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Asymmetric spinnaker with dousing sock. Questions.
I have what I think is an asymmetric spinnaker with sock. I've done a little research and THINK I know how to use it. Is the following right?
Attach tack in front of the jib furler. The head is hoisted by the spinnaker halyard. The two sheets go in front of the forestay and back to the jib winches. The chute is gybed by pulling it across, in front of the forestay.
The sock when the spinnaker is deployed sits at the top.
Do you leave the sock hoisted, and the whole thing in the sock, when it's not in use, and then deploy it - or keep the whole thing below and hoist it when you're about to deploy it?
Thanks! Both very informative posts! If the wind is light on Sunday I'll try it. What's the worst that can happen? (making mental note to keep that sharp knife handy in my pocket)
Usually you attach everything, then hoist, and pull the sock up. When your done, you snuff it, then ease the halyard down to the deck and keep it below. In light air you can keep it lashed on deck. Leaving it aloft is a lot of weight and windage.
How you rig it will determine whether you do inside or outside gybes. All depends on when and where you plug in the halyard in relation to the lazy sheet. Inside gybes are hard to do in mod/heavy air on a boat that doesn't have a masthead kite and a sprit. I'd suggest outside gybes. This means that the clew will pass outside of everything, including the luff of the sail, flag out in front of the boat, and then be trimmed in on the other side. The danger is running over the new sheet and then trimming miles of line in on the new side.
Thanks. I see. Is it essential to take the tack line back to the cockpit? From the hardware I have, it looks like the PO just attached the tack directly to the bow.
But now I think about it, there was a block with a 6" line and a shackle. Think I threw it out Guess I know what it was for now.
You want to be able to adjust the tack height and also to let it go in case of "interesting" situations so ideally you want the tack line back to somewhere easy to get to. Having said that, the boat I raced on for a while didn't have it led aft, then again I think we were slower with asym up than with the jib
I find for dousing that it works a bit better to release the tack (you need someway to release this quickly) rather than the sheet. Try both ways though and see which is better.
My Newport 28 came with an asym kite in a sock. It was a lot of fun to use. There are a number of web sites from sail makers that have videos on how to use the kite. Do watch them as they definitely help.
It is better to have an adjustable tack line but not a requirement. You can just tack it to something at the bow, but make sure whatever you attach to is strong enough.
Make sure the sheets go outside of everything and you should have blocks shackled to the aft corners of the boat - the sheets should have as wide a run aft as possible.
Dousing is much easier if you head deep downwind and use the main to blanket the spinnaker.
My current boat doesn't have a chute and I do miss it.
If you have a spi pole there is nothing to stop you using that to increase the angle that you can fly the thing.
As for gybing I STRONGLY recomend dousing the monster with the sock, gybing then trimming the sheets and relaunching. Getting the monster wrapped around your forestay or furler is no fun. Ask me how I know this.
Dousing before gybe probably makes sense in a 44' boat. Unless there's heavy air, I won't bother doing that on my 36' boat.
An earlier posting asked the question "What's the worst that could happen?". I'm sure there's much worse, but before I was accustom to gybing I had an issue. We were on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan, just before sunset. It was May and the water was around 42 degrees. Home port is the Wisconsin side, about 12 hours to the west. I had lots of hours on a similar sail on a 25' boat, but unaccustom to it on a 36 boat, I lost track of the lazy sheet and it ended up overboard and wrapped up on the prop. We couldn't turn on the engine with it wrapped, we couldn't sail into an unknown port at dusk w/o the motor, so we turned west and sailed all night back to Wisconsin. Then back on the Wisconsin side at dawn, about 5 miles offshore, the wind died and we were parked. Without many alternatives and not wanting to wait 10 hours for the wind to come up, one of the crew volunteered to jump into the icy cold water and cut the line.
Since then I've been pretty careful to take care of the lazy sheet. I generally do a couple of wraps of electical tape to hold it to the lifeline. When we gybe, the tape breaks away, but until then the line is prevented from going overboard.
Since then I've been pretty careful to take care of the lazy sheet. I generally do a couple of wraps of electical tape to hold it to the lifeline. When we gybe, the tape breaks away, but until then the line is prevented from going overboard.
Right after the gybe is completed I check that lazy sheet is over the pulpit.
I have only ever wrapped on spin sheet, we had a short sail back to calm water. One crew member donned a wet suit and googles and we unwrapped it, not cutting necessary.
Questions on sock douse spinnaker:
What is the range of AWA's to fly?
What is the ideal AWA?
What AWA to hoist and douse?
Any issues jibing with sock at head of spinnaker?
How do you solve a wrap?
How do you avoid a wrap?
Have to tack my asym. aft of the mast so the sock is used when gybing. Really easy and quick to do so see no reason to risk drama gybing with the sail flying whether it's forward or aft of the headstay.
If the sheets pass through a block, a figure 8 stopper knot will usually keep the sheets out of the prop.
I use the tack line to adjust tension and to avoid takedowns. Blowing the tack releases pressure of the spinnaker if a takedown is imminent. When the pressure increases we are prepared to blow the tack and release the vang.
With a little practice there is no reason you should have to snuff your asym when you gybe. If you feel it is too windy to gybe without snuffing then perhaps you shouldn't be flying it!
The main reason people end up with their spinnaker wrapped around their forestay is usually a combination of turning too fast and not easing enough sheet, or not matching rate of ease with turn rate.
The key is to keep the sail flying all the way through the turn, so that by the time you are dead down wind the clew and most of the sail are forward of the forestay. Only then do you cast off the sheet and start hauling the new sheet.f
The helmsman should hesitate DDW until the clew clears the forestay and then start coming up on the new gybe. The chute trimmer should haul lots of sheet, and once the back of the sail starts to fill the helm should turn up faster. When timed right the back of the sail will fill and pull the rest of the sail around the forestay. The spinnaker typically will be over sheeted coming out of the gybe so be prepared to let a couple of feet of sheet out after it fills to get attached flow back on the sail.
As a singlehander, I often use the sock when gybing to make my life easier. Helming and gybing the chute alone isn't always an easy dance. And I really don't like untangling the chute from the forestay, so I do what I am comfortable with. Point is, there is nothing wrong with doing it this way, unless you are racing with a crew. Keeping it safe and not ruining your spin is always a smart move.
Absolutely, if that is how you prefer to do it there is nothing wrong with that.
My point is that with the right technique you shouldn't have to snuff it. After all, if you are single handed and you have to leave the helm and go up to the foredeck for every gybe you are adding time, complexity and risk to what should be a simple maneuver. I would think that figuring out WHY you keep wrapping it around your forestay would be worthwhile.
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