We've only had "Serenity". an Allied Princess for a few months. Coming back in through the channel from the Gulf after a pleasant day sail, the wind was at our back so I decided to use the whisker pole, which I'd not looked at closely up until that point. I was thinking this end is used to attach to the ring on the mast,
but when I went to attach the other end to the clew of the sail, I couldn't figure out how to attach this
I rigged it up with a bit of line, but wasn't sure how it was expected to work, and if we had to tack it'd take more work that if both ends of the pole were the same. Neophyte question I know, but I've never seen such as this before! Thanks in advance for your assistance in my enlightenment!
Yes, the top photo is the inboard end, the lower, outboard. The end fitting on the outboard end is one you more commonly see on a reaching strut (or jockey pole as some call it) that's used in conjunction with a spinnaker pole to keep the guy off the lifelines when sailing on a spinnaker reach. If this pole is very short, you have rings on the side of your mast, and there's no attachment point for a downhaul or topping lift, then it's not a whisker pole. Can you add a picture of the whole pole?
I disagree, that is a whisker pole, and a telescoping one; in the outer end you slide the jib sheet ( that is what the sheave is there for)....although sometimes when in a hurry we just clip the hook to the clew,s gromet, works great.
Good luck.
...The end fitting on the outboard end is one you more commonly see on a reaching strut (or jockey pole as some call it) that's used in conjunction with a spinnaker pole to keep the guy off the lifelines when sailing on a spinnaker reach.
Absolutely correct. This pole only works well and as intended with a good deal of load on the sheet. The strut from a larger yacht might be used as a "whisker pole" on a smaller boat, but not particularly well although one can learn to adapt, eh?
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I had a hard time understanding some of the responses so I just went out and played with the pole.
The first picture shows the part that clips to the ring on the mast. The second picture (the 'claw') was what confused me. As it turns out it is quite simple to set up the whisker pole.
The claw simply lies on top of the jib sheet, next to the clew. The sheave rolls along the sheet. The weight of the pole and the tension on the sheet hold the pole in place.
The challenge, I found, was setting the pole in the first place. You have to balance the pressure on the sail just right: too much and you can't push the pole out and clip it to the mast; too little and the sail flags like crazy, whipping the sheet, and making it very hard to get the pole hooked on. It helps a lot to have someone paying attention on the tiller.
I also learned that the pole works best when you are wing and wing with the jib poled out on the windward side.
I read somewhere that the pole's length should be the same as the foot of your jib. Lucky for me, this is coincidentally the maximum length of my pole. If I had a bigger jib the pole might be too short.
Another thing I read was that the pole does not need a topping lift. This is probably true as the pole is very light, but I had an extra halyard that I attached to the claw end of the pole. I found that the halyard helps me to control the end of the pole once it is extended. My pole is a twist-lock style so I have to have it extended before I set it. If I used an adjustable pole (with the blocks etc.) the halyard would probably not be necessary. Another advantage to the halyard is that I store my pole against the front of my mast. The clip stays attached to the ring, I have a clip holding the middle of the pole securely and the end of the pole is held secure (and taut) by the halyard.
You are both right in your descriptions,
1) the pole does not have a bridle for a topping lift and the mast has two rings, one on each side
2) it is telescoping and quite long (it's telescoped and needs lubrication to be able to shorten it.
If the jib sheet passes thorugh the sheave, how do you tack (or jibe) with it without having to rerun the sheet from the other side?
EDIT: Oops, delayed in my answer. I think I see now, and as svHyLyte says, adapt! I will measure it and adjust to the foot length of the genoa. I'm not the greatest sailor so the first time I set it everything seemed to work okay until I got off the wind too much and the sail started flapping. If it hadn't been locked onto the ring of the mast the whole pole would have gone into the deep.
Thanks so much guys. Ya'll are the greatest!
Last edited by pinayreefer; 09-25-2011 at 11:48 AM.
You are both right in your descriptions,
1) the pole does not have a bridle for a topping lift and the mast has two rings, one on each side
2) it is telescoping and quite long (it's telescoped and needs lubrication to be able to shorten it.
If the jib sheet passes thorugh the sheave, how do you tack (or jibe) with it without having to rerun the sheet from the other side?
The sheet does not go 'through' the sheave. It just goes over the sheave. The hook sits over the sheet and holds it in place.
I use my spinnaker halyard as a topping lift. I attach it behind the sheave. It doesn't interfere with the movement of the sheave.
Here's a quick diagram to help describe it:
It's still a pita gybing as you have to unattach then reattach the pole. I only set the pole if I'm going to be running for a long time, otherwise I just sail on a broad reach and 'tack' downwind i.e. gybe.
I had a hard time understanding any of this until I tried it. Then it all made perfect sense.
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Last edited by flyingwelshman; 09-25-2011 at 12:02 PM.
...It's still a pita gybing as you have to unattach then reattach the pole. I only set the pole if I'm going to be running for a long time, otherwise I just sail on a broad reach and 'tack' downwind i.e. gybe.
I don't have a whisker pole yet, but I'm considering one. So my question comes mostly from lack of experience: Isn't the need to detach/reattach for each gybe due to this method of attachment? I've looked at poles that have the claw at both ends, and it seems that if you attach the outward claw to the jibsheet's knot, you should be able to downsize the pole so that it doesn't hit the forestay as it swings across. Then when gybing you can just furl up your sail and unfurl on the other side. It's still a little bit of work, but shouldn't require detaching the pole. The below video shows pretty much what I'm talking about.
Is there something that I'm missing here?
Ease of gybing is very important to me, since I sail in a river. I try to do broad reaches to avoid running, but find that it is impossible in some cases, such as going against the current. With the current pushing against me, broad reaching often causes me to just cross the river without making any headway, but running wing on wing directly against the current allows me to make progress. So a whisker pole could really help, but easy gybing would be really nice. Suggestions?
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Gybing with any pole, be it a spinnaker or a headsail/jib/genoa is always going to involve releasing and repositioning the pole, whatever type it may be.
Many whisker poles simply have a pin at the outboard end that is intended to be inserted into the jib clew cringle, and will generally hold itself there and won't require the support of any sort of halyard.
Not too sure why anyone would have made whisker poles with reaching strut ends, but as there are now at least 2 threads featuring one I guess they did. However in this case the OPs statement that he has a ring on either side of the mast make it sound like a reaching strut setup - though the pole, if adjustable, would clearly be a whisker pole.
With this type of end fitting I can see problems keeping the sheet in place in light air, and anytime the sail might collapse.. doesn't seem to me to be the ideal setup.
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I use a whisker pole with spike at one end, and latch at mast end to pole out the furling head sail, I have to drop the pole and reset on opposite gybe.
Also use for the spinnaker and then it is drop the pole and walk the spinnaker and halyard round the fore stay and reset the pole, adjust the sheets and reset/ adjust the sheets and reset/adjust the sheets and reset..., walk the spinnaker around again and repeat.
I was getting good at doing this single handed until the lock on my telescoping whisker pole went into a random unlock phase. So ordered a new pole and just waiting for some wind, even just few knots, to try it out.
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