necessary. I use all these techniques when daysailing the E38.

The best aide any singlehander has is a tillermaster or other autohelm. With the boat set to steer a course, we are free to pretend we have a crew, and take our time tending to maneuverss, and to cleaning up after them.

It is usually true that standard class rigging systems works best, the theory being that time has proven it so.

 

[ConchyDug]

The 2:1 sounds like it'll work in most breezes just makes a pile of rope in the cockpit. Cross sheeting is common on lots of one design boats as well. You can also try a J24 trick which is using "Lopez blocks" or something similar. Here is the link for a new set you might be able to build your own though.

J/24 Lopez Block Complete Assembly (sold per side) including Car for 1" T-Track

Buy J/24 Lopez Block Complete Assembly (sold per side) including Car for 1" T-Track, sailing gear, sailboat parts, sails and running rigging at Vela Sailing Supply. Technical support, customer service and product information. Vela and sailing supplies.

www.velasailingsupply.com

The idea behind them is you pull like heck on the new working sheet after the bow passes head to wind for the gross trim which is held by the cam cleat then you take the tail to a windward side winch and get the final trim as it pops out of the cam cleat.

 

[Nick J]

I had similar concerns when I first started sailing our 25+. I didn't feel comfortable going down to the leeward side. I think it was from sailing dinghys where I had too many experiences forgetting I was the ballast, left the rail to do something and capsized. For me, it took some time to trust the boat. When I realized my weight didn't' make that much difference, at least not enough to pull the rudder out of the water when I shifted form side to side, the boat got a lot more comfortable. Another thing that helped me was realizing I can set the jib sheet and steer to trim instead of constantly trimming when I'm short handed. Cross sheeting is a good trick in certain situations, like running a spinnaker when you're short on winches, but I wouldn't rely on it for my regular head sail setup.

a 2:1 setup on an Ericson 25+ seems like an overcomplication. If I remember correctly, the headsail on a Martin 242 is a lot smaller than a 25+ and it has minimal overlap. Using a 2:1 setup on a large overlapping sail would probably end up fouling a lot and you would have a lot of line in the cockpit. It would also weigh the clew down in light air.

When I replaced the stock Barient 10s with Harken ST 20s everything got easier. The self tailing feature was nice, but what really helped was the additional power. i also found the barient 10s had some ware that added friction and reduced the power. If you combined that with cross sheeting, you might be completely canceling out the little advantage the 10s provide. The barient 10s are a very simple 1:1 gear ratio that only results in a 7.6 power ratio. The Harkens I put on have a 2.7 gear ratio that resulted in a power ratio of 20. They were game changers. My 8 and 11 year old kids were able to help trim the headsail in moderate winds.