Posted by Ed Kiser on November 04, 2004 at 19:41:36 from 205.188.116.6 user Kisered.
Over a hundred years ago, a fellow named Slocum made a SOLO sailing trip around the world, managing his sailing yacht all by himself. On a subsequent voyage, he disappeared with no indication as to what happened, thus demonstrating that his feat is even more commendable as it is also dangerous. There have been others since to sail their yachts single-handedly around the world, but have been able to avail themselves of much improved technology to assist in their navigation and general operation.
In "We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea," on the return trip back across the North Sea, with daddy on duty on deck, standing his watch alone, and with the rest of the crew taking their well-earned rest below deck, he came below briefly to check on some chart, and accidentally aroused one of the crew, and stated that "she's steering herself."
I realize that when one is sailing SOLO, there must be some time for sleep, with no one at the helm. There are also those times that duty calls for attention to be paid on some other part of the ship out of reach of that steering control. These are very likely two different situations of "she's steering herself" as the asleep time probably has the ship in some sort of shut down condition (hove to? Is that the right expression?) whereas when working forward to make some adjustment to the sail, or when managing the cooking process, the ship will very likely be still actually sailing on a course - but with no hand at the helm.
Not having managed a yacht by myself, but having sailed a four meter twin hull cat that pretty much required constant attention to the tiller, I am a bit curious just how one gets such a ship to be in a condition of "she's steering herself". How is that done?
It seemed that in WD, John was having to really put some beef into his managing of that tiller, which seemed to be fighting him during those heavy seas. He found that usage of the tiller rope took a lot of the strain off him. If he let go that tiller, that ship was apt to start doing all sorts of unwanted course changing. In that kind of situation, it is hardly the proper thing to decide to take a sleep below and let her "steer herself" with any sort of hope that a disaster is to be avoided. Perhaps that tiller rope could be lashed down to prevent the tiller from moving, but John was not just holding it STILL, he was constantly making adjustments to "meet her" as gusts of wind kept trying to alter her course.
I can imagine that when sailing alone, there are those times that sleep just cannot be considered, that attention is needed on deck, so staying awake becomes required. This leads of course to eventually falling asleep on someone's dinner table once safely moored in harbour. But sleep, although it can be delayed for a bit, after a while, becomes rather automatic, regardless of conditions, and therein lies a hazard of solo sailing.
I have seen a kind of windvane fastened to the tiller, so that the setting of that vane can actually use the wind itself to maintain at least some control over the position of the tiller. But such steering control cannot hardly be a substitute for a skilled helmsman.
Just how does a solo sailor do it?
Ed Kiser, South Florida