Thanks for the post, Marc, very interesting subject.

Marc wrote:
..... I figured a 15 degree heel would see me safely under the
bridge.


We used to do this small boats (up to a Lightning) and in some places
had to heel a lot more than 15 degrees to get under... gave you a fine
appreciation for balance & how the helm & leeway changes when the boat
is layed over.

My hat's off to you for successfuly doing this.

Having made the decision to heel the boat, the next considerations
were how to load, how much to load, what to load and how to rig the
boat. I wanted to deck load as much as possible and keep as much
strain off the mast as I could, while at the same time preparing the
mast for as much strain as needed.

It heels under sail, right? Assuming you don't put any huge impulse
loads from unplanned directions, heeling the boat from the mast head
should work just fine. I've done it many times on a lot of different
boats, for reasons from stability testing to installing a wind
indicator.


...I opted not to use the main halyard
but instead installed a choker around the mast just above the fore
stay attachment point.


Why not use the rig's already-built-for-it attachment points?

The biggest mistake I've seen people make is to hook the main halyard
onto a heavy weight, swing it outboard, and crank it up... that can
jam the sheave or break the halyard. Put a block on the halyard, reeve
a line thru that block and then hoist the block & both parts of the
line up, then cleat it and use the new line to hoist weights, with the
block free to assume any angle it needs.

The traditional way to heel a boat (say, if it's hard aground) is to
rig a lifting bridle on the dinghy, putting a hoisting tackle on the
end of the boom, rigging two whips to control the boom fore & aft,
then swinging it outboard. Fill the dinghy with water and start
hoisting it to the boom end. Should be able to get at least 15 degrees
that way.

The next question is, will running at that angle of heel affect your
motor's running? Some boats lose cooling water ....

Fresh Breezes- Doug King