More Spin questions;Crane, pole storage..

[deniseO30]

What my boat has/came with;
fixed length pole and deck chocks (removed them)
spinnaker track and car on the mast.
a unused halyard that seems to be for the whisker pole.
A asym Bright orange color scheme, yuck!
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Don't have;
a spin halyard
crane and block
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Research tells me;
Isomat mast. spin crane (rigrite) is just a plate, seems it would be more effective to make something with swivel block and new halyard so I can be well beyond the head stay and furler.
Store pole on mast. How and should I? Will it rattle? Interfere with gen?

Why would my boat have most of the needs for running the asym but never had the masthead parts?

[DRFerron]

Originally Posted by deniseO30

Why would my boat have most of the needs for running the asym but never had the masthead parts?

Perhaps the project was started by the PO and not completed for whatever reason? Especially if they realized they had to go up the mast?

Our boat has bits and pieces of an autopilot plus a new oil gauge that was put in but never connected. Like they couldn't figure out where the wires went so just left it.

[sailingfool]

You might check the size of the asym, sounds like it is more likely a cruising spinnaker intended to fly on a line from the stemhead fitting in which case you don't need to use the pole, and I'd think a genoa halyard may do. A cruising spinnaker is more like a light weight genoa with a loose luff.

The Rigrite plate includes the crane (two probably) for attaching a swivel block and spinnaker halyard, which of course are additional expenses. You could build the same, but it'll be a lot easier to just buy it and screw it on...

If the boat came with a spinnaker pole, then there should be a provision for a topping lift for the pole, this line runs from an exit about 3/4's up the front of the mast. Any chance that is the extra halyard...if the line is coming out of a box in the mast head, it is probably a spare genoa halyard.

[AdamLein]

Originally Posted by sailingfool

You might check the size of the asym, sounds like it is more likely a cruising spinnaker intended to fly on a line from the stemhead fitting in which case you don't need to use the pole, and I'd think a genoa halyard may do.

Don't asyms still need their halyard to come out way in front of the forestay, so they can be gybed in front of the stay?

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by AdamLein

Don't asyms still need their halyard to come out way in front of the forestay, so they can be gybed in front of the stay?

In my experience - yes.

[deniseO30]

I've not measured it but it's big, baloon like, and not sym, the bottom corners are actually marked leech and tack. I'm guessing it was never used. thanks all!

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by deniseO30

I've not measured it but it's big, baloon like, and not sym, the bottom corners are actually marked leech and tack. I'm guessing it was never used. thanks all!

You sure that they are not tack and clew.

[deniseO30]

yes clew.. my bad lol

[GeorgeB]

Denise, In order of having a better idea of what we’re dealing with, you need to post some more pictures (and some of the rigging would be nice too). I’m probably a little late to the game here and some of this stuff might be a bit redundant, but here is a little “spinnaker 101”.

First, terminology. Halyards hoist sails, topping lifts support spars, cranes suspend things away from the mast, and guys position spars. By having the topping lift, fore and after guy all in tension together, this will hold the pole in a stable position. By easing and tensioning the fore and after guy, you move the pole tip position fore and aft. Easing and tensioning the topping lift and fore guy you raise or lower the pole tip. If the line exiting the mast is between the spreaders and mast head, it is a topping lift. If it is at the same height as the jib halyard, it’s a second halyard, If it is above the jib halyard, you have a spinnaker halyard. You can use a jib halyard for the “topper” or spin halyard, but it will chafe the line and possibly jam it. Spin gear really wants to be on blocks that can swivel so they can provide a fair lead no matter what position you trim your sail to. My guess is your previous owner bought the pole and track with the idea of using it as a whisker pole, then converting over to spinnaker use once his checkbook recovered or he got some more experience. If your track is longer than the pole, you can store vertically on the mast. If not, do it on deck/lifelines.

Kite flying. Your spinnaker will be rigged to fly outside all of your other rigging. This is so it can rotate to the other side in a gybe and not bind, jam or chafe the gear. The labels indicate you have an asymmetric sail. You do not need the spinnaker pole to fly this kite. You will need a couple of sheets tied to the clew and run through a pair of blocks (ideally swivel) towards the back of the boat to provide a fair lead to the winches. The foreguy (if you have one) goes away and could be re-routed to the bow and serve duty as the tack line. People usually mount a swivel block on their anchor roller bail (trust me, for your size boat and rig, this is plenty sufficient to carry the potential loads of your sail). Some people tie their tack line directly to a mooring cleat. This is wrong as depending upon the point of sail, you will want to raise or lower the tack of the sail. I route mine to a cam cleat on the coach roof that has a fair lead to a winch incase I need to put some “meat” on it.

Let me know if this is helpful to you and if you would like me to drone on some more on launching, trimming and dousing.

[CalebD]

Can't add anything to what GeorgeB just posted.
I can mention that the pole you have does not have to go up on the mast. On our boat our pole clips into fittings on the foredeck running from the bow pulpit back past our spreaders and the pole stays near the lifelines. My boat's website picture shows this setup from outside the boat: Odalisque | Tartan 27 sail #328
Notice the aluminum pole sitting horizontally just above the teak toe rail. Since we race we do tend to use our pole on downwind legs to pole out our genoa, so our pole get's used fairly often. I'm pretty sure I have seen some boats that store their pole vertically on the mast but I'm not sure I like this idea.
I know that the sheave for the spinnaker halyard is supposed to be above the fore stay so I would be very cautious about using your jib halyard for the asym spinnaker, as the jib halyard (on most RF sailboats) exits the mast well below the fore stay.
There may be a way to add a heavy enough block to your mast head to use for a spinnaker halyard though. You would need the right size 'D' ring and a block I'd wager. We are fortunate at our club that we have a mast pulling crane we can use for hauling someone 'up top' on a calm day at the dock.
Hope you get to fly the asym.