17 – Heavy Weather 135

Section 17

Heavy Weather Sailing

Broach. Turn a boat broadside to wind or waves, subjecting Storm . A very small, strongly built jib set in heavy it to possible . weather.

Knockdown. A temporary condition of excessive heel Storm Trysail. A small, strongly built used in place of resulting from a sudden increase of wind force. the in storm conditions.

1 Heavy weather is a relative term. For a small centerboard mainsheet traveller to leeward, and bring the draft for- boat, a breeze of 10 to 12 knots may begin to be overpow- ward using the cunningham line. Control mainsail twist ering, while the crews of larger boats don’t begin making by easing the mainsheet to open the leech at the top of adjustments until winds reach 18 to 25 knots. However, the sail and reduce heeling forces. If different lateral the tactics employed for handling heavy weather on both sheeting positions are available for the jib sheets, lead types of vessels are similar. Before venturing into heavy the sheets further outboard as the luff is tightened. weather, it is important that the crew size and experi- ence be matched to the expected conditions, and that 5 With the jib trimmed normally and the main eased all aboard have warm clothes, foul weather gear, hats, slightly, the upper portions of the main will luff and boots, and life jackets. For boats larger than open cockpit the jib will backwind the main, reducing drive and heel daysailers, harnesses should be used. It is important to angle. stow all loose gear securely. 6 Large heel angles result in excessive , re- duced boat speed, increased leeway and crew discomfort. Sail Trim that are allowed to flap for extended periods incur 2 As the wind increases, heeling and weather helm increase damage and may throw one or more battens out. To limit when sailing to windward. When this happens, a number sail damage and heeling when sailing close-hauled, sail of sail trim alterations should be made. closer to the wind than normal. Sail on the verge of luffing. Try to trim the mainsail hard enough to limit 3 During light-air upwind sailing, the drafts of the main- any flapping of the leech. Accept some sacrifice in boat sail and jib are increased and moved aft by easing luff, speed. Steer precisely to maintain adequate boat speed foot, and leech tension and by moving the traveller to with limited heel angle. windward. As wind speeds reach moderate levels, the luff and foot tensions are increased, adjustable backstay 7 As the boat is steered further off the wind, the heel tension is increased, the mainsheet traveller is eased to angle will diminish. The apparent wind speed will be its amidships position, and the jib sheet leads are moved reduced. Don’t be deluded into thinking that the wind is outboard from their light-weather positions. All of this diminishing. It is easy to overlook a building wind while trimming reduces mainsail twist, and reduces and moves broad reaching or running. Larger seas and an increase forward the drafts of the mainsail and jib. in the number of whitecaps are good indications of a rising wind. Increasing weather helm while reaching, 4 As winds become heavier, flatten the sails further by and greater yawing while running, are also indications increasing the tension on the luffs and backstay. Move of increasing wind. the mainsail to its most outboard position by easing the

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8 When running before a building wind, sail area should 12 If the wind is strong and the sea rough, it is important that be reduced. Under these conditions, some boats sail sail handling be done slowly and carefully to minimize well under the jib alone while others will do quite nicely danger to the crew and rigging. All crew members must sailing with just the mainsail. Before using one of these wear life jackets and should use safety harnesses. When heavy wind, sail-reduction techniques, sail the boat in lowering the jib in heavy weather, stay well clear of a moderate weather under both single-sail configurations flailing jib clew. Running off the wind when someone to assess control and handling characteristics. is working the foredeck is a wise precaution.

13 On boats with ballast keels, capsize is unlikely. These Helmsmanship boats can, however, be knocked down. During knock- 9 In a small boat in heavy and gusty winds, the helms- downs considerable amounts of water can be taken into man can do a great deal to keep the boat upright and the cockpit and through open hatches and companion- under control. While heeling is often exciting, it is not ways. This water may drain from the cockpit but must the indicator of speed that many novice sailors believe be pumped from the bilges if it has gotten below. People it is. Boats perform best at low heel angles. As a boat become uncomfortably wet, and gear can be soaked heels, its underwater shape changes, becoming more and sometimes smashed during a knockdown. Stowing and more asymmetric as the heel angle increases. The gear securely and closing hatches is important in heavy asymmetry increases weather helm that must be over- weather. come by increased rudder angle. The wind pressure on the sails is reduced by heeling. The effectiveness of the 14 While running, the consequence of carrying too much keel is reduced by heeling. The overall result of heeling sail too long is the loss of steering control. Since the is a reduction in driving force and an increase in leeway force of the wind on the sails is essentially forward but angle. not on the centerline of the boat, strong yawing moments develop. As these moments increase it can finally become 10 When close-hauled under heavy weather conditions, impossible for the rudder to offset their influence. The easing the mainsheet slightly will improve control and boat then rounds up abruptly until the sails luff. By then speed. The helmsman must watch the oncoming waves, it is broadside to the seas. This is called broaching. and steer through them at an approximate 45° angle rather than head-on or broadside. To reduce pitching and 15 A skipper runs the risk of gear failure when carrying too the probability of waves coming over the bow, meet the much sail on any . Sails can tear, rigging can larger crests and come off them at an oblique angle rather part, and steering gear can fail as the boat is exposed to than head-on. In a small boat, do not cleat the mainsheet; undue stresses. These risks are unnecessary. Sail area hold it in your hand. Easing the sheet quickly may be should be reduced as soon as the skipper detects a build- required to avoid a capsize. Steer precisely and very ing wind that is likely to cause discomfort to his crew, or close to the wind to reduce the heel angle. Be prepared to threaten the safety of his boat and crew. Boat speed to luff and, in a small boat, to ease the mainsheet when often increases when sail is shortened and helm load a gust hits. In luffing, be careful not to lose speed and diminishes. go into irons.

16 The process becomes increasingly difficult as Shortening Sail wind strength and seas build. For this reason alone, when 11 When bad weather approaches, deciding what to do is preparing to sail in heavy weather, the skipper should based on the answers to several questions: Is too much carefully consider the expertise of the crew. A small, sail being carried for the conditions? Is the motion and inexperienced crew will find it hard enough to reef the angle of heel unusual or excessive? Will the weather sails during the earliest stages of building weather. If the continue to worsen? How sail is shortened will depend task is left too long, this crew might find it impossible upon many factors including the size and stability of to successfully reef the sails. Loss of a crew member to your boat, the capabilities of your crew, and available illness, injury, or falling overboard becomes a real pos- sail handling provisions. In deciding when to shorten sail, sibility in these situations. It is wise to reduce sail early; consider the possible consequences if the wind continues reefs are much easier to shake out than to put in. to build. At some point, despite the helmsman’s and crews’ best efforts, the boat will become overpowered.

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17 On a cruising boat with an auxiliary engine out daysail- ing, it is easy enough to start the engine, drop the sails, and motor in to port. If the boat is equipped with a jib or mainsail furling/reefing system, sail area can be reduced by rolling up a sail, partly or completely. Sail area can also be reduced by changing to smaller sails or by reef- ing.

Sail Changes 18 The ability to change sails is determined by the type of rig and variety of sails carried. Usually, first sail reduction on a is the hoisting of a smaller jib. This reduces sail area while keeping the boat well-balanced. On a cut- Storm Jib ter, the jib is removed as the first sail reduction, leaving the boat under main and . This reduction has the added advantage of keeping the well inboard and making further sail reductions safer.

19 While and cutters are sometimes sailed under Trysail main alone, or genoa alone, better balance and control is realized with two sails. Using only one sail results in poor balance with increased helm. In addition, if conditions worsen, a large main or genoa may be hard to handle and dangerous for the crew.

20 On two-masted vessels, there are several sail reduction options. Sails are reefed infrequently. Whatever the rig, shortening sail by lowering or changing various sails does not require any special techniques. One benefit of changing sails when the wind becomes heavy is that the sail cloth weight of the smaller sail is likely to be heavier Figure 17– l Storm Jib and Trysail than the sail that was removed and a better match for the heavier wind with reduced risk of damage to the sail. Jiffy Reefing ® 22 made of Dacron and more recent high 21 The smallest sails carried by boats equipped for all strength materials are strong enough to be reefed without conditions are the storm jib and the storm trysail, Figure reef points. This has led to the use of jiffy or slab reefing. 17–1. Both of these sails are made of heavy material. In jiffy reefing, the mainsail has cringles sewn into the The storm jib has a relatively small area and has a tabling of the luff and leech at positions corresponding pendant to place the sail well above the deck. This avoids to the ends of reef point rows. Mainsails rigged for jiffy scooping large amounts of water as the bow occasionally reefing generally have two or three sets of reefing crin- plunges beneath waves. The storm trysail has a short luff, gles to permit different amounts of sail area reduction. which is usually hoisted on a special track on the mast. The trysail has a fairly long foot with a sheet attached 23 A line, left permanently reeved, is dead-ended on the aft at its clew. It is not attached to the boom but is sheeted end of the boom and passed up through the leech cringle to a strong deck fitting while the boom is held stationary and back down to a cheek block mounted on the other by the sheet and topping lift or boom gallows. side of the boom. To reef:

a) Set the topping lift. If the boat is not equipped with a topping lift, do not go completely head to

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wind. Stay far enough off the wind to avoid being hit by the boom while the main halyard is eased.

b) Ease the mainsheet.

c) Take up on the reefing line enough to discour- age it from wrapping itself around the end of the boom. Sail Leech Position d) If necessary, open the track lock so that the sail After 1st Reef will be free when the halyard is eased.

e) Ease the main halyard until the luff cringle can be hooked at the gooseneck level, or if there is 2nd Reef no hook at the gooseneck level, lower the cringle part way, insert the cunningham hook into the cringle and tension the luff with the cunningham rig. Some boats have a separate luff reefing line 1st Reef which is led from an eye on one side of the mast below the level of the boom through the mainsail cringle, and down to a cleat on the other side of the mast below the level of the boom.

f) Raise the main halyard.

g) Tension the halyard.

h) Haul in the leech cringle reefing line, raising the Figure 17–2 Jiffy Reefing end of the boom to the new clew of the sail. Some- times this step is performed following c) if the boat Roller Reefing does not have a topping lift or boom gallows. 26 Depending on conditions, there may be a need to reduce sail area in smaller units than is possible through sail l) Ease the topping lift. changes. Roller reefing permits reducing the area of a particular sail in small increments. Some cruising boat j) Retrim the mainsheet and tie in any reef points. masts are designed with systems that permit rolling the mainsail onto a rod located either inside or just aft of the 24 The part of the mainsail that is not in use can be allowed mast. Mainsails designed for these systems can be reefed to drape below the boom, but to prevent damage from or furled by rolling them up either partly or completely. strong winds, it is better secured using the reef points Such sails either have no battens or battens arranged provided, Figure 17–2. parallel to the mast. Alternative boom reefing systems have a rod in the boom upon which the mainsail is rolled 25 As with most systems of boat rigging, there are many during the reefing/furling process. Sails designed for variations on the jiffy reefing system. The simpler sys- use with these systems have batten pockets oriented tems have reefing lines permanently reeved for two reefs perpendicular to the luff so that the sail can be rolled up should they become necessary. Jiffy reefing is a common completely without removing the battens. reefing technique. It is simple, effective, inexpensive, quick, and easy to use. 27 The traditional roller reefing arrangement utilizes a boom that can be rotated, Figure 17–3. This enables the crew to roll the mainsail around the boom, thus reducing the exposed area of the sail. To accomplish this, the boat

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is brought to a closehauled position and the main sheet eased to permit the main to luff. This enables continued Ease Main Halyard control while sailing under jib alone. The lock on the track or the slug in the slot in the mast must be removed Tension As Main Is to free the sail to run. The main halyard is eased as the Rolled Up Onto the Boom sail is wrapped around the boom by rotating the boom. On smaller boats, the boom is rotated simply by pulling the outboard end away from the mast to disengage the locks and permit turning it.

28 It is best to keep some tension on the leech of the sail while reefing in order to avoid wrinkles in the sail. Bat- tens should be removed from the sail as they come to the boom. On larger boats, the boom often has gearing which is driven with a winch handle. Remove Battens As Sail Approaches 29 During reefing, control of the sail must be retained. Boom The halyard is belayed on a cleat, or wrapped around a winch so that paying out can be controlled. Be careful to keep fingers out of the way. If the halyard is wire and is wrapped on a halyard winch, particular care must be taken. Reverse rotation, or unwinding, of the drum is prevented by a brake. Brace yourself and have a firm grip on the halyard winch handle before gradually re- leasing tension on the winch brake. Apply enough force Crank Rotates Boom to the winch handle to turn it in the direction required to hoist the sail before attempting to ease the sail down. Unfortunately, a rolled-up sail may be too full and baggy Remove Slides From Track to achieve the proper sail shape needed in heavy winds. As Sail Comes Down Further, the additional strain induced on the leech can Figure 17–3 Roller Reefing cause the sail to stretch and become damaged. lines, or reefing points, may be left in place, or they may 30 Sailmakers have developed roller furling that can be removed during normal sailing to reduce windage. be used partially furled. Some designs have padding in These rows are usually not quite parallel to the foot of the forward part of the sail to improve the shape when the sail, but are farther from the foot at the leech than at it is partly furled. Although the sail shape of a partly the luff. Large eyes or cringles are sewn into the leech furled sail may be relatively inefficient, the convenience and luff tabling at the ends of the row of reef points. of being able to reduce sail area quickly and easily is attractive. 33 Reefing using the reef-point method involves the fol- lowing steps: Reef Points 31 Another reefing method relies on the traditional reef a) If under way, bring the boat close to the wind. points and cringles. Mainsails made for use with this (Tying in a reef at the mooring or dock is a much method will have one or more rows of reef points and easier job than tying one in while under way.) cringles stitched into the sail, Figure 17–4. b) Partially lower the mainsail, using the topping lift 32 The reef points on a sail are short pieces of line led or boom crutch to support the boom and to keep through cringles set into reinforcing patches, and placed it from swinging wildly. in rows along the sail. These pieces of line are knotted on each side of the sail close to the grommets. These

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c) Lash the luff cringle to the forward end of the boom, being certain not to restrict the movement of the boom.

d) Lash the leech cringle to the outhaul and the boom. With the outhaul, tighten the foot of the sail along the boom before lashing it down to the boom.

e) Roll into a cylinder shape the portion of the main- sail that has been removed from service. Using the reef points, tie this cylinder into a neat roll using square knots. The points should go between the sail and boom, as shown in Figure 17–5. However, if the foot of the sail is fed into a slot, the points will have to go around the boom.

f) Hoist the mainsail and check the set of the sail. Make sure that the tension of the sail is distributed evenly among the reef points and that the topping lift has been readjusted.

34 When multiple reefs are to be set, it is best to tie in each Figure 17–5 Securing the Reefed Sail set of reef points separately rather than simply tying in 35 When the wind has slackened and the reef is no longer the deepest reef. This enables the crew to shake out one needed, it is shaken out by reversing the procedure. It is reef at a time as the wind moderates. not necessary to lower the sail before shaking out a reef, although, if close-hauled, the sheet should be slackened somewhat to take some of the strain off the lashings. The topping lift (or boom crutch) should be used to support the boom. Untie the reef points first. Remove the outhaul and tack lashings; replace any battens removed; then hoist the sail and trim it properly.

Summary 36 As winds become heavier, flatten the sail further by in- creasing outhaul, and backstay tension. Move the main- Reef Points sheet traveller to leeward. As the wind increases, there comes a time when shortening sail becomes necessary. All crew members must wear life jackets and should wear safety harnesses. Running off the wind when someone is Reef Points working the foredeck is a wise precaution. If the boat is equipped with a jib or mainsail furling/reefing system, sail area can be reduced by rolling up a sail, partly or completely. In jiffy reefing, a line, left permanently reeved, is dead-ended on the aft end of the main boom and passed up through the leech cringle and back down to a cheek block mounted on the other side of the boom. Reefing steps include easing the main halyard and haul- ing in the reefing line(s) to reduce sail area exposed to the wind. It is simple, effective, inexpensive, quick, and Figure 17–4 Reef Points easy to use.

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Homework: Section 17: Heavy Weather Sailing Name ______1. As the wind increases: a) increase jib draft, flatten the mainsail. b) flatten the jib, sheet the main to leeward. c) flatten the jib, sheet the main to windward. d) increase the draft on both jib and mainsail.

2. As the wind increases while reaching, you will experience: a) a tendency to fall off the wind. b) increased and heel angle. c) increased weather helm and heel angle. d) reduced weather helm and increased heel angle.

3. In a sailing dinghy, when the wind becomes strong and gusty, you should: a) sit lower in the boat. b) raise the centerboard. c) hand hold the mainsheet (do not cleat it). d) allow large heel angles to increase speed.

4. Reefing is necessary when: a) a whole gale is forecast. b) seas are washing the foredeck. c) the heel angle reaches 25 to 30 degrees. d) the sails are beginning to overpower the boat.

5. A storm trysail is a: a) small jib used in storms. b) small spinnaker used in heavy weather. c) sail set in place of the mainsail, sheeted to the boom. d) sail set in place of the mainsail, sheeted to a deck fitting.

6. Jib furling makes it possible to reduce sail area by: a) rolling the jib around its luff. b) wrapping the jib around its leech. c) furling the jib around its club boom. d) rolling the jib coincident with the leech from head to foot.

7. Which is the correct order of the steps taken to jiffy reef the mainsail? a) Tie in reef points, lower sail, secure clew. b) Secure clew, lower sail, tie in reef points, secure tack, hoist sail. c) Secure tack, lower sail, secure clew, hoist sail, tie in reef points. d) Set topping lift, lower sail, attach luff cringle, secure leech cringle, hoist sail, tie in reef points.

8. As the wind velocity increases from light to moderate levels: a) weather helm will decrease. b) the sails must be retrimmed. c) only heeling will be affected. d) an increasing weather helm cannot be adjusted.

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9. When reaching, signs of a rising wind include: a) flattening waves. b) fewer white caps. c) increasing lee helm. d) increasing weather helm.

10. In heavy weather sailing, oncoming waves should be taken: a) head on. b) at a 45 degree angle. c) at a 30 degree angle. d) at a 20 degree angle.

11. As the wind increases, causing increasing control difficulties, it is time to: a) heave to. b) reduce sail area. c) shake out the reef. d) call for help from the Coast Guard.

12. A pendant is attached to the storm jib to: a) help trim it. b) help fasten it to the stem. c) raise the foot off the deck. d) raise the head to catch the higher velocity air.

13. Roller reefing: a) is used exclusively on jibs. b) reduces mainsail in small increments. c) rotates the mast to roll up sail material. d) requires that battens be short and flexible.

14. Jiffy reefing is: a) fast and effective. b) simple but not very effective. c) used primarily for reefing genoas. d) marketed by the Jiffy Reefing Corporation.

Sail