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BobJ

Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
This is a cool video of Peter Gustafsson out practicing solo on his J/111 in Sweden:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKIAL8lyoWY

He takes a few liberties and mostly gets away with them due to the light conditions. I like to keep things more tidy and not cross lines over each other so much. There's a nice "letter box" douse at the end, which you don't get to see very often. In preparation for the douse he tosses the tack line and halyard overboard to make sure they'll run out smoothly - it's one way of doing it.

Anything you'd do differently?
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I would wear the NKE remote around my wrist like a watch or around my neck, not in a pocket. I can see the pocket method resulting in a remote in the drink.

Other than that Peter does a pretty good job. You can tell he was thinking hard to make sure he had the spin sheets and tackline run correctly.
 
Yeah, at first I thought he had a dousing line to clear but it was probably the inside gybe vs. outside gybe issue. What do you think of clipping the tack line and sheets to the jib sheets (before use)? That made me a little uneasy. The advantage might be that they're always on the leeward side for hookup. (Only good with a small jib though.)

I don't use the remote much. The AP control head is on the aft end of Rags' cabin trunk, right where I'm standing for most maneuvers, and is easier to use while handling lines. The remote bobs around too much and takes more time. I mostly just use it upwind in shifty conditions.
 
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Agree on clipping to the lazy jib sheet. I think it is good practice to not attach things to running rigging. It works fine, until it doesn't.

I switched to wearing the remote like a watch. Always handy and always in the same place.

For having the spin controls on the leeward side (in the rare cases when you didn't know which side you will hoist on), just clip halyard, tack, and sheets together and pull them all around to other side with the spin sheet.

Do you use the autopilot to tack and gybe? I'm guess not with a tiller. I'm haven't dialed that in yet. The tack function in apparent mode on my autopilot doesn't seem to work like it should, so tend to just press the 10 button a bunch of times and fine after I'm done handling the sheets. It's harder with a wheel because I'm in front of the traveller for the sheets and can't reach the wheel without having my arm chopped off by the mainsheet. Something I need to practice more.
 
I use the tack buttons for tacks and the ten degree buttons for gybes. Tacks are almost too fast with the genoa but fine with the #3 jib. The gybes can be very precise using the AP - I almost can't gybe the kite with a live helmsman any more.

As for the wheel, it would be very hard to get used to!
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Hi all!

Cool that you found the video. We've had the J/111 for three years and have done all kinds of racing throughout Scandinavia, mostly double-handed and fully crewed.

In 2014 I decided to do the danish Silver Rudder Challenge, solo around the island of Fyn. We were almost 200 boats spending between 29 (me) and 54 hours (Seascape 18) to get around the island. Great fun, but very intense sailing. I slept 4 minutes and were in full on race mode most of the time. But that made us the fastest mono around. Here's my video from that race.

2015 they are capping the race at 300 boats. 180 have already registered for a race in September.

To get sorted, I did some solo training along the coast. Mostly shorter courses focusing on maneuvers and routines where I as much as possible wanted to replicate the routines we have when double-handing. Some comments:

- Tying the spin sheets to the jib sheets is not normal. As I ran the sheets and connected the spin just seconds later I just wanted them nearby. Normal is to keep them at the bow or at the lee shrouds.

- Spin sheet is either to leeward on long distance when I want the companionway clear, or to windward on shorter legs where trimming is required and I need both vang and spin sheet available to windward in a broach.

- Letterbox is the safe choice for me going solo. We have a sock on the A5 for more wind or tight reaching. The spinnaker is a 157 m2 "whomper" so I need to be careful to keep it out of the water. Works great up to 20 knots when I regulary does 16-18 knots. Great adrenaline rush, but then maneuvers/gybes can get scary.

- I've tried to keep the remote on the arm and around the neck. Or connected in the breast pocket of my smock. Havn't really decided on what I like yet. On the arm it tends to get in the way... Like to keep it on for MOB functionality.

- I let NKE do the tacking, but gybes are usually +10+10+10+10 degrees going from TWA 160 to TWA 160.
 
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Hi Peter, thanks for registering and responding here. I've watched several of your videos - it is a benefit to everyone that you like to record your sailing.

If participation in the Silver Rudder Challenge is any indication, shorthanded racing must be exploding in popularity there. It appears participation increased from 15 boats the first year to 100 the next year, to almost 200 last year, and now capped at 300 - and all single-handed!

For single-handing, how would you compare your J/111 with your previous boat (the J/109)? If you plan to keep texting while driving, have you thought about leading the vang back to the cockpit? :cool:
 
If participation in the Silver Rudder Challenge is any indication, shorthanded racing must be exploding in popularity there. It appears participation increased from 15 boats the first year to 100 the next year, to almost 200 last year, and now capped at 300 - and all single-handed!

We're seeing more and more shorthanded sailing in the Scandinavian countries. It all took off with longer 300' Watski Twostar races in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, all attracting 100+ boats. Then we got the 170' Bohus race thats goes through the Bohuslän Archipelago that attracts almost 200 boats each year. Beautiful race, and a good intro for those that want to get into shorthanded racing.

Solo sailing is growing slowly, but the Silver Rudder is just a phenomena with boats coming on trailers from all over Europe. I'm not really sure they'll be able to manage safety if they get a windy race with 300 (not so experienced) solo boats in very narrow waters.

There's strong interest in more offshore solo racing, +500´so we're looking into that as well.

This year we're focused on Fastnet Race (fully crewed) but then I can see myself getting into solo sailing a bit more seriously.

For single-handing, how would you compare your J/111 with your previous boat (the J/109)? If you plan to keep texting while driving, have you thought about leading the vang back to the cockpit? :cool:

The J/111 is a handful, and not considered the ideal shorthanded boat :eek: But very rewarding and just a rocket in the right conditions. Compared to the 109 it's much more sensitive when it comes to trim, but easier (as the 92) to handle downwind without the loads. Both boats have their pros and cons.

The vang is on the cabin top with the line long enough to be able to handle it from the helm. But I've decided to either text or drive. Not try to do everything at once :)
 
Our core group of true singlehanders is growing slowly as well. The doublehanders help SSS pay the bills (all, that's just my personal opinion).

One of our challenges is that while San Francisco Bay itself is scenic (and we can sail year-round), once outside the Bay racing scenery/destinations are limited and conditions off our Northern California coast can be very challenging. Participation in our ocean races dropped off 3-4 years ago and has not rebounded. We'll see how 2015 progresses.
 
In the video, I was glad to see the technique of throwing the halyard and tack line over when preparing to douse. This is something I "discovered" with my last boat, an Express 27, and it seemed to work well. Until now, I had never seen anyone else doing this. There is some risk, particularly if other boats or a mark are nearby, but, on the other hand, there are no line snags bringing the spinnaker down, and the drag on the lines feels about right.

For asymmetrical spinnaker, the standard recommendation is to pull some of the tack toward the bow prior to launching, and I noticed Blur does this. I have had good experience, so far, when single handed or double handed, just pulling the spinnaker up with the halyard, then bring the tack all the way to the pole, then trim the sheet. Other than not being as fast, is there any disadvantage to this approach?

Thanks,
Todd
 
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