Windward shore landing techniques

ScottH

New Member
I was curious what landing techniques are most commonly used when strong winds (15 +) are blowing on shore in a crowded area (I did a quick search and was unsuccessful in finding other threads). Here are the few I'm aware of with their respective pros and cons. I am curious what is generally the best in terms of speed, safety , and equipment. My experience is limited, especially in these circumstances.

1) Make a broad reach, and then head up at the last minute and back the boat on to the dolly (dolly handle is in the water so you have to push it out.) Pro: Keep positve control and sail out of trouble if necessary. Con: Takes more room and backing the boat is awkward.
2) Broad reach and head up (same as above). Disconnect clew from boom and turn the boat around to load on the dolly. Use the dolly normally. Pro: Similar to number 1. Con: sail floggs and similar issue as above.
3) Make a DDW approach. Centerline the boom and disconnect the clew. Pro: Requires little room. Con: sail flogs & high risk of unintentonal capsize.
4) Make a DDW approach. Remove the main sheet and let the boom spin forward (assumes your mast retaining line allows this amount of rotation). Pro. Requires little room and sail does not flog as baddly. Con: Hard to maintain positive control of boom with other around.
5) Get close to shore (any approach you want). Intentionally capsize the boat. Remove mast, boom, and sail). (I suppose as variation you could disconnect the sail and remove it with just the top section of the mast and roll it up to the battens lay on the deck as you right the boat. Pro: best for sail and easy to load the boat on the dolly--minimum windage. Con: Requries a lot of room and good timing for a controlled capsize.

Thoughts?
Scott
 
I generally head in on a broad reach with the sail flogging, the control lines loose, and the board partial up. I'll turn dead into the wind when I get into waist-deep water then jump out. It requires a little bit of space for the approach.

I'll usually then undo the mainsheet and cunningham to let the mast rotate freely. Depending on space and the position of other boats I will either turn the boat downwind to load on the dolly, or I may keep the boat pointed into the wind and maneuver the dolly around. In either case it requires an extra set of hands to fetch the dolly and get it positioned. Once I get the boat most of the way in and the dolly wheels touching ground, I'll undo the clew strap.
 
Windward/Leeward shore ?

When I come ashore to a windward shore I tend to beat up to it then go head to wind when in shallow enough water. Boat is then facing the correct way to go on to the trolley, is stable, sail stays over the boat, etc.

But then have I missed something: maybe a bit like IALA A/B ?

Ian
 
Windward/Leeward shore ?

When I come ashore to a windward shore I tend to beat up to it then go head to wind when in shallow enough water. Boat is then facing the correct way to go on to the trolley, is stable, sail stays over the boat, etc.

But then have I missed something: maybe a bit like IALA A/B ?

Ian

I'm with Deimos on this one, windward shore is easy, shore is to windward so tack inshore until near the shore, build up a bit of speed then head to wind to drift onto beach. When the wind is blowing onto the beach that's a lee shore (to leeward of the boat). I tend to come in on a broad reach, head up to wind, draw centreboard up and raise rudder at last minute (when I can see les than 3 feet of water).

Jump overboard, untie mainsheet and let mast rotate (SOOO much easier thanks to the Rooster Teflon disc! :)). Then turn the boat downwind and beach it lifting the bow, should buy enough time to run up beach, grab trailer, run back down and launch. The play the mad juggling game with boat and trailer, excellent fun for anyone who doesn't own the boat!

Works for me!

Al.
 
Re: Lee shore landing techniques

You're right. I should have said lee shore. I agree that landing when the wind is blowing from the land to the water makes things straightforward. It's when the wind is blowing from the water to the land coupled with the waves crashing on the shore that I'm most interested.

Thanks,
Scott
 
When the wind is blowing straight onshore at my club it can be quite awkward. Especially when the tide is in as it gets deep quick and you are landing on concrete slipway with reasonably big waves.

In these conditions I sail so that I am directly upwind of where I want to land, take the main off and point the bow at shore. Boat drifts in nicely and I jump out and hold the boat by the stern so that I can get straight on my launching trolley and out of the water without getting hit side on by the waves.
 
Sailorchick, this sounds like option 4 in the original post. Out of curiousity do you take off the mainsheet by untying the knot at the aft boom block or by letting it run out from the cockpit? Thanks.
 
Taking the main off from either end works. Its neater on shore if you can undo it from the boom and pull all the sheet into the cockpit out of the way. Sometimes though when it is very rough its not easy to get hold of the knot on the boom (have swam a couple of times trying to catch it) so I'll undo it at the other end and pull it through so it is hanging from the end of the boom.
 
I normally land on reasonably shallow beaches. My preferred technique is #2 (release clew line) with #4 (release mainsheet) as the alternative. My sails are old, so the flogging isn't a major concern.
 
My club has a narrow channel leading up to the slip and there's not enough room to turn in the channel (less than ideal conditions) so heading up is not an option coming in with the wind behind you. Therefore I use technique # 4 regularily. I untie the sheet at the block so I can keep some control of the sail until I jump out. Works OK. Mind that the sheet doesn't get tangled with the trailer.
 
At my club the landing area at low tide is narrow with rocks on both sides.
Here I invariably drift in DDW as in "4" making sure that the vang is off and outhaul loose. If the area is congested, to avoid spearing another boat on the slipway, I spin the boat 180 degrees into the wind at the last moment making sure to turn away from the way the mast turned to go DDW.
If I think I will not be able to spin the boat safely I will sail in backwards providing the wind is not veering around too much.
 
At my club the landing area at low tide is narrow with rocks on both sides.
Here I invariably drift in DDW as in "4" making sure that the vang is off and outhaul loose. If the area is congested, to avoid spearing another boat on the slipway, I spin the boat 180 degrees into the wind at the last moment making sure to turn away from the way the mast turned to go DDW.
If I think I will not be able to spin the boat safely I will sail in backwards providing the wind is not veering around too much.

I have a similar scenario where the narrow channel is created by moored boats on both sides... I head in ddw, uncleat the rudder, pull ud the daggerboard and then spin around when the water is about at my knees...

I try to veer toward the side of the boat we own vs the side of the boat we dont, but that is likely immaterial in this case.

This weekend I will try to sail in backwards tho... showoff :)
 
Re: Leeward shore landing techniques

All,

I took many of your suggestions and those of another couple of sailors. Last weekend, I used a modified version of technique 4. Before making my approach I headed to wind and loosed and then untied the mainsheet at the aft boom block. I took out the slack and retied a knot just aft of the forward boom block. (The main sheet was now running from the mainsheet block and fwd boom block) This way I still had some control on all points of sail and could tack or gybe if needed. When I made my approach I untied the rudder downhaul, raised the center board and lined up perfectly with the dolly. I release the mainsheet so the boom rotated forward of the bow. It worked great because I didn't nail the jet skier next to me and my sail did not flog too badly. I was able to keep the rudder down in deeper water which given the waves was helpful. Sometimes I keep the rudder bolt tighten so this approach works well. I had steerage and use of the sail through the whole process, taking out any guess work. Thanks for everyone's contributions.

Hope to see you on the water,
Scott
 
Re: Leeward shore landing techniques

All,

Before making my approach I headed to wind and loosed and then untied the mainsheet at the aft boom block. I took out the slack and retied a knot just aft of the forward boom block. (The main sheet was now running from the mainsheet block and fwd boom block) This way I still had some control on all points of sail and could tack or gybe if needed. Scott

Like that idea!

Al.
 
I do a version of #3, but I don't disconnect my clew. I drag one leg over the side, as above, jump over the side when I can, then turn the boat into the wind. then I put the dolly in the water handles first, then push the boat up the ramp stern first. A little more strenuous, but it saves on the sail flogging
 

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