Sailing singel handed

[rgsson]

Hello,

Is any of you sailing your DF920 singel handed? I am not new to sailing, but to trimaran sailing. My old boat was a singel hull boat where I had lots of time to take care of trimming and navigating at the same time. Now when the speed has doubled I find it hard to do everything myself.
Do you have a trick up your sleeve on how to sail the DF920 singel handed or is the trick just to take it easy and let every thing take its time?
Do you sail with the autopilot a lot? It seems to be too slow when the boat speed is more then 10 knots.

[gminkovsky]

I used to sail a lot single-handed on my 920. In lighter winds (under 10-12 kn) even the autopilot is not needed. There is plenty of time to do anything during a tack or taking down sails. In higher winds autopilot is required during tacking and to take down or reef main.

It is also much more difficult to come to the mooring if it's windy if you are single-handed. But you get used to it.

I have sailed single handed in as much as 27-29 kn of wind. However, now I will only sail with a crew in winds above 10-12: a couple of years ago I pulled my neck and shoulder muscles while trying to furl in the jib in gusty 20 kn. I was trying to winch with left hand while maintaining pressure with my right hand so jib does not shred to pieces...

Also, as a matter of safety, in boat speeds above ~14 kn, I prefer one person to handle jib sheet at all times and another person to handle main sheet and/or traveler at all times...

I agree that ST1000 autopilot is slow. This is an issue only if tacking in waves because the boat tends to stall in irons. Not a problem for everything else. I actually upgraded to ST2000 (for different reasons) and find that ST2000 is so fast it over-steers!

[EarthBM]

90% of my sailing is single handed. Good autopilot is key. Need to make sure sail trim gives you balanced helm, or the autopilot will drain the battery.

My autopilot (raymarine X10 is better than me in up to 12kt water speed, adequate up to 16kt, depending on sea state and point of sail. Steer to wind works but I haven't tried on long passages. My biggest concern on a very long passage offshore would be autopilot redundancy (need critical parts and knowledge of how to fix).

The only wish I have for my autopilot is wider auto tack angle -/ this could be possible with a new controller.

I find that I actually make better sailing decisions when singlehanded because there is no conversation to distract you.

[clarivoile]

Single handed sailing for 35 years, 3 years on the 920 E

It's an easy boat

[rgsson]

Thank you for all the tips. The real test of sailing singel handed will come in June next year when I will participate in a 12h singel handed sailing regatta. I will let you know how it went afterwards.

[clarivoile]

you should practice a bit before