#singlehanded

A battery failure has left me without power, so no GPS, AIS, navigation, autopilot or even comms. But I took it as a challenge, so I decided to go for a short daysail anyway and this has reminded me of the immersive pleasure of sailing just by feel, steering manually and relying only on the telltales, the wind arrow on top of the mast and my own perceptions of wind and sea. Of course, before leaving the harbor I made sure that I was able to start the engine and that my backup VHF was working.

Gybing is a more delicate maneuver than tacking. If the wind is strong, an uncontrolled gybe can break things. This video shows how to gybe when sailing single-handed.