I never had luck or need to be hove-to myself till last spring when a broken fuel gage left us without engine propulsion. The Chesapeake was pretty rough by bay standards. High frequency 6-10 foot breakers and 20-25kts wind. We had been running up the shore and, given time, would have been pushed into the shallows. We decided being adrift was poor form especially in the shipping channel despite it's conciderable width. So, we gained steerage and began making way by unfurling the headsail and managed to work the main up into a double reaf through a series of coordinated pinches into the wind. Despite no immediate danger we decided that any attempts to make it up the narrow river for the nearest refueling, under sail alone, was going to be extremely challenging at best. We finally gave in and called BoatUS for a fuel delivery.
After 1-2 hours and repeated phone calls for updated position, the fuel guy finally says, "You gotta slow down! You must be goin' 7kts. I'm only going 8 in this little 22 foot boat. I'm getting beat up out here. I can see ya but I can't catch ya!" Sure enough directly to our stern there was a tiny glint on the horizon that was occasionally emphasized by an explosion of water. We immediately turned around and within what seemed like 5 minutes we were within hand signal range. We performed our less than practiced hove-to, not really knowing for sure how well behaved the boat would be. The fuel guy had fenders out and expertly maneuvered his boat to ours. Without ever touching boats he was twice able to get close enough to pass a mooring line tied to a 5 gallon jug. We pulled them aboard, fuelled up and motored 5 hours to our originally planned anchorage, finally stopping around midnight. In the morning we topped up by adding about 35 gallons to our 40 gallon tank. In the end I have quite a bit of confidence in being able to perform the maneuver effortlessly if needed. The boat makes me look good. All that being said the one thing that can go wrong is having two much headsail compared to main sail. Every time you think you have it the nose will keep drifting further and ruther to weather and soon you are downwind and have to watch for a jibe or possibly worse just crosswind and getting blown over. I prefer to keep my headsail off the mast so roller reafing till the clew is even with the mast is one of my first steps. A european sailing magazine I was reading actually advised that a hove-to manuver should be the first thing you do for a MOB. The boat stops almost on a dime and will start slowing backing down on the victim. If unable to reach the victim in this manner then straighten the wheel, release the headsail sheet and finish the "tack". Once making way again any of your traditional rescue manuvers can be performed (circle, figure 8, etc...) Good luck and may all if us find ourselves needing to hove-to for a redhead. Josh Muckley S/V Sea Hawk Solomons, MD On Feb 5, 2014 9:20 AM, "David Knecht" <davidakne...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Andy- I have never been in a situation where I feel the need to heave > to, but I feel like I want to practice it in less than extreme conditions > next summer. Can you describe the details of getting into this state and > staying there? What I have read sounds simple, but I doubt anything is > simple in high winds and 12 foot seas and that detail devil is always > lurking nearby. Thanks- Dave > > On Feb 5, 2014, at 9:06 AM, Andrew Burton <a.burton.sai...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > I once took a Swan 651 to weather in 12 foot seas. It wasn't comfortable, > either. I think you'd need a pretty big boat... > Usually, if I have 12 foot seas on the nose (and I'm not racing), I'm hove > to, relaxing and waiting for the wind to shift, while I have a cuppa tea > under the dodger, watching the scenery roll by. Life at sea doesn't have to > be an overly (physically) strenuous endeavor. > > Andy > C&C 40 > Peregrine > > > > David Knecht > Aries > 1990 C&C 34+ > New London, CT > > > > _______________________________________________ > This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album > http://www.cncphotoalbum.com > CnC-List@cnc-list.com > >
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