Hi all,

A friend singlehands his boat, a 64 footer, ex-rescue boat, and he is 62
years old. He just brought it down from Seattle to San Diego and moves it
around the bay by himself. He has had it for about 7 years. It has almost
no equipment upgrades to help.
Another friend brought his boat down from Vancouver and sail Mexico for the
season. It is a newer schooner, has every gadget to help but it still 67
feet on deck and 74 feet overall.
And another person (not really a friend but a good sailor) sails his 62
footer all over the place by himself including multiple trips to the South
Pacific and does it well when he is sober. I have watched him bring his
boat into the slip with 10 knots of wind on his beam blowing him toward his
slipmate and never appear to be out of control.
Each of the three above can singlehandly take their boat off a mooring or
out of a dock, spend the day sailing the bay, and return to the mooring or
dock without help. Each of them have made passages long and short without
crew.
..
I singlehand my boat, a 46 footer. I have upgraded my equipment to help and
have everything ran to the cockpit. I have roller furling on jib and main.
Electric primary winches. And I am looking into the Hoyt jib boom with a
staysail/sayer rig to ease the work a bit more. With this boat the longest
I have been a sea is about 24 hours, a nasty jaunt against wind and waves.
The ride was easier than my smaller boat, and I have no reason to expect any
more trouble with singlehanding this boat than a 30 footer.

Mike