Storm Tactics Handbooks: Modern Methods of Heaving-to for Survival in Extreme Conditions

by Lin Pardey, Larry Pardey

Overview

The fear of storms has kept many otherwise competent sailors from venturing into the open ocean. This book explores the myths that have sprung up about ways to bring small boats through storms and shows tried and true methods that work for all types of sailing vessels. Special sections explain storm sail design, sea-anchor technology and tips for preventing gear failure at sea. Included are a series of check lists designed to help potential voyagers chose, then outfit their boat for safe voyaging plus others to prepare them as a storm actually approaches and reassure them once they are in the midsts of heavy winds and seas. Marrio Vittone, a U.S. Coastguard Rescue Swimmer for 14 years, in an unsolicited testimoney, wrote: I have been on several rescues (and heard of many more) that would have been completely unnecessary if the sailboat captains aboard would have practiced the skills taught by Lin and Larry Pardey. Not knowing how to heave-to in bad weather is as inexcusable as not knowing 'red, right, return'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781929214471
Publisher:	Pardey Books
Publication date:	07/01/2008
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.06(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Lin, with her husband Larry is world renowned for her sailing exploits. Author of eleven best selling books on sailing and seamanship, several hundred articles which have been translated into five different languages, she has been keynote speaker in at the Pacific Northwest center of the Sea, the University of Houston Woman's Forum and Egyptian commission on future tourism.Her previous book, Bull Canyon, a memoir published in 2013 received three literary awards

Larry Pardey spent his teenage years rebuilding several boats ranging from eight to twenty feet in length. As he sold each one, he used his "sweat equity" profits to finance his next project. His largest from-the-keel-up projects have been the two boats he built with his wife Lin: Seraffyn the five-ton cutter which took them on an eleven-year, east-about circumnavigation, and Taleisin the boat shown in this book, which took them west-about over the past 30 years. As they cruised, Larry put his skills to work earning the majority of his income by repairing and restoring classic boats in fifteen different countries, including two that he and Lin then raced successfully in New Zealand. Many of the ideas he shares in this book where learned from builders he met in the course of his travels.

As Peter Milne, editor of Classic Boat magazine commented, "Larry's prime interest might be the building of wooden craft, but he is one of those rare creatures, a builder who has covered a tremendous number of sea miles - more than 200,000- in yachts of his own building as well as other people's. This has given Larry firsthand information about which boat-building techniques work, which don't, out there in the big test-tank, the ocean. With his well-rounded background, Larry has developed a reputation as one of the master craftsmen of the wooden boatbuilding world."

For over 45 years, Lin has worked alongside Larry, doing his purchasing and finish work. She has written extensively about their voyages and worked as researcher and editor on this book.

Together Lin and Larry have written ten other books and produced five videos on various sailing subjects. They are currently residing at their homebase in New Zealand where they have a small boat repair facility.

Table of Contents

Equivalents     10
Glossary     11
Preface   Brion Toss     13
Foreword to the Third Edition     15
Acknowledgments     17
Introduction     19
Storm Management
Storms and Cruising     27
Some Cautionary Tales and Thoughts on Heavy Weather     38
Heaving-to: The Sailor's Safety Valve     44
Heavy Weather Experiences on Board Seraffyn     59
Storm Winds, Storm Lessons: Taleisin's Worst Storm     74
Reflections on Storms near Cape Horn     84
Questions and Answers
Storm-Tactics Choices     97
Details of Heaving-to and Lying-to a Sea Anchor     115
Checklists for Storm Management
Choosing the Boat     143
Preparing the Boat     146
Preparing Yourself     149
Tactics as the Storm Approaches     152
General Storm Preparation     153
When It's Time to Heave-to     155
Other Sailors and Their Stories
On Board Oneida off Baja California     163
Sina off the Patagonian Coast of Chile     168
Two Stories from the "Queen's Birthday" Storm     171
Using a Galerider instead of a Para-Anchor on Morgan's Cloud     181
Goodjump II: Lying-to a Para-Anchor in Force 10-11 Winds     185
Secret Affair: Four Days Behind a Para-Anchor     187
Weathering Storms with a Junk Rig     193
Notes from an Interview with Sir Peter Blake     195
Trysails, Staysails, and Rudder-Failure Prevention
Storm Trysails and Separate Trysail Track Installation     201
Storm Staysail/Jib Combination     213
Avoiding Steering Problems     218
Handling a Boat in Cyclonic Situations     225
Para-Anchor Suppliers     241
Bibliography     242
Index     243