S2 7.9 Meter Class Association

Hi,
My crew lost interest in sailing. I really love the boat and hate to sell it. to set the boat up for single handling?

Thanks much.

Quinnn

Like you I lost my crew and am forced to sail short handed much of the time. The 7.9 can be set up for single handed quite easily. I added a roller furler with a general purpose 135 sail, for the main I use sail slugs along the luff so it doesn't leave the mast when you drop it. Get a good auto-pilot to work the tiller and you'll be able sail it yourself. When I'm racing, I bring my wife along, but by mutual agreement we both stay in the cockpit. She's still a non-sailor so I'm really single handing it even when she's aboard. I've also set up a single line reef that can be done from the cockpit if needed.

I single hand my 7.9 all the time - much more than I race.

Great fun !! I often sail with a No. 3 head sail - easier, and you really don't lose much speed - see photo !!

A good tiller pilot goes a long way toward single handing the S2 7.9... but of course if you are talking about single handed racing the TP is out (usually).

Frequently I'll take my tiller extension and wedge it against the cockpit combing and use a bungee to hold it in that place against the combing.. Works for short stints away from the tiller. Depends on the gusts of the day of course.

It helps to "undertrim" the boat while you walk away from the tiller (so ease the sheet a lot) lock the tiller, and walk away. I can get sometimes a couple minutes away from the tiller this way (without having to delve into the tiller pilot)...

Also cross sheet.
Run your genoa/jib sheet to the leeward winch with 1 wrap, then up to the winward winch, 1 or 2 wraps (depending on winds). Then trimming is significantly easier, you grab the cross sheet with one hand, pop the windward line with the other, and TRIM your genoa that way... I frequently trim in up to 25 knots solo this way (with the number 3)..

I also sail a lot with the number 1 up, but I typically dump the 155 use at about 15 knots (steady) wind when I'm solo (unless I'm racing of course).

I only have a laminate mainsail right now so I frequently have to roll my mainsail, and I usually do that on the water. The tiller pilot is indispensible for this... however, my battery died the other day, and I was too lazy to bring it home and charge it. So the last 2 weeks I've been sans tiller pilot... So I'd actually drop all sail, and drift while I bounced in the stinkpot wakes, and rolled my main. It works... going out in the same predicament I'd lock the tiller against the combing (again bungee holding the tiller against it - usually to the cam cleat for the traveler). Face the boat into the wind, lock the tiller, go raise the sail... A real PITA when you have to unroll the main, then slide the boltrope through the slot, even with a prefeeder, that first batten is a real PITA, but doable (I usually jump the main halyard at the mast), until I'm past that first batten, then I take up the main halyard from the cockpit, and hoist the rest of the way...

The spinlock prefeeder for the mainsail (if you have a boltrope) is a huge help...
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... &id=204007

But again, if you aren't racing, a tiller pilot is a huge help.

I'm planning to add lazy jacks for the same reason. Much less expensive than converting the jib to a roller-furler! Any recommendations for the Harken, Schaeffer or Barton products offered by Defender? Any significant differences besides cost?

Jim Kloss
s/v Ambivalence
S2 7.9 #8

I bought the boat specifically for shorthanded sailing - primarily point to point, or all-day-long distance races. The great thing about the boat is the relative sizes of the main and foretriangle. As we all know, the main is HUGE, so a very large proportion of the drive comes from the main. That means you can use a 125% or 135% jib for your light-air headsail and you don't give away a lot. The spinnaker is completely manageable, solo up to a relatively high windspeed. If your 125% is built a bit on the heavy side, then in fact what you'll do to change gears when the breeze picks up is reef the main, most of the time. If you use a 95% or 100% headsail, then tacking is easy. With practice you can control the tiller with your knees and butt, and hand-trim the jib sheet in 95% of the way by hand. Then settle the boat down and crank in the last 6 inches when you can.

Regarding autopilots....the RayMarine ST1000 and ST2000 can certainly drive the boat. If I were daysailing and only needed the pilot for an hour here and there, in smooth to "moderately boisterous" conditions I would probably opt for the 1000. If I planned to take the boat out to the middle of one of the Great Lakes for an overnight, and maybe sleep for an hour or two with the pilot driving....or do more than that I'd opt for the 2000. Two, ST2000's got my Santa Cruz 27 to Hawaii, singlehanded in 2008. However, a very accomplished singlehanded sailor out here in California has developed a new tiller pilot which by all reports has the RayMarine products beat. All of the 30 foot and under boats in the 2016 Singlehanded TransPac used it.

http://pelagicautopilot.com/

What else? Self-tailing winches really help when tacking, but aren't absolutely necessary because the headsails are pretty small. Get a biggish second reef in your main, that's what I'd say.

I just bought a used Harken ESP furling unit off of Craigslist. I thought this over, hard. The Hood SeaFlex furler was the other choice. ... about $700. The Hood SeaFlex uses an ABS plastic extrusion with a stranded steel cable molded into the extrusion for the foil. It's "aerodynamically shaped" and uses a #5 tape. If I were trailer sailing and I wanted a spiffier unit than the CDI Flexible Furler that's what I'd get. You can adjust halyard tension with the SeaFlex...no can do, really, when underway with the CDI. I worried about the two units, the ESP and the SeaFlex because both are single-groove foils. That means I can't do inside/outside sail changes. Nor can I run twin headsails.

Well, the truth is that I'm never going to do a singlehanded inside-outside headsail change. I've used Tuff-Luffs for years and when crewed, we very rarely do them, but solo...I just don't. No loss there. I do kind of miss the possibility of running twin headsails, but to do that right, I'd be at least double-reefing the main. Well, that will kill the main "engine" on the boat! It didn't make sense. I'd rather run wing and wing, and if I just HAD to run twin headsails for some reason I'd probably make a pair out of 2.5 ounce nylon and stitch them together on a single tape. So I decided that the ESP would work fine. Note that it takes a #6 tape.

You might also consider looking at the Plastimo furling units. They're 40% less expensive than Harken, new and Plastimo is a well-known brand with a bazillion units installed all over Europe.

BTW, I essentially never use a partially-furled sail. It's not a "reefing" option to me. Where the furling shines is in making the headsail "go away" fast, like during a singlehanded spinnaker set...and then making it re-appear again quickly after the douse without having to go forward. I've lose races because I had to go forward to help feed my headsail back into the prefeeder during a hoist, while my competition just unfurled a headsail.

I do quite a bit of single handed short handed sailing, and Unless you are going to be out of the cockpit a while, I have found a $40 Tiller Tamer works very well. It just take a little touch on the tiller. I have also found the Pastimo Furler, while its a little big at the drum, is as good as anything else out there.

You are all officially invited to visit the Sandusky Sailing Club, drop your 7.9's in the water . .

and take a shot at the Kelleys Island Challenge.

(This year so far, the top times have been turned in by a Tartan 10 (single handed),
and a Lindenberg 26 (crewed). Previously, 7.9's had dominated.)

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index. ... pic=173516