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Stress-Free Sailing: Single and Short-handed Techniques
The vast majority of sailing yacht scenarios comprise a couple sailing the boat together, and needing to carry out all manoeuvres and activities themselves with no help from a back-up crew. Their boat handling, navigation, sail handling, anchoring and mooring skills all have to be carried out both efficiently and effectively, preferably with the minimum of physical effort (to conserve energy).
But most sailing technique books assume a crew of 3 or 4, all willing to lend a hand. This book is therefore a first, addressing the most common sailing scenarios that anyone cruising will have to deal with, and providing clever, original, highly effective (and most importantly successfully tried and tested by the author) techniques and solutions for dealing with the huge variety of essential operations on a boat – from sail setting and reefing, to picking up mooring buoys in a variety of wind and tide situations, anchoring, berthing and leaving a pontoon shorthanded, picking up a man overboard, sailing in fog and heavy weather – and even going up the mast.
This book will be a godsend to anyone sailing single or shorthanded – including couples with young children who need to be supervised by one parent whilst the other runs the boat.
Organised into techniques for different cruising scenarios, the book features step by step sequential photos showing exactly how to approach each situation and carry out the task in hand.
But most sailing technique books assume a crew of 3 or 4, all willing to lend a hand. This book is therefore a first, addressing the most common sailing scenarios that anyone cruising will have to deal with, and providing clever, original, highly effective (and most importantly successfully tried and tested by the author) techniques and solutions for dealing with the huge variety of essential operations on a boat – from sail setting and reefing, to picking up mooring buoys in a variety of wind and tide situations, anchoring, berthing and leaving a pontoon shorthanded, picking up a man overboard, sailing in fog and heavy weather – and even going up the mast.
This book will be a godsend to anyone sailing single or shorthanded – including couples with young children who need to be supervised by one parent whilst the other runs the boat.
Organised into techniques for different cruising scenarios, the book features step by step sequential photos showing exactly how to approach each situation and carry out the task in hand.
- GenresNonfiction
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 12, 2015
128 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 7, 2021
This book spends about half it's pages on methods to leave and return to the dock, and in fairness, those are two of the most stress-inducing parts of sailing. The author has many great techniques for docking, and he has some excellent advice about useful knots, and a shortened version (a set of tips, really) of all other topics related to sailing. But he does point out excellent books to read if you want to know more about weather prediction, or storm tactics, for example. In the iPad Kindle Cloud version, he includes videos that demonstrate many techniques, which is very helpful.
February 21, 2017
Great tips for single- and shorthanders
Great tactics for sailing single handed or taking out friends who are new to sailing. Duncan is correct when he says that your confidence in handling the boat on your own is key to taking pressure off the rest of the novice crew or passengers.
Knowing you can handle the boat on your own under various events makes the voyage more enjoyable for all on board.
I especially liked all the embedded / linked videos- especially sailing in circle (you can teach this to anyone right away so neither of you needs to panic in a MOB situation). I also liked the Rustler's Hitch video- classic story!
Great tactics for sailing single handed or taking out friends who are new to sailing. Duncan is correct when he says that your confidence in handling the boat on your own is key to taking pressure off the rest of the novice crew or passengers.
Knowing you can handle the boat on your own under various events makes the voyage more enjoyable for all on board.
I especially liked all the embedded / linked videos- especially sailing in circle (you can teach this to anyone right away so neither of you needs to panic in a MOB situation). I also liked the Rustler's Hitch video- classic story!
October 11, 2020
The book is full of very useful and practicality applicable tips and tricks. The videos that you can access via the QR codes given are perfect to understand the concepts. The language is quite warm and simple so that you are feeling like Duncan is talking to you over a pint in a pub :) Besides, English is not my native language; however, I haven't struggled a bit. I'd recommend thia book to anyone who has some basic knowledge of sailing.
December 24, 2018
Brilliant, practical details without a load of irrelevant jargon
I have read many books on sailing and mooring and mob techniques this one offers clear practical advice with videos to ensure you have understood and reinforce understanding.
There are many books on the market, but for a newby sailor like me this is the best I have read
I have read many books on sailing and mooring and mob techniques this one offers clear practical advice with videos to ensure you have understood and reinforce understanding.
There are many books on the market, but for a newby sailor like me this is the best I have read
February 3, 2019
Superb practical advice
Although having sailed and cruised for 45 years, You never stop learning from experience, especially other peoples.
I didn’t realise how much I didn’t know until I read Duncan’s book.
I will keep it to hand and re-read it many times.
It may allow the oxymoron of stress free sailing to become a reality.
Although having sailed and cruised for 45 years, You never stop learning from experience, especially other peoples.
I didn’t realise how much I didn’t know until I read Duncan’s book.
I will keep it to hand and re-read it many times.
It may allow the oxymoron of stress free sailing to become a reality.
August 28, 2019
Highly recommend this for all skippers. I particularly valued the departure and docking techniques that were covered, and covered well. Tested on three different designed boats, with notes where they differ. The videos were good, but I recall they all took place in pretty ideal conditions. Show me how it's done leaving a side finger peer with a 15knot breeze into my neighbor would you?
March 31, 2018
A lot of good and easy to follow tips. Part about arriving and leaving the berth single handed gives a lot of insights in how the boat behaves and how to manage it safely. Really liked the embedded videos, they are great. And a sense of humor throughout the book makes reading light and fun.
November 3, 2025
This is a very good book if you have the problems that it is aimed at (single/short-handing), and even if you don't it may still be worth picking up if you find it. Initially I thought it would be a quick read because it is thin and has lots of pictures, but it's actually quite information-dense.
I liked that Wells opens with his philosophy of single/short-handing, why it is useful to learn even if you don't intend to use it, and then moves to line management because that is a common trouble spot. This occupies about the first quarter of the book. Some neat knots and rope tricks here that I hadn't seen before in my US Sailing courses.
The middle half of the book deals mainly with launching, docking, mooring, and anchoring. A lot of it boils down to "how do I make sure that all the lines I need are run back to the cockpit, and can be attached or released from there with a minimum risk of tangle or fuss?" I really appreciated the mix of diagrams, photography, and text descriptions here. Many techniques included all three, which I found very useful - I liked being able to skim the text and look at the line diagram for the big picture, then re-read the text in detail and look at the photographs for the fine points. I wish more sailing books took this approach to illustrations (although it probably wouldn't have been a point in this book's favor if I were reading on an eInk reader with very limited ability to zoom in on images, rather than in paper like I read it).
The last quarter of the book covers topics like preparation for heavy weather, weather prediction, navigation, and MOB scenarios. The weather chapters were a bit less focused on single-hand issues, and some of the tables and diagrams in the weather prediction chapter weren't well-connected to the text and left me scratching my head, but I did still learn a few things here (I had no idea I needed to worry about stoves jumping off of their gimbals). I liked the bits of the navigation chapter about using fingers at arm's length to estimate angles at horizon distance, but again some of the sequencing of text and diagrams wasn't so good in this chapter.
The MOB chapter was back to form with a tight focus on single/short-handing issues and a good mix of text, diagrams, and photography. The photos from the cockpit approaching the MOB in the water are just an outstanding perspective for supporting discussion of this topic. The maneuvers back to the MOB are a bit heterodox and I should study them more before I return this book to my local library.
I liked that Wells opens with his philosophy of single/short-handing, why it is useful to learn even if you don't intend to use it, and then moves to line management because that is a common trouble spot. This occupies about the first quarter of the book. Some neat knots and rope tricks here that I hadn't seen before in my US Sailing courses.
The middle half of the book deals mainly with launching, docking, mooring, and anchoring. A lot of it boils down to "how do I make sure that all the lines I need are run back to the cockpit, and can be attached or released from there with a minimum risk of tangle or fuss?" I really appreciated the mix of diagrams, photography, and text descriptions here. Many techniques included all three, which I found very useful - I liked being able to skim the text and look at the line diagram for the big picture, then re-read the text in detail and look at the photographs for the fine points. I wish more sailing books took this approach to illustrations (although it probably wouldn't have been a point in this book's favor if I were reading on an eInk reader with very limited ability to zoom in on images, rather than in paper like I read it).
The last quarter of the book covers topics like preparation for heavy weather, weather prediction, navigation, and MOB scenarios. The weather chapters were a bit less focused on single-hand issues, and some of the tables and diagrams in the weather prediction chapter weren't well-connected to the text and left me scratching my head, but I did still learn a few things here (I had no idea I needed to worry about stoves jumping off of their gimbals). I liked the bits of the navigation chapter about using fingers at arm's length to estimate angles at horizon distance, but again some of the sequencing of text and diagrams wasn't so good in this chapter.
The MOB chapter was back to form with a tight focus on single/short-handing issues and a good mix of text, diagrams, and photography. The photos from the cockpit approaching the MOB in the water are just an outstanding perspective for supporting discussion of this topic. The maneuvers back to the MOB are a bit heterodox and I should study them more before I return this book to my local library.
June 22, 2017
A fine book
Detailed, concise, and very witty. I thoroughly enjoyed this book all the way through. A valuable resource for the solo sailer. The movie clips available in the e-book take the already clear writing and pictures a step further to really help you understand the techniques employed.
Detailed, concise, and very witty. I thoroughly enjoyed this book all the way through. A valuable resource for the solo sailer. The movie clips available in the e-book take the already clear writing and pictures a step further to really help you understand the techniques employed.
March 13, 2017
A very good book and well worth a read. He has some very interesting ideas and pointers. I've read a number of other sailing books, including those geared toward solo or short handed, but none had the detail for handling specific situations that this one did. But it's still a surprisingly quick and easy read.
April 13, 2016
5-full-stars. This book is a gem. Loaded with pictures, hints and tips, detailed observations and great ideas, I would recommend this to anyone who sails a yacht. Yep, literally anyone who owns anything bigger than a dinghy.
Well's man overboard procedures are modern, well thought out and appear achievable with minimal practice (indeed they appear to be designed with a lack of practice in mind). His sections on docking and other maneuvers are again, clear, concise and well documented with photos and diagrams to clarify the points he makes in the text.
This book does exactly what is sets out to do - and that is explain the thoughts of someone who has taken the time to dissect aspects of modern yachting that cause the most angst to boat owners and crew alike and simplify them to a degree that renders them much less daunting.
Well's man overboard procedures are modern, well thought out and appear achievable with minimal practice (indeed they appear to be designed with a lack of practice in mind). His sections on docking and other maneuvers are again, clear, concise and well documented with photos and diagrams to clarify the points he makes in the text.
This book does exactly what is sets out to do - and that is explain the thoughts of someone who has taken the time to dissect aspects of modern yachting that cause the most angst to boat owners and crew alike and simplify them to a degree that renders them much less daunting.
June 13, 2016
The Best
Read many books on docking and warping, but this is the best. Also have spent sleepless hours figuring how was going to leave a dock under adverse circumstances. Learned tons from this book to make that easier
Read many books on docking and warping, but this is the best. Also have spent sleepless hours figuring how was going to leave a dock under adverse circumstances. Learned tons from this book to make that easier
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews