Heaving-To
As we have shared in earlier chapters in this Online Book, we now believe that for extreme weather where large breaking waves may be present, a Series Drogue, as designed by Don Jordan, is the best survival strategy. That said, heaving-to is still a technique that not only can save your bacon in a gale, but is also surprisingly comfortable and useful for taking a break from the demands of shorthanded voyaging.
In this chapter we tell you how to set up just about any boat to successfully heave-to.
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When Heaving-To Is Dangerous
As wonderful as heaving-to is, done wrong it can be dangerous. In this post we tell you about when heaving-to went wrong for us, and what to watch out for.
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Stopping Wave Strikes While Heaved-To
Some of the options that we can use to solve the dangerous problem of wave strikes while heaved-to that I described in the last chapter.
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Determining When Heaving-To Is Dangerous
So how can we be sure whether or not heaving-to will result in a knock-down or roll-over in heavy weather? John tackles this difficult but vital question.
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Transitioning From Heaved-to To a Series Drogue
Changing survival strategies in the middle of a storm at sea is not something that any of us want to be faced with, but here are some thoughts from John about how that might be done safely.
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Surviving A Lee Shore
In the previous chapters we have talked about heaving-to and various drag devices, but none of that is going to help us if we are caught on a lee shore. In this chapter I write about when that exact scenario happened to me and what we have done to prepare ourselves and our boat should it ever happen to us again.
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Storm Survival Secret Weapon: Your Engine
One of our most useful tools in dealing with heavy weather at sea is our engine and in this chapter I relate how we used ours to good effect in a nasty lee shore situation. But the sad truth is that in many cases a yacht’s engine is disabled by heavy weather making it useless at the very time that the crew need it most, so I go on to share some solid suggestions of things you can do to storm proof your engine.
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Storm Survival FAQ
Several questions have repeatedly surfaced within the hundreds of comments on our Heavy Weather Tactics Online Book. So I have pulled those together in this chapter and added my thoughts.
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Companionway Integrity In A Storm
It’s a sad fact that most production boat companionways are potential boat-sinkers. But it does not have to be that way. In this chapter I provide solid suggestions on how to stormproof your companionway.
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Q&A: Safety of Large Pilothouse Windows
Ever wondered about the safety of those big pilot-house windows that we increasingly see on modern designs? John has too.
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Summary And Conclusions For Heavy Weather Book
We have covered a lot of ground and many details in this Online Book. So I have ended with a chapter the key points in this chapter.
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