Parrell Beads

[HARDWORK]

I have recently aquired a new,to me , Endeavour 33. After going through all the extras that came with the boat, I found an assymetrical spinnaker, with sock. After much research I believe that I need something like the ATN tacker or the parrel beads that Niel Pride sells. Somewhere in my reading it was mentioned that golf balls could be drilled and threaded onto a stainless wire rope to make a home-made version. Has anyone tried this ? If so is it worth the effort, or should I spend the money?

[JohnRPollard]

The devices like the ATN Tacker were intended to help fly a symmetric chute as though it was asymmetric, by tacking one clew down low to the headstay (around the furled headsail) and thereby coercing it into an asymmetric shape.

You shouldn't need one if you already have an asymmetric chute with a dedicated tack. Is there something peculiar about your boat that makes you think you need parrel beads or equivalent to fly the asym chute?

[Bilgewater]

Hardwork; I built one using plastic coated wire (the kind used for clothes lines) you get in hardware stores. I crimped an eye on one end and a snap shackle on the other. But I used those practice golf balls (the hollow ones with all the holes in them). It worked very well but a few of the balls crushed slightly over time so I think golf balls would work very well.

[HARDWORK]

According to the best I can determine that is the only way to control the the tack of the sail.

[JohnRPollard]

Originally Posted by HARDWORK

According to the best I can determine that is the only way to control the the tack of the sail.

Nah. You don't control the tack of an asymmetric chute in this way.

The tack of an asymmetric chute "floats" at the end of the tack line. Preferably you would have an adjustable tack line to vary luff tension, but even that is not absolutely necessary. We have a fixed tack line and adjust luff tension as needed with the halyard.

I don't know where you found that diagram, but it is completely messed up. It shows the sail being flown inside of the headstay, which is not how or where any spinnaker is flown.

Trust me, if you have an asym chute, you don't need The Tacker, nor parrel beads.

You can see us flying our asymm in the photo below. No parrel beads necessary, nor desirable:

[HARDWORK]

I stand corrected. After more checking I found a website File Summary - Quantum Sail Design Group :: Premier Sail Design and Development that explains much better. All that you find on the web is not neccessarily correct. Thanks for your help.

[JohnRPollard]

Originally Posted by HARDWORK

I stand corrected. After more checking I found a website File Summary - Quantum Sail Design Group :: Premier Sail Design and Development that explains much better. All that you find on the web is not neccessarily correct. Thanks for your help.

That is a nice link. Quantum did a good job on that material.

The good news is you don't need to spend anymore money to fly that baby.

[drgamble]

Odd - just received a brand new asym from UK Halsey last week (Matrix Flasher) and it did come with a tacker sleave. Their setup is similar to the graphic Hard submitted however they recommend trying to ensure the tack line block is out in front of the headsail/furler to ensure best setting. I haven't set it up yet - just going by what was shipped and their setup dvd...

[JohnRPollard]

Originally Posted by drgamble

Odd - just received a brand new asym from UK Halsey last week (Matrix Flasher) and it did come with a tacker sleave. Their setup is similar to the graphic Hard submitted however they recommend trying to ensure the tack line block is out in front of the headsail/furler to ensure best setting. I haven't set it up yet - just going by what was shipped and their setup dvd...

Let us know what you learn after setting it up. I find it odd that they would be encouraging you to secure the tack along the headstay. In my experience, the goal is to fly an asym as far forward of the mainsail as possible, where it gets the best air.

The best way to achieve that is to fly the asym chute from a sprit or spin pole (set-up like a sprit). Take a look at all the sport boats (Melges, J-boats, etc) with retractable sprits that fly asym chutes. They put the tack way out in front of the boat at the end of the sprit, where it is not secured to anything other than the adjustable tack line.

Many cruising boats lack a sprit or sprit-pole arrangement, but the next best thing is to let the tack float out in front of the boat as far as possible. Securing it to the headstay, which angles aft from the bow, seems counterproductive. It would also make inside jibing much trickier.

Then again, maybe the cut of your UK sail is more for reaching than deep reaching like many of the early asym sails. But I still don't think Hardwork needs anything more to fly his chute -- the absence of any tacker/parrel arrangement suggests to me that the previous owner flew the sail just fine without it.

[TejasSailer]

Before we installed a removable bow-sprite we ran the tack line under the anchor roller. Two things to beware of at least in our case. In general, there can be huge forces on the tack line, so we run it to a winch rather than a cleat to avoid the danger of losing a finger when adjusting. Also, the tack line run under the anchor roller swept off our bi-light lens. I installed u-bolts above and below the bi-light as a guard.

As for parrel beads and an ATM tacker, we had limited success, but in the spirit of full disclosure, we've had limited success flying an asymmetrical spinnaker.