David
( Carol Ann - N33 #51 Colington Harbour, NC )
1
Good afternoon-
I’m hoping to get out on Carol Ann next week over the Thanksgiving Holiday. This will be my first solo cruise. WooHoo!
Question- Do I untie the sail sac before leaving the dock? Will the sail stay secured, in the sac? My sailing plan is to head out in a safe harbour, MAYBE venture out into the Sound, a much MUCH larger body of water in OBX, NC.
Current plan is NOT to raise the sail, but simply get a feel for the boat and certain operational procedures.
I’ll be solo sailing and just want to be as safe as possible, and NOT have to leave the cockpit, if at all possible.
Any advice for first sail?! I knwo how to sail, just don’t know a thing about a Nonsuch. I went out on the seatrial, but that was in March and there were 6 of us. Way too much going on to get any real instruction. Boat operated flawlessly, that’s why I bought it!
So- now it’s my turn to operate a flawless boat! Gulp! Just trying NOT to look like a total fool!
Hi David,
I’ve had two seasons with Soave. ( NS33 #9 ) and look forward to many more.
Not sure what sail management system you have, when I leave the dock, I always prep to raise the sail, but that’s just my desire to have redundant propulsion easily available if needed.
I would get bored quick just motoring about. If the wind is moderate, I’d be tempted to sail.
When I solo, the hardest part is docking, most marinas will send someone to pass lines if you ask.
If you are solo, an autopilot is handy. If you have one, I’d practice operating it prior to raising the sail.
Also, I’d stick with chicken jibes till you get to know the boat.
I always hook up my halyard at the dock before leaving so I don’t have to leave the cockpit to do so.
Also, in your Discourse profile setup you may want to add more info on your boat name and type then it will show up automatically in your posts. See mine as an example.
Cheers,
Don
David
( Carol Ann - N33 #51 Colington Harbour, NC )
4
Thanks-
Good to know the sail will “stay put”. I would look like a total buffoon, if the sail comes ballooning out of it’s hopper!!
Regarding Docking. I built my slip as a “pull thru”! Yeeha! Sooooo- hopefully, HOPEFULLY, it should be a breeze - depending on the breeze!
Regarding Chicken Jibes. I had never heard that phrase, until I went out with the previous owner on the seatrial. Jibes were quite different, almost “easy”!
Thanks again- for the support. Fingers crossed that we don’t have “small craft warning” like we did the last time I tried to get out. Never quite sure just how small, “small crafts” are!
Cheers.
David
(aka- Still a bit nervous)
If you haven’t already seen it, you might want to look at the advice on sailing on the INA website, www.Nonsuch.org. (I’m assuming you’re an INA member. If not, take a look at www.Nonsuch.org/join-us.) You’ll find the advice under the MEMBERS tab pop-up menu, where you’ll click on “SAILING A NONSUCH - GUIDANCE”.
You don’t know what a chicken jibe is and I don’t know what a “pass-through” slip is, so we’re sorta even.
A “chicken jibe” refers to jibing by making a 270 degree turn through the wind, rather than changing direction downwind. It’s a very unfortunate name, especially considering that it’s the approach recommended by the original Nonsuch sailmaker, Ed Botterell. Ed was a highly respected racer, not chicken at all. He strongly advocated it as the smart and sensible way to jibe a Nonsuch.
Jibing as you might be used to from sailing sloops is NOT recommended for any but highly experienced Nonsuch sailors in winds over 10 kts.
The reason is that a conventional jibe with our very large sails causes them to slam over very hard. This can damage the rigging from the forces, and the long mainsheet has been known to wrap around people or objects near the stern and hurt or break things.
By making a 270 degree turn instead, how fast the sail comes over is under your control instead of the wind’s. The boats are maneuverable enough that you can do this without losing much speed.
As a frequent single-hander, I want to echo the others – it is a hell of lot easier with a working autopilot. I also like having an electric winch handle. Over and above being less work as I’ve gotten older, it’s easier to keep looking around me when I’m just holding a button than when I’m cranking.
If u already don’t have a good inflatable life jacket get it and wear it.
Your sail shouldn’t get sucked out of your cover
Gor your first sail I’d suggest bringing someone along.
If it’s not too windy get acquainted with the boat’s characteristics ie how far does it track, how long to slow down, how long before u have steerage after u engage reverse etc.
Try practicing chicken jibing under power, you’ll find if u turn your rudder too severely too quickly the boat will stall out before completing the the tack. One of the short comings of a cat boat is that you don’t have a jib to backwind !
All of the other comments provided u are sound and reliable
Inflatable life jackets… how many have actually inflated theirs? It’s not a good experience! Once inflated, there is no way to actually swim or function in the water. You are basically waiting for rescue at this stage. I wore them for years thinking I was “safe”. Once I actually inflated it and tried to swim, the pfd was a liability, not an aid. Ever since I went back to a kayak style foam pfd and wear it along with sunglasses and a hat. Part of my normal sailing gear! For single handed, an inflatable will allow you to float while your boat sails away.
I don’t know what your “sac” looks like, so it’s hard to say for sure. (Is SAC an acronym?) I have a Stack Pack. Others have similar setups with different brand names. I get my entire boat ready to raise the sail before I even leave the dock. Makes for a much more pleasant and less frenetic cockpit when the time comes. Then we just unleash the boom and remove the sheet from the winch cleat and press the button on the halyard winch. Don’t over-tighten the halyard with the power winch or you’ll be doing some expensive mast repairs.
If your 33 has an aluminum mast, look up there to where the choker hardware is attached. On the port side of the mast you’ll see a padeye where the choker attaches and on the starboard side you’ll see a cheek block where the choker is routed downwards. If your halyard is slack when you go to raise the sail it can get wrapped around one or the other of those parts. One of the extremely rare occasions when I had to leave the cockpit to fix something was due to this. (Actually, I think it happened twice.) Since then I have raised the sail a few feet while still at the dock. It doesn’t need to go up too far, just far enough so the halyard won’t flail out and get caught.
I did not figure this out myself. It is one of the many things I have learned from this group. You are smart to take advantage of us.
My advice: it’s not a sloop. You don’t need to forget everything you ever knew, but there are some differences besides the lack of a jib. (I keep running across this problem when dealing with local pros, many of whom are among the top of their trades, but who know nothing about Nonsuches.) The most important thing is to be able to step back, when you are having a problem, and ask yourself if you are relying on an assumption which is no longer valid. For example, many boats weathervane. These weathervane a LOT. Turning into your slip against a headwind will sometimes be difficult. It’s like balancing an upright broom on the palm of your hand. The way you control your sail shape is very different from what you are used to. And one that I’ve just recently learned: your speed will begin to drop off if you heel past 15 degrees. (Or was it 18? Now I gotto go look it up again!) Just always question your assumptions. It’s not a natural human tendency, so you’ll probably have to remind yourself from time to time.
I second the admonition to be cautious about jibing. Your “little” 33 foot boat now sports a sail the size of the mainsail on a 52 foot Beneteau. (I looked it up once.) The chicken jibe should be your go-to until you are more comfortable with the boat. I have done an accidental jibe in around 12 kts or so of wind and it was LOUD, though nothing broke. Now I do them fairly routinely at that wind speed when in the bay, but I’m very careful and probably wouldn’t do it in the ocean, because I like to be in control of exactly when it goes across.
If your first day out is a light wind day, and since you already seem experienced, I don’t see why you would not raise the sail. It’s an easy boat to sail. My first time out was just me and my wife. Me after not having sailed for over 30 years and my wife never having sailed at all. She was timid and I basically did everything except for holding down the winch button to raise the sail. If your autopilot can hold the boat steady, you could even do that. (Or try what someone else suggested: push the button with your boat hook. I really need to try that one of these days…) The rest is a piece of cake in light wind and it sounds so nice with the engine off. You probably won’t win any races, but who cares? You will have quite a few sails under your belt before you even begin to sail the boat well and probably more years that I’ve got left to master it. Meanwhile, enjoy yourself.
Agree with most of the advice offered already so won’t bother repeating. I sail solo out of Deltaville, VA often and can offer more assistance if you’d like to visit or simply phone me anytime, before, underway or afterward.
Ed Strazzini
804-385-5875
David
( Carol Ann - N33 #51 Colington Harbour, NC )
10
Good morning all-
I’m weeping here !!! So many great thoughts, advice, suggestion and cautions!! OMG- It sounds like we’ve all been on this same timeline at some point during our sailing careers! Thank you, thank you….
Take aways-
Stay in touch with you guys, (generic “guys”! although, it does sound like there’s many more gentlemen than there are ladies)
Return the inflatable lifejacket that I just bought!!! Darn it - thought that was a cool idea. Certainly is a good look.
Rig the boat ready to sail prior to leaving the dock, even if I don’t intend to sail, just get in the habit. (Watch that damn Halyard)
Yes, I’m a member of Nonsuch international, I’ll review their literature
Can’t figure out how to put more information on my email thingy- sorry
Ed- thank you for allowing me to give you a phone call. I may just be doing that on Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving. Deltaville, Virginia is somewhat close to the Outer Banks. I’m sure a very similar weather pattern. Oddly enough I had the main sail chewed up by a bunch of squirrels while it was on the hard and so the sail had to go to Deltaville to be repaired.
“Chicken Jibing”, will be the first sailing term, my grandchildren will learn- they’ll love it!!
In closing, I’m reading a book called “Brave or Stupid” It’s a true story about two guys that are sailing around the world. While “learning to sail”, they torn out all the pages of a sailing book and posted the pages all around the cockpit and the sailboat serve as reminders as they started to learn about sailing!!!
I may do the same thing with a Nonsuch International literature.
David (and anyone else who might want to put more information into their posts),
Here’re the steps you need to follow. (It may look like a lot of steps, but it ain’t very hard and you only need to do it once.)
If you’re doing this on a web browser, look for a little rectangle in the upper right corner, and click on the rightmost square. Mine, for example, looks like this:
(The tiny little picture of me is there because I put it in my profile. Yours will look a bit different.) When you click on that rightmost square, you’ll see a pop-up with a bunch of icons in a column down the right side. The bottom one looks sorta like a person:
← click on that, and it’ll pop up yet another list of choices, one of which is “Preferences”.
Click on that (yeah, I know, this sounds like a lotta clicking, but trust me, we’re almost there and it’s not as bad when you’re actually doing it.) This click will pop-up a screen with a lot of stuff across the top that looks like this:
And, now all you have to do is click on “Profile” (the third item in the second row), and – CONGRATS – you’re there. What you’ll be seeing is a form where you can fill in as much or as little as you want people to know about you. When you’re done, scroll to the bottom and click on:
I’m a sailing instructor and new at sailing a Nonsuch too. Going out for a motor is a fine idea for practice on docking and undocking. You might want to give yourself a wind speed threshold to try out your sail ( like 10 knots or under). There is lots of good advice about preparing to sail at the dock when you are solo. Also a good idea to be ready to anchor before you leave the dock is a good safety measure. Like others I like the power winch handle and auto pilot to raise the sail. I would mention that in raising the sail be sure the reef lines are ready to pay out as well as everyone’s recommendations on the choker and topping lift lines.
I’m in favor of an inflatable PFD but I would recommend that a waterproof VHF is attached to it or you by a lanyard. Mine has an emergency button on it that will send my location to local boats and the USCG. Some have wireless remotes for their autopilot which can be handy onboard but possibly lifesaving if you are overboard solo.
I’ve sailed my 26 on the shallow end of Lake Erie for 15 years and only started jibing “on purpose” for the last 5. The 10 knot rule is good. We used the chicken jibe a lot especially in the nasty east wind current mixes with the Detroit River current making some nasty 4 ft rolling chop. Not at all fun sailing straight down wind in that .— jibing while surfing - bad:(
if we are racing we will do a proper jibe but it takes some preparation , good conditions and some experienced crew. Have fun you got some great advice !
← click on that, and it’ll pop up yet another list of choices, one of which is “Preferences”.
Click on that (yeah, I know, this sounds like a lotta clicking, but trust me, we’re almost there and it’s not as bad when you’re actually doing it.) This click will pop-up a screen with a lot of stuff across the top that looks like this:
