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Why I sail singlehanded or double handed!

A

AntsUiga

Silver Alert Moore 24
The number of singlehanded or doublehanded entries is a topic of great interest. Why - is a good question? This topic will give an option for the sailors to post their thoughts.

My overall speculation is that group of solo sailors is small or growing slowly. The growth of doublehanded sailing is a preferred alternative to sailing with a full crew. Doublehanded have a bigger group to grow from.

For me, solo sailing is an opportunity to develop my sailing skills and setup a boat for solo sailing. I enjoy my solo company. To sail with confidence, I needed to develop procedures that work for a solo sailor. I had owned boat in the mid-30 foot range, but for sailing I prefer ultralights and currently own a Moore 24. At 71 years of age, the Moore fits easily within my physical strength. The agility to get around inside and outside of the boat is the challenge. On a retirement budget, the Moore lets me sail with new sails, the compromised for minimal accommodations.

I have had great doublehanded races with great company, but solo sailing gives a special satisfaction.

There is a question I consider - is a solo race to Hanalei a reasonable option at my age?

Next.

Ants
 
Lots of >70 years old circumnavigating. One won the GGR; one holds the record of wrong way circumnavigation. Why hesitate? One gets old when one stops acting young, uh?

I'd venture something on the 2 vs 1 topic. In closed quarters (i.e. Bay races) double handing is all around preferred and allows one to push boat and men further. Then have offshore races for solo. The LongPac, the SHTP, rounding the 4 weather buoys nearby (SF, Bodega Bay, HMB, Monterey, back home); To PT Arena and back. I like to think this makes sense.
 
For me it's about self reliance. I really enjoy the feeling I get from completing a project by myself. A solo sail is a big "project" -- even a daysail gives me a feeling of accomplishment. And then there's the complication of having crew--are they going to be comfortable, what do I feed them, are they going to like very loud heavy metal music? So much easier alone!
 
I got started because I got sick of spending hours on the telephone, trying to round up crew. Everybody wanted to go, once...~maybe~ twice. For every race that first season on my Cal 20, I had a different crew and even that took 3-5 hours on the phone to assemble. It's just so much less hassle to race by myself.
 
We sail solo or double handed because most people live busy lives. The problem as others point is the hassle to get busy people to show up. Given a chance, I rather sail with two good friends, love to sail with a good friend and most times can only sail solo rather than not at all. We rarely reach out to ask new acquaintances or those others who would match up to join us our on our lovely passion as it is far easier to go it alone. Sailing by ourselves is a comment on our lives. What makes the SSS events so special is that we are not alone and we are safer when we short hand sail in a group.
 
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jamottep said:
Lots of >70 years old circumnavigating. One won the GGR; one holds the record of wrong way circumnavigation. Why hesitate? One gets old when one stops acting young, uh?

I'd venture something on the 2 vs 1 topic. In closed quarters (i.e. Bay races) double handing is all around preferred and allows one to push boat and men further. Then have offshore races for solo. The LongPac, the SHTP, rounding the 4 weather buoys nearby (SF, Bodega Bay, HMB, Monterey, back home); To PT Arena and back. I like to think this makes sense.
Click to expand...

I feel pretty young at 68 but my body is non compliant with my 30 year old mental demands. The 30 year old says "get your ass up" and the 68 year old body says "this ass ain't moving without a double dose of vitamin I"*.

* vitamin I = Ibuprofen
 
AlanH said:
I got started because I got sick of spending hours on the telephone, trying to round up crew. Everybody wanted to go, once...~maybe~ twice. For every race that first season on my Cal 20, I had a different crew and even that took 3-5 hours on the phone to assemble. It's just so much less hassle to race by myself.
Click to expand...

Well I got started for the old fashioned reason, I am anti-social. Anyway, why would you need crew on that teeny tiny boat :).
 
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