Need to improve on the spinnaker

[merlin2375]

I am looking for any tips or tricks you might be willing to share on spinnaker sets. It seems like there is always some issue with the set. We always get something backwards or the spinnaker has an hourglass in it etc.

The general spinnaker set procedure:
1) Pole comes out
2) Release everything (is this a good idea?), watch out since usually no stopper knots in spin sheets. Some do, and some don't.
3) Pole clip to spin sheet on windward site
4) Pole clips into downhaul and topping lift
5) Pole clips to mast
6) Prefeed spinnaker until it's around the jib/genoa
7) One pull the halyard, the other feeds it out of the bag. Up the goes
8) Theoretically fly the spinnaker

[TheBishop]

You didn't say what kind of boat you're sailing. I assume you're flying a symmetric spinnaker. Here's how we do it on our Flying Scot:

1. Pole comes out.
2. Clip pole onto guy (windward side).
3. Clip topping lift onto pole.
4. Release guy from its cleat; shove pole out and clip to mast.
Pole should be parallel to the water. If not, adjust topping lift.
(we don't release everything like you suggested.)
5. Hoist Spinnaker
6. Pull spinnaker around with guy until the clew hits the pole. You may have to push or hold pole forward; it tends to come back with the guy.
7. (We might let a little of the spinnaker sheet out here; don't let it completely loose)
7. When pole is far enough back to be perpendicular to the wind, cleat the guy.
8. Trim with the sheet to fill the chute.
9. woo hoo! you did it! now you're going to ask me how to get it back down

10. Trimming: try to keep the pole parallel to the water and perpendicular to the wind. Once the chute is up, you might speed up, which will bring the apparent wind forward a little, requiring you to move the pole forward. If you get in a lull or head down, it will have to come back. If the chute falls, trim it before you lose more than just a little of the luff. If that doesn't work, drop the pole forward a little bit.

How to get it back down:
1. unclip the pole from the guy, the mast, and the topping lift. Stow pole.
2. Release the guy and pull the spinnaker sheet until you have the whole foot of the spinnaker in your hands.
3. Release the halyard & pull the chute down and stow it. Keep a little tension on the halyard and allow the crew to pull it down. We don't just release the halyard and hope for the best; that's a good way to run over your chute.
Done right, this will leave the chute in a position to rehoist it.

Let me know if you want to know how to gybe it.
What kind of boat do you have?

[TheBishop]

Oh, yeah, it helps to have it packed right in the first place. Here's how we do it:

» Connect the halyard to the head.
» "Run the tape" (means: follow the foot of the chute with your hands to make sure there are no tangles) to get to the clew and connect the spin sheet (port side for us; we're racing and 80% of hoists are from Stbd tack.)
» Run the tape along the foot to get to the other clew and connect the guy. For us, this is coming around the bow from the Stbd. side.
» Pull the clews together so you have a grip on the whole foot and stuff it into it's sack/space/box/place (ours sits on the port side seat); pack it until you get to the head.
» Now it's ready to set with no hourglasses or knots.

[merlin2375]

Thanks Bishop great posts. I would love to see your dousing procedure!

I race and sail mostly solings or modified solings but also crew on a variety of boats

[sailingfool]

To avoid hourglasses, you want to open the foot of the spinnaker before you hoist it.

After connecting the sheets and halyards, trim the sheet aft to approximately where you would expect it to be when the chute is flying. Secure the sheet.

When you are raeady to hoist, first trim the windward sheet ( aka aft guy) out to the pole until the pole is at a right angle to the wind direction. Hoist fast as the spinnaker will tend to fill quickly, you may need to crank the last few feet of halyard. But no hourglasses.

I would not recommend TheBishop's dousing procedure for a larger boat, you would be likely to have a crewmember pulled overboard. To douse on a lerger boat, blow the aftguy at the pole end, haull the spinnaker down by the spinnaker sheet, we take it right into the cabin via the compaionway. If you pull that sheet quickly, you can actually just blow the halyard too and the spinnaker will be in the cabin before it reaches the water.

[TheBishop]

Originally Posted by sailingfool

To avoid hourglasses, you want to open the foot of the spinnaker before you hoist it.

Agreed; I left out the part where we pull the guy to get some of the chute up on deck before hoisting. We don't pull it all the way to the pole before hoisting.

Also, all of this depends on the size of the boat and the number of crew. If we sail with two, the crew handles the guy and the pole while the skipper hoists (halyard led to aft end of CB trunk).

Originally Posted by sailingfool

I would not recommend TheBishop's dousing procedure for a larger boat, you would be likely to have a crewmember pulled overboard.

Good point; our variant assumes the chute's pretty small. In practice, we blow the guy, start to gather the chute starting with the sheet, and drop the halyard almost all at once, letting the crew stuff it into it's spot on the port-side seat. If you don't release the halyard, the crew will have the whole foot, but the sail may still fill near the head; no fun.

[Plumper]

I race a Shark 24 with a little fractional spin. We set everything up before the hoist as detailed above but the foredeck guy holds on to the windward tape as the sail is hoisted so it can't hourglass.
Dousing it we jus grab the middle of the foot and haul the whole thing down under the jib. It is ready to go straight back up. On windy days we blow the tack (pole clew) and do the standard "letterbox" into the companionway.

[Stillraining]

OK ....Never flown one....But on a boat my size my brain says to clip the pole to my mast car FIRST then up haul it if need be to shorten it to clip sail on....I just cant imagine what that pole could do if it got away from you and started bashing and flailing about...Just a thought from "0" experience .

[Plumper]

The pole must be controllable by the foredeck monkey when it is not clipped to the mast because that is how you gybe it on a small boat.

1. Unclip from the mast,
2. Clip in the new guy,
3. Unclip the old guy, (now the sheet),
4. Clip the pole to the mast.

[Stillraining]

Thanks Plumper...Still sounds scary...sure it makes sense once youve done it.