Sticky Stapylton has sailed thousands of miles and taught numerous people how to sail. He shares some of his seamanship tips.

Taking in the third reef

I often wonder if some of those who design yachts ever bother to check out if the reefing system on their boats is actually workable.

We were sailing in winds of Force 7 and above and needed to take in the third reef.

The problem was that once the first and second reefs were set up, there was so much bunt of sail that it was impossible to get the cringle onto the ram’s horn without adding an extension to the cringle.

This we did with the use of a sail tie, easily fixed while on the pontoon and luckily with the boat’s bow into wind.

The sail had a reasonable shape but it was impossible to get suitable tension in the foot, and we had too much belly in the sail.

This affected our pointing ability, but fortunately, we were able to keep clear of lee shores.

One solution would be to extend the strop going through the cringle to which the ring is attached

Reducing warp chafe

Have a look at the mooring lines in these photos: it can be seen that the black spring in the above photo is badly chafed, not helped by the angle of the lines passing through the fairlead.

In the second photo (above), the chafe on the lines could have been cut down by taking the lines along the coloured routes so that the turn through the fairlead was much easier on the line.

Disconnecting the mains cable before casting off

Have you ever forgotten to disconnect your mains cable before leaving the marina?

I do not claim to have originated the idea of wrapping the mains cable around one of the boat’s lines, but it is a pretty foolproof system.

You cannot rig slip lines or cast off from the mooring unless you take the mains cable off, so there is a good chance of avoiding the ignominy of leaving the marina with an electric cable trailing astern.

Recovering a lost anchor

Follow a systematic search pattern along these lines to recover your anchor

In the event of you having to jettison your anchor and cable, and assuming that you have not had time to mark the spot with a marker buoy, you need to have a drill for finding the gear when the weather allows you to do so.

If you were lucky and alert when you were forced to leave your anchor, you would have made a note of a transit or taken a couple of bearings on prominent objects to give you an idea of where to start your search.

In the 21st century, the really switched-on skipper will press the MOB button on his GPS and will have a permanent record of distance and bearing to the anchor.

Attach light lines to both the crown and the shank of your kedge anchor, and follow a systematic search pattern along the lines of the diagram opposite.

Tow slowly from the shank ring (1-2 knots).

If the towed kedge anchor fouls your lost one, you will be able to haul up your bower: and if you wish to break the towed anchor clear, you can use the line attached to the crown.

Low Water (LW) is the best time to trawl: and if you have the choice, avoid any time when the currents are strong, normally High Water (HW)+ 3 and 4.

Using an inflatable dinghy

This dinghy has a missing rowlock

Do you have an inflatable dinghy, and if so, when did you last use it?

I recently pulled the dinghy from a charter yacht’s stern locker to find it had no seat and two holes in it, each the size of a 10p piece. (Another dinghy, pictured above, had a missing rowlock.)

To add insult to injury, the glue in the dinghy repair kit was rock-hard, so a trip to the chandlery was necessary to repair the holes.

With yachts based in marinas and sailing from base to another harbour where you can walk ashore, some tenders will rarely see the light of day.

It is therefore that much more important that your dinghy is regularly checked.

If kept at the bottom of a locker it would be easy for the kedge anchor or a heavy spare fuel can to be dropped onto the tender, possibly puncturing the fabric.

Using a dinghy may seem a simple affair, but it is worthwhile having some basic rules.

• Before inflating, tie the dinghy on by the painter – it may get blown away.
• Secure the dinghy bag too, in case the same might happen.
• Inflate the dinghy so that it is rigid, but not too rigid; the standard dinghy pump will not over-inflate.
• Always launch stern first: it will be easier to hold onto the painter,
• If using an outboard engine, ensure that it is secure before lowering it into the dinghy, and then tie the lanyard onto a secure point in the dinghy.
• Fill the outboard tank on the parent boat, which is more stable.
• Items to take with you: bailer, oars and rowlocks, anchor and warp, lifejackets (to be worn), torch, dinghy pump, handheld compass, repair kit, handheld flares, handheld VHF radio, spare fuel. (Some may argue that this is a lot of kit to carry to the pub or restaurant and could well disappear if not secured. Common sense will tell you which items are appropriate according to the circumstances.)
• Load the dinghy evenly, and do not take too many crew with you for the weather conditions.

Hooking on

There are sufficient pad eyes and strops for crew to be secure anywhere in the cockpit

I frequently board boats and find that there are no hook-on points which can be reached from inside the companionway steps.

In a heavy sea, I have actually seen someone coming up through the companionway and, failing to hook on, being catapulted by a seriously pitching boat into the backstay aft of the helm.

We were lucky that we did not have a split backstay.

The majority of sailors may never be at sea in conditions which warrant hook-on points close to the companionway.

But what happens if you get the weather forecast wrong, or if there is a time imperative for getting back to work after a long weekend sailing across the Channel?

Sensible seamanship: The spare strop is positioned so that anyone coming on deck can hook on before coming up

If fitting jackstays, just be aware that a slack jackstay may well be able to sustain higher loads than one which is fitted taut: read the instructions which come with your jackstays.

Consider also the pros and cons of webbing straps against wire: the former can degrade in sunlight, and some manufacturers recommend straps are removed at the end of a passage or day-sail.

The latter, meanwhile, can easily roll underfoot and may result in an unnecessary slip.

Whenever possible I always tether a spare strop to a pad eye close to the companionway steps, and have it positioned so that anyone coming on deck can hook on before coming up.

Once the person boarding is in the cockpit, the dedicated strop on the lifejacket can be used to secure the crew, and the spare strop can
be placed back over the washboard for anyone else to use.

If I am sailing on a boat with large cockpit, I organise the strops so that crew always have the ability to remain hooked on.

Choking the luff

The end from the jammer is taken over the helm, and is controlled by the helmsman

The sailing expression ‘choking the luff’ describes a system of preventing movement between two blocks by inserting part of the line which connects them between a sheave of one of the blocks and the line which runs through it.

This is an essential safety drill when anyone is working on the boom at sea: the mainsheet should not be eased, because the boom will swing and could throw crew overboard if not prepared.

In the photograph above, part of the fall has been coiled and threaded in between the lines connecting the mainsheet blocks.

The end from the jammer is taken over the helm and is controlled by the helmsman.

On some yachts, as the mainsail comes down, even though the topping lift is triced up before lowering, the mainsheet slackens a bit; and again, the boom can swing.

So, skippers should have a hand ready by the mainsheet in case slack needs taking up.

With a lot of modern boats where the mainsheet runs through a jammer by the companionway, and with only two on board, it should be
standard procedure for the fall of the sheet to be passed to the helm so that slack can be taken up as the mainsail is lowered.

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