Sailors are often surprised by how calm the boat becomes when the forces are balanced, and a calm steady boat might be essential for coping with a medical emergency, a storm or any number of other reasons.The original sense of the expression may be tied to a Christianized association of the mythical Greek Fortunate Islands or Isles of the Blessed, said to lie in the extreme west of the Atlantic Ocean-toward the sunset. Heaving to is a valuable technique for coping with many different situations. The same principles hold true in storm winds but you may need further adjustments. Be sure to practice on a day with a good strong wind when you might have to reef the mainsail down and use a smaller jib or furl your jib.
Once you've found the best method to heave to in your particular boat, practice.The boat should not have enough forward drive to be able to tack against the jib and will settle into the heaved-to balance. Keep the rudder over as if trying to turn into the wind and tack, but with the mainsail out further, as in the illustration above. If the power of the mainsail threatens to tack the boat again against the backwinded jib, then let out some mainsheet.After all, in a storm situation, you would not want a large jib up anyway. With a hanked-on jib, try with a smaller working jib or a storm jib. You can also try easing the jib sheet a little so that the sail is slightly less backed. With a furling jib, bring in enough of the sail so that the bow is not blown completely off when the sail is back winded. If nothing you can do keeps the boat from being blown completely back around, into a gybe situation, then you will have to reduce the size of your jib in order to heave to. If the bow keeps turning farther from the wind, put the rudder hard over to turn back toward the wind with the mainsail sheeted in tight.
After tacking and letting the jib be backwinded, observe how your boat behaves. First, follow the basic steps to see how your boat performs. Start by practicing on a day with a good, steady wind, but not too much wind for the first time. A boat with a reefed mainsail and a large jib that has not been furled, for example, may be impossible to heave to. The smaller the mainsail in relation to the jib, the harder it will be to heave to, for the same reason. The larger the jib or headsail, the harder it will be to heave to because the larger force of the wind against the backed sail can easily blow the boat completely off the wind regardless of the driving force of the mainsail. A boat with a fin keel, in contrast, can spin easily and will need to be more carefully balanced. The longer the sailboat's keel, the easier it will be to heave to. Various factors affect how a sailboat heaves to. More modern boats require some adjustment and practice in order to heave to. These basic steps are easy to learn, but not every boat acts the same. The boat should stay heaved to in this position unless thrown off by a sudden gust or a big wave, very slowly drifting away from the wind. Lash the tiller or wheel to keep the rudder in this position. As needed, adjust the mainsheet and the rudder position until the forces balance out and the boat stays steady relative to the wind, often roughly 60 degrees off the wind. The force of the mainsail will try to move the boat toward the wind just as the force in the jib tries to push it away. Turn the rudder to keep the boat toward the wind on your new tack. Once on the new tack, the wind in the backed jib will attempt to blow the bow further away from the wind. Tack across the wind without releasing the jib sheet, unlike in normal tacking. Bring the boat into a close-hauled point of sail with both the mainsail and jib trimmed in tight. Here are the simple steps for heaving to: With these forces balanced, the boat holds a steady position. The jib is backwinded and attempts to turn the boat away from the wind, while the mainsail and rudder attempt to turn the boat into the wind. The theory of heaving to is to use the mainsail and headsail, usually the jib, to work against each other to balance the boat at an angle to the wind.
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