The value of "heaving to" in heavy weather

[Loren Beach]

Tom Cunliffe has a new video out about a sailing maneuver we have not had occasion to try (yet).
Our summer trips up and down the WA coast are normally planned to avoid bad weather and that time of year the weather is normally placid. Well, most of the time!
Like all his other videos it is equal parts informative and entertaining.
Click on the "watch on Utube" command.....

 

[Christian Williams]

I like Tom, who has been friendly to me, but I feel that heaving to is old-school, and doesn't work very well on my boat in extreme conditions.

That's because when things are bad on my boat the mainsail is furled, and you need a storm trysail or a reefed mainsail to make heave-to work. It was successful on other boats, though, and I have also ridden out a full gale hove to. And it still works on the E38 for repairs in moderate conditions.

Today, however, I believe the Jordan Series drogue is the ticket. Deploy and then run under bare poles at 2 knots or less. Have never actually done it, but having one is a great comfort.

A parachute sea anchor also works, although less well with fin keels. Need 300-400 feet of Nylon rode (the parachute must be two waves away), creates a very jerky ride as the rode stretches like a rubber band.

Go Jordan Drogue--but heaving to remains a good option when the crew just needs one watch of calm to catch some sleep. -

 

[bsangs]

While we know how to do it, I've assumed the keel on our Ericson will prevent a good heave to experience in extreme conditions. We have the shoal draft keel (4'11"), which from what I gather isn't going to provide the "slick" that the Pardeys speak of when detailing the process. But it works well to keep the boat "parked" when we want to have some lunch without anchoring.