For you it means the most. Anyone holding a package with us reaches us by messenger, without an appointment. For a single-handed sailor that is the difference between a thought that goes round for three days and one that has been said out loud. Two things about that, plainly and with no small print. We […]
We agree the measures together when taking a fix; see A22. Sailing single-handed, you often end up with things like: how long it takes you after a mistake before you are working again, whether you reef when you think of it rather than when it becomes necessary, how you are holding up on the fifth […]
The same way you prepare the boat: early, in stages, and with trial runs. We build the routines up in everyday life, test them on short legs, and then scale them to the duration of the passage you have planned. Anyone setting out for six weeks does not practise the six weeks, but the one […]
An underestimated subject, and one we plan for. Anyone who has been alone for a long time does not come back with the handbrake on, but with their perception turned down low. The reception in harbour, the questions, having to tell the story: that belongs in the preparation, not in the surprise.
No, and that would be a poor promise to make. What we provide is a voice on the channel when there is none on board. That is exactly what Captain Sifr is for.
A fixed sequence that works without a decision. Breathing, one action with your hands, one sentence, and then the next thing that needs doing. Not solving the situation, but the next half hour. We practise that ashore until it holds, and then we test it under conditions in which it does not want to hold.
Nobody contradicts you. In a crew the navigator corrects the skipper, the bow says the sea is bigger than expected, and somebody notices a frantic tone. Alone, every misjudgement runs through to execution unchecked. You are the decision maker and the check on that decision in one person, and you are that on a sleep […]
Almost every single-handed sailor has developed routines, and most of them work. They are simply self-built, never tested, and usually made for weather you already know. We go through them like a rig check: what carries load, stays. What has merely held so far gets replaced, before it parts under load.
For every part on board there is a backup. Or two. Your head is a one-off. Seven headsails, two autopilots, a windvane self-steering gear on top of that, and for every other part a backup for the backup. A hand bearing compass, and in extremis a sextant. And the only thing on board that exists […]
No. We work on what you want to achieve, and being alone is not a symptom. There is a boundary nonetheless, and we name it: if you are not going out onto the water but away from the land, that is a different subject. Then we say so, and we also tell you where to […]