Sailing single handed
Something I've been looking at for a few years now is the practicalities of single handed sailing, particularly safety out on the water and mooring up at the end of the day.
Safety first
Let's start with a few basic safety issues. Obviously the most important thing is staying on the boat. If I go over the side when I am sailing on my own there is no one to turn back for me or to call for help. I can have all the fancy safety gear I want on board, if I'm no longer there it's useless.When I sail in company of others who know how to manage the boat I don't worry too much about life jackets, depending on the weather of course. When I'm on my own it's very different. Clipping on when ever I'm moving about on deck is an absolute must. I may not be able to get myself back on board if I went over the side, but I'm much more likely to be found if I'm still attached to the boat, so at least my family would have closure if the worst happens. This may seem like a very morbid train of thought, but it is reality. Having said that, prevention is better than cure.
I have to be able to wander around the boat when I am out on the water to put up the sails, reef and take down sails again. Some boats have sail controls lead back to the cockpit, but to do this to Isosceles would be expensive as well as adding its own complications. The distance to the mast on a centre cockpit boat isn't far, so it is a relatively safe trip to get to the mast.
Traditionally, sailing boats will fit "jacklines" along each side of the boat. If someone needs to leave the cockpit and go forward they will attach their safety line to these so they remain attached as they walk forward. There are issues with this system, and I am working on improving the safety, but for now it is better than having nothing.
Of course there is the all important rule of being out on a boat, "one hand for yourself, one hand for the boat". This means that, at all times on deck you should have one hand holding on to the boat, leaving one hand free to do the job you are there to do.
Stopping at the end of the day
There are three different ways to secure the boat when it isn't moving: picking up a mooring, anchoring, and going alongside a pontoon. For the sake of completeness there is also the option of going alongside a pier or harbour wall in some places, which also means managing the boat as the tide goes out and the boat possibly dries out. At this stage I'm not ready to go there.Mooring
This is probably the easiest option to tie up to at the end of the day. There are commonly two types of mooring buoy used, either a large buoy with a ring on the top that you feed a rope through and tie both ends back on the boat. The other type has a small pickup float that you pick up and attach the rope or chain underneath to the boat.For either one of these I have a large hook tied to a rope. This is on the end of a long boat hook where it pulls off and clips onto a mooring. I wouldn't trust this to hold the boat for a period of time, but it gives me chance to get Isosceles properly attached. The other option is to lasso a rope around the buoy to temporarily hold the boat to the mooring.
Anchoring
Where the world (and its increasing overcrowding) allows, anchoring is the answer to peace and tranquility that at times we all crave. However lowering the anchor at the front of the boat while controlling the boat from the back is an interesting quandary. In order to minimise the need to be in two places at once I have fitted a remote control for the anchor windlass so I can control it from anywhere on the boat.Marinas / Pontoon births
My least favourite type of birth to get into when I have full crew, never mind when I'm on my own! Moving a boat into tight, confined spaces is not my idea of fun, and is even more nerve-wracking when the boat next door could be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. My current home is alongside a mid river pontoon, so I'm getting practice at mooring to pontoons.The two methods I'm trying out at the minute are the hook that I use for mooring buoys, and a modified boat hook with 2 plastic pipe clips attached. I use these to hold a loop of mooring rope. I drop this over a mooring cleat on the pontoon and control the boat from there.
