CHAPTER 9


If the direct course to your destination puts big steep seas on the beam, look for strategic ways to improve matters. You might perhaps steer closer to the wind and waves for a while in order to gain a lee from land lying to windward. This would exchange the beam sea for one on the bow until the boat was in calmer water, at which time she could bear away from the wind back onto course. She could then take what remains of the waves on the beam with little more than inconvenience.


If no way of avoiding the beam seas presents itself, you must make a decision about whether it is safe to continue, or if you should go into ‘survival mode’ (see pages 103- 109) until the weather improves.


Dodging – Fishing vessels of the traditional displacement form use this technique to survive in seas that are otherwise too big or steep to handle safely. Others can do far worse than follow their example.


If you have a small mizzen riding sail, sheet it right in. If you haven’t one, you may be obliged to work harder at the wheel. Head the boat up into the seas and throttle back until you are just making steerage way. In daylight, watch the waves coming as you rise to the crests. If a steep one that could break seems to be heading your way, put some power on and try to avoid it, then slow down again and continue jogging upwind. After dark, you are left with only luck and intuition on your side, but a well-found boat of reasonable size will generally manage. The surface drift of the gale will drive you back almost as much as the propeller is pushing you ahead, so your position may change surprisingly little.


Downwind


Keep sufficient way on to avoid being broached by a following sea. Broaching occurs when a wave picks up the stern and throws it round, generating centrifugal force which exaggerates the turn and takes it out of control. The boat may well heel over heavily under the same forces, and this can render the rudder less effective, or even useless. If you broach beam-on to the face of a steep wave the boat may be knocked down or even capsized, especially if the wave is breaking. For a displacement motor boat, probably the best way of avoiding a broach is to keep a sensible amount of way on. The propeller will then be throwing water past the rudder, counteracting the tendency for temporary steering failure near the crest caused by the circulation of water within the wave (see pages 148 to 150). Only experimentation can tell what is best for your boat on the day, but if heavy weather seems a likely outcome of your cruising you could consider shipping a drogue. Towing this astern on a rope of suitable length often confers the additional control to keep the stern in line. If you’ve no drogue, try tying every rope on board together then streaming the whole lot in a bight secured at either quarter.


MANUAL OF SEAMANSHIP | 89


Heavy Weather


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