When I sailed 10,000 miles from the Caribbean to NZ in a Hylas 51, nobody asked why I chose the boat for the trip. The Hylas 51 is a capable, powerful offshore yacht, designed by German Frers as a serious offshore cruiser, with all the right numbers, a balanced hull and great accommodation. But many people wondered why I would go offshore singlehanded in such a large yacht.
Of course, I already owned "Hanne Danske", trusted her and her gear, and knew she would look after me. And, after sailing a wide range of boats over many years, I have found that larger yachts are much easier to live aboard. The motion is slower and more predictable, she will keep going in adverse conditions, and stride out easy daily runs between 180 and 200 miles in trade wind conditions without spinnakers and without stress. On the trip to and from NZ to Fiji, speed is important to try to complete the trip in the 7 days or so of weather forecast range to minimise the chance of getting caught out in seriously bad weather.
And, surprisingly, I have found the Hylas 51 an easier yacht to singlehand.
Part of the reaon is that she has a ballast ratio over 40%, and all of it is lead, in a big bulb at the bottom of the keel. So she stands up to her sail, heels moderately in gusts and tolerates too much sail through squalls, or forgives me for reefing late.
Another part is that she has a balanced hull form which stays balanced even in big quartering seas. Hard pressed with too much sail up, she just heels more and goes faster. Off the wind in big seas the autopilot holds her course steady with wheel movements rarely more than one spoke off centre. Although I have a couple of times sat by the wheel ready to take over if the autopilot lost it in big following seas, i have never actually needed to. The knowledge that she can look after herself in any weather means I can set the alarm and get twenty minutes sleep when I need it (I found that lots of twenty minute sleeps tucked in the lee of the dodger was enough, but did try to get a couple of hours sleep when hove to or becalmed).
Of course, sail handling is what traditionally limits the size of boat that can be single handed. I depend on the very good roller furling jib, powerful three speed electric winches, and in boom roller furling main. I carry storm jib (on a demountable inner forestay backed up by demountable runners) and trysail(on a seperate track) and did use them both on the trip to Fiji - but honestly it was to try them out, and I would have been better to stay with my heavily furled main, which keeps good shape right down to survival conditions size. The storm jib, however, is a useful sail and allows me to sail closer to the wind with a flat well shaped small sail than I could with reefed genoa.
Using the electric winch on the jib furler I can easily reef the jib while keeping the sheet under control - and can still do this, but more slowly, using the dedicated manual winch for the furling line. To reef the main I need to be at least hard on the wind and preferably pointing directly into the wind . So the usual procedure is to sail hard on the wind under reefed jib, or motor directly to weather with the jib furled, and put the main reefing line on an electric winch and press the button while easing the halyard (with a couple of turns around a winch)to keep it under control. If the reef is taken to just above a batten in the fully battened main, sail shape is excellent.
I can furl the main using its own dedicated manual winch, but it is much less manageable, and a lot sliwer - and, with the main flogging while you reef, it is important to get it in fast and get back on course.
I practice, I generally reef the main very early and more than I really need to, and then reef the genoa as needed through squalls. Off the wind, when a lot of wind is forecast, I might sail under genoa alone with the main rolled completely away, and if there is a possibility of extreme weather I will have the trysail and storm jib hanked on ready to hoist. With the main furled I set up both running backstays (they are there to set up the inner forestay for the storm jib and not needed otherwise) and that gives extra security to the rig).
A singlehander depends more on good reliable gear, and I made sure everything was serviced and working properly before I left.
So I was very relaxed about singlehanding in a Hylas 51, and would choose to do so again. I found the experience of single handing offshore no more difficult than with crew. Although there were a couple of times when I would like to have handed over to someone else and go below or a good sleep in a warm bunk, I also found it liberating not to have to worry about another person on board. I could rest when I needed to (with my timer alarm set), eat what I wanted when I felt like it (my lovely wife hristina prepared frozen meals for the trip up to Fiji, which was great), and enjoy watching the sea. I kept daily radio scheds on the SSB radio, and phoned home every day on the iridium phone, so I did get a bit of a chat every day. And the experience of landfall after a singlehanded passage was definately worth it!
