Spinnaker...

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Spinnaker...

Postby Keith on Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:54 pm

John - do you have any videos of the spinnaker being raised? I'm also interested in how you would gybe it. If you don't have any videos, could you perhaps describe both procedures?
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Re: Spinnaker...

Postby ahamm on Wed Nov 25, 2009 5:49 pm

Add me to the list. I've been reading about Spinnaker rigging and I think I have it figured out but a little help couldn't hurt.
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Re: Spinnaker...

Postby John C. Harris on Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:13 pm

Don't have any videos, alas.

Pretty much just one string at each corner of the spinnaker.

I keep my spinnaker (really a "gennaker" or "asymmetrical" to be precise) packed in the bag with the head, tack, and clew at the opening of the bag. There is just one sheet, and it's kept fastened to the clew, coiled up until I'm ready for it.

To set the spinnaker, I tie the halyard to the head, and clip on the outhaul for the tack. I reeve the sheet on the side I'll be sheeting to. The spinnaker at this point is still mostly in its bag on the cabin sole.

I pull the tack outhaul and the spinnaker is drawn out the companionway and over the cabintop. I cleat the tack outhaul to one of the forward mooring cleats. I make sure the sheet is free to run, then haul like crazy on the spinnaker halyard. You want to get it right to the top, right now---if it fills you might not be able to snug up the halyard.

There is much noisy flogging, and I jump back to the helm and sheet in. You're off, like you just lit a rocket engine.

As you may have deduced, I don't tack or jibe my spinnaker. If I need to tack or jibe, I reverse the process completely and reset the spinnaker on the other side. If I have a skilled crew aboard, it's not impossible to jibe the spinnaker without dousing it, but it's tricky and only recommended for light air and warm water. (9 out of 10 times I've set my spinnaker, I've done it solo.) So the spinnaker is mainly for long hauls on one jibe. Wouldn't change a thing.

You could arrange one of those sleeve widgets for the spinnaker, which would make it easier to manage. But that's a lot of bulky gear for such a small chute! Not worth the trouble.

Image
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Re: Spinnaker...

Postby ahamm on Fri Dec 04, 2009 6:18 pm

Thanks, thats the recomended method from the latest research i've done. Just dump the sail and reset it.
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Re: Spinnaker...

Postby proteotools on Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:15 am

[quote="John C. Harris"]Don't have any videos, alas.

To set the spinnaker, I tie the halyard to the head, and clip on the outhaul for the tack. I reeve the sheet on the side I'll be sheeting to. The spinnaker at this point is still mostly in its bag on the cabin sole.

John,

I am wondering, do you run this tack outhaul through a block on the forestay pad eye?
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Re: Spinnaker...

Postby kilderkin on Wed Aug 03, 2011 12:10 pm

There is a padeye for the spinnaker tack downhaul at the end of the bowsprit (page 265) - the roller furler needs to kept clear.

On my previous boat, I set the asymmetrical with two sheets. If I set it to port, the port sheet came directly to the cockpit, the starboard sheet was led around the spinnaker and down to the cockpit on the starboard side. This allows gybing without having to re-route the sheet. You do need to manage the unused sheet so it does not end up in the water.
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Re: Spinnaker...

Postby John C. Harris on Fri Aug 05, 2011 3:43 pm

I have, in my email box, questions about launching a spinnaker from Peter, who has been sailing his PocketShip about a year and is ready to take the plunge.

The plunge can be literal, as spinnakers have been defeating sailors since the invention of that nefarious sail in the 19th century. PocketShip's spinnaker is easier, as it's an "asymmetrical" or "cruising spinnaker," which means it is deployed like a giant, stretchy jib. There's just a halyard, sheet, and in this case a tack outhaul because of PocketShip's sporting bowsprit.

(To halyard and sheet, a traditional or "symmetrical spinnaker" would add a spinnaker pole, a "guy," a pole topping lift, and a pole downhaul. If you don't trip over the lingo, you'll definitely trip over the cat's cradle of lines when you try to set one.)

I made up a step-by-step of how I set the spinnaker on MY PocketShip. With a long day, gentle breezes, and a chase boat I might be able to photograph and/or video this sequence, and I may get to it eventually.

Spinnaker Launching Guide 1.jpg
Spinnaker Launching Guide 1.jpg (33.09 KiB) Viewed 12211 times


We begin with everything calm and under control, either standing in the companionway while someone steers, or kneeling on the bridgedeck and kicking the tiller once in awhile with your foot, which is how I manage it solo. In the drawings, the wind is abeam or just forward of it, with the mainsail luffing a little. The mainsail is creating a partial wind shadow, which will help keep the spinnaker under control.

The spinnaker is still mostly in its bag, sitting on the floor in the cabin. Pulled onto the deck are the three corners of the sail. Halyard, tack outhaul, and sheet are knotted to their respective corners and led clear to their control points. The halyard is led INSIDE the shrouds. The tack outhaul must be led OUTSIDE the shrouds, as shown. The sheet needs to snake forward around the shrouds and back to the spinnaker sheet block on the rail in the cockpit. Make damned sure the sheet isn't cleated at this point!

Spinnaker Launching Guide 2.jpg
Spinnaker Launching Guide 2.jpg (31.98 KiB) Viewed 12194 times


Once everything is untangled and you're ready to commit, pull the tack of the sail out to the end of the bowsprit with the tack outhaul. On my boat, the tack outhaul is cleated to the mooring cleats in the anchor well, which I can JUST reach when standing in the cockpit. I'm 6'1". If you're shorter or less ape-like than me, you'll want to arrange a cleat closer to the cockpit.

From this moment onwards, everything must happen VERY quickly, especially if there's much wind at all. As soon as the tack has been hauled out, the sail will want to start filling. Cleat the tack outhaul, and be ready within, oh, 1 or 2 seconds to haul away on the halyard.

Spinnaker Launching Guide 3.jpg
Spinnaker Launching Guide 3.jpg (31.99 KiB) Viewed 12216 times


As you hand-over-hand the spinnaker halyard, your arms should disappear in a Muhammad Ali, hummingbird-like blur. The head of the sail needs to cover the distance between deck and masthead in a second or two. (On the racing dinghies they sometimes have a tricky 1:2 halyard that doubles the speed of the launch, but let's not get into that.) The sail will start doing its thing the moment you've gained a foot or two of height, and will billow away to leeward trying very hard to pull the halyard out of your hands and escape into the water. (This is called "shrimping," or "seining" among those of us who have done it.) Just think of those guys on the 12 Meters windmilling away on the winch grinders, and that needs to be you. They mess it up, too, often.

Spinnaker Launching Guide 4.jpg
Spinnaker Launching Guide 4.jpg (31.05 KiB) Viewed 12181 times


Now hurl yourself back to the helm---if you're solo, by now everything is falling apart and you need to simultaneously sheet in the flogging spinnaker, which is threatening to tangle itself around the forestay, and mind your course, as the drag of the flogging spinnaker will have pulled the bow to leeward.

If you have a crew, obviously it's all a lot easier. Off the wind, PocketShip will self-steer in increments just long enough to get yourself in and out of trouble with a spinnaker while sailing solo, but you need to have the choreography deeply internalized.

The asymmetrical spinnaker is a lot easier than a symmetrical spinnaker, but it's hard to sail "deep" with it; I find that the main is usually sheeted to about a beam reach. If you had a long way to go straight downwind, you'd need a long whisker pole so you could wing-and-wing it. That would be a beautiful sight.

Here's a photo of me about to trawl for shrimp with PocketShip #1's spinnaker:

061708-2.jpg
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That was a solo launch in about 15 knots of wind, which was asking for trouble. I was showing off for the cameraman. I did eventually get it right; this is a few frames later:

061708-1.jpg
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As you can see, it took me long enough to get it sorted out that I had actually sailed to the edge of the channel and needed to douse the spinnaker again. Dousing is done exactly in reverse from the launch sequence, and is equally fraught, though the sail comes down faster than it went up.

As I've written here before, I've never gone to the trouble of rigging the spinnaker so you can jibe it. IE, with two sheets. I just douse it and repeat the process on the new tack.

Yes, it's going to take practice and careful forethought. But when that spinnaker is pulling, it is pure sailing joy.

pocketship11.jpg
pocketship11.jpg (175.01 KiB) Viewed 12201 times
John C. Harris
 
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Re: Spinnaker...

Postby Keith on Sat Aug 06, 2011 3:25 am

John C. Harris wrote:I made up a step-by-step of how I set the spinnaker on MY PocketShip...

Thanks for posting the detailed step-by-step instructions.
If you're shorter than me, you'll want to arrange a cleat closer to the cockpit.

I think that I will be doing that. I would like to keep it within easy reach.
From this moment onwards, everything must happen VERY quickly...

With the photos and description, I can see why you need to commit yourself to raising the sail very quickly. I think my first dozen or two practises will be done in very low winds to minimize (ha!) the chance of shrimping. I'm just finishing an Argie 10 and have a WD 10 and an Eastport Pram to do before I start on my PocketShip, so it will be a while before I have to worry about the spinnaker. I know that it will take a bit of coordination, but I'm looking forward to seeing videos of the spinnaker being depoyed and even more "just plain sailing" videos of other PockeShips that are out there.
Keith
 
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Re: Spinnaker...

Postby Wayne G on Sun Jul 16, 2017 12:54 pm

I think I am missing something when attempting to rig the spinnaker as it will bunch under the jib halyard when on a port or starboard tack depending on how the spinnaker halyard is routed.

The spinnaker halyard which hauls the sail head to the top of the mast must run either to port or starboard of the jib halyard, so if the spinnaker halyard is routed past the port side of the jib halyard and the leeward is to the starboard I don't understand how to avoid pulling the spinnaker head under the jib halyard when hoisting.

I've attached a drawing the hopefully explains the issue better. Any advice is welcomed.
Attachments
image1.JPG
image1.JPG (127.62 KiB) Viewed 9511 times
Wayne Gray
Orlando Florida
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Re: Spinnaker...

Postby Bflat on Sun Jul 16, 2017 1:12 pm

You have to always lead the spinnaker halyard around the front of the forestay/jib before attaching it to the spinnaker and raising it. That's typical of all boats with spinnakers. It's not a thread it and forget it thing like other halyards tend to be. Racers usually have the spinnaker halyard lead to the port side before the start since the first down wind leg is usually on a starboard tack after a typical port mark rounding. They will sort the spinnaker halyard out again during the next upwind leg of the race.
I only mention that to reiterate that the spinnaker halyard is pretty different than other halyards.
If the spinnaker is doused on the port side you can't really raise it on the starboard side without first leading everything around to the starboard side.
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