by GreenLake » Thu Sep 16, 2010 5:47 pm
I usually push off with the sails, at least the main, raised.
Pushing off from a dock into the wind has never been a problem, and where the dock is part of a marina I've usually been able to sail the DS from the dock to the open water.
The one place where I start from a beach (without a dock) never seems to have the winds blowing directly onshore, so I've never had problems getting the boat turned around and sailing away, even with the sails up.
With the jib raised, you should be able to heave to with the DS. That's a stable position unlike motoring into the wind, but there's no wind-pressure on the main, so you can reef it, raise it, etc.
The standard way to heave to is to tack, but letting the jib stay cleated in. Once you go through the wind, the jib is back winded and tries to turn the boat. At that moment, you put the rudder over hard as if trying to steer back into the wind (tiller and jib will be roughly parallel).
There will be a slow drift about 1kn about 60° off the true wind angle. So you need enough room to be able to complete setting your main. Swells shouldn't be a problem when hove to, because you are slowly moving with them and the jib will stabilize the boat.
Once you are done, you let the jib come over, pull the mainsheet tight, center the tiller and start sailing.
Last edited by
GreenLake on Sat Jan 29, 2011 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~