How to: Heave to

A quick tutorial on how to go hove-to (heaving to) in a sailboat. Heaving to is an important technique for stopping and temporarily "parking" a sailboat--with just a bit of drift to leeward. Heaving to can be used to ride out a storm, tuck in a reef, take a lunch break, repair something that's broken, or whenever you need to temporarily stop sailing the boat. The proper heaving to technique involves backwinding the headsail, tacking the bow through the wind, then slowing the boat by sailing into the wind with the headsail backwinded and bleeding off the momentum of the boat, and then tying off the tiller to counteract the backwinded headsail once steering control is lost. The boat will quickly stabilize in the hove-to position. Subscribe and follow @ColoradoSailing on YouTube for more original sailing videos, gear, boat maintenance, sailing tips and travel content as I sail my Precision 18 trailer sailer and Precision 16 sailing dinghy in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota. #sailingchannel #coloradosailing #sailing #mountainsailing #heavingto, #heavyweather