General Category - Pearson Owners and Enthusiasts > Cruising

Solo Sailing the 323.

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Frayed Knot:
Solo sailing is not the problem with me.  I just take it slow.  The Roller jib, full batten main and wheel brake woks for me, it's coming home and *docking* is what suck's .  Because I always back in... I hate docking in my marina.  Cross winds are strong most of the time and just not enough room also the boat does not backup well.  If I know there will be a friend of mine at the marina when I get back I will call him on the VHF and tell him to meet me at the slip, If not I wont even go... Makes it a sad day.     

Libations Too:
An auto pilot was the first addition to my 323 when I bought her. A wind vane came some time later when I started solo ocean sailing. Once you can get away from the wheel (and trust your auto pilot) managing the boat single handed is not difficult at all. Don't worry about the GPS-auto pilot connection. As long as the auto pilot has a fluxgate compass and can steer to a compass heading you're good to go.

When I sail solo I spend most of my time ahead of the wheel. In rough conditions and when tacking I work from my knees between the wheel and the bridge deck; it is easy to tack from that position since both winches are in easy reach. I have a dodger and the bridge deck is a great place to find shelter from wind and rain if needed.

I sail in the same conditions as Selene (summer afternoon winds routinely at 25 or more). I have learned to reef and enjoy sailing in strong winds; a single reef in the main and 95% jib on a furler are a good combination up to the low to mid 20s when I start to think of a second reef in the main. Practice heaving to...once balanced the 323 rides quite comfortably when hove to. I have found that furling the jib part way before trying to heave to makes it easier to balance sail and rudder.

Be honest with yourself about safety issues: you must provide for your own safety since no one else is on hand to help. Jack lines and a harness are SOP for me. I also have a PLB and VHF on my PFD. Yes, they get in the way sometimes but I think they'd serve me better than yelling once in the water with the boat sailing away on auto pilot.

I've sailed my 323 solo from San Francisco to Santa Barbara and back two times. One time I did a 400 hundred mile off shore qualifier when I was considering a solo race to Hawaii. On all of these long solo sails I was, at one time or another, frightened and worried. Good preparation and taking things one step at a time, slowly and easily, worked for me. I learned a lot about myself and my boat: the 323 is a great boat for a solo sailor.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

The Great Godsea:
Wow. this is just such great color folks. i can't thank you enough.
THREE KEY LESSONS YOU'VE ALL JUST TAUGHT ME AND WHICH ARE MY FIRST MOVES:
1. Get a JACKLINE.
2. Get the Autopilot working, at least to steer to a compass setting.
3. Learning how to properly and quickly reef the main (haven't ever figured it out yet).

Follow-up question.
i bought a rock climbing harness which i used for work up the mast. its not a harness that goes around your chest obviously..
Can i use this to attach myself to the jack line? or is the problem that falling over while attached in this way makes it impossible to properly orient myself to climb back aboard?

selene:
Personally I use an offshore horseshoe lifejacket with built-in harness.  I know it is more money, but I think a good investment for both safety and convenience.  I use  tethers - often two - the second normally to lash myself to the mast!

I run the jacklines from the bow cleats to the stern cleats - which is often a pain as that invariably means they rest on or near the main winches.  If I was going offshore, I would probably add additional anchor points - one near the companionway (so you can clip on when leaving), and another near the helm station (for comfort). 

The Great Godsea:
I want to respond to the point made earlier about the difficulty with backing into your slip in the marina. i have found that move to be one of the most stressful moments whenever i go out. it is REALLY difficult to maneuver in reverse in a sailboat in any confined space... and the cross wind blowing you away from the dock just creates mayhem exactly when you have minimal fine control of the boat. I really like having the stern in too and i fought this battle for a year. but i've finally given up. for me, its just not worth it. now i nose in and i "haven't" had any problems. i can generally dock her myself and so far (knocking on the side of my head) i've had pretty good success. Bottom line, i no longer dread returning to the marina because i've reduced the stress of the docking wrestling match to a small fraction of what it once was.
the price for this convenience is
1. having to board visitors from the far end of the finger, which is less stable and always dipping and bouncing around because it floats with just a metal ring around the pylon.
2. cant see her name! i'm proud of her and would like to be able to see the name facing the dock.
3. have to drag the shore power line all the way to the back of the boat.

all in all, a fair compromise for me.

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