Asymetrical VS symetrical

[eda0457]

Hello,

We just bought a C&C 30 and it is equiped for spinnaker. However, we only have a small gennaker at the moment.

We are looking to upgrade in order to be able to race with this boat.

When I contacted North Sail, they said I had two options basically, the tri-radial spinnaker and the G2.

The G2 is a large gennaker basically, and a bit deeper then the average gennaker.

I was wondering if anyone knew how these two compared speed wise.

Thank you,
Denys Allain

[Jeff_H]

If you are going to race a C&C 30 in a spinacker class, the Triradial is the only way to go. Assymetricals work well on lighter weight boats or with fractional rigs, where hotter sailing angles really pay off. On a heavier or masthead rig boat, like the C&C 30 your best VMG is closer to dead downwind than an Assymetrical really likes to go.

Jeff

[paulk]

Using an asymetrical could also mess up your PHRF rating. Since it "obviously" makes your boat 500% faster, (why else would you have gotten one?) they would likely knock 20 or 30 seconds off your rating. Since it won''t help you that much (as Jeff says), and the boat is probably already set up for a standard chute (pole, mast, sheets, etc.) the standard chute looks like the way to go.

[pjs2]

As Jeff said, your best option is a symetrical chute.

[Irwin32]

Another vote for the symetrical chute. I have an asymetrical on my 32 - and Jeff is right about it not doing very well downwind. It is really a reaching sail for a boat like yours or mine. I am going to try flying my asymetrical like a symetrical to see how will work downwind. Anyone tried that?

[czibailo]

One consideration you may want to factor in is the crew. Do you have a big enough crew to handle the symmetrical? Will they be there every week? Can you get enough practice in to make set, gybes and takedowns routine?

If the answer to any of these is no, then you may want to consider the asymmetrical. We raced a Beneteau First 38 last year, and the time we lost because of slow sets, bad gybes and less than textbook takedowns wiped out any advantage the sym had over the asym, many times over. Half way through the year we simplified and went to a smaller asymmetrical, and the change showed in our race results.

If we always had the same 7 people every Tuesday and Thursday night, we would have stuck with the symmetrical. But with only 3-6 people each night and a changing cast, the asymmetrical was the right choice for us.

[sailingfool]

As to the rating question, PHRF NE publishes adjustments info at:
http://www.phrfne.org/adj.htm
These adjustments offer a 9 second credit for an asymmetric without a pole (versus a symmetric), with penalties for use of a pole, and then for length of pole. You should check locally on area practices.

The PHRF NE notes also has a link to some empirical testing of spinnakers:
http://www.ussailing.org/ims/SpinnakerTests.htm
whose results might be described as "...sort of and it depends...".

My bottom line would be one reason you should pay sailmakers like North the big bucks is so that they share their vast experience and give you the best answers to questions like this. Otherwise, shop elsewhere. Barring other conclusive advice, I''d go with the symmetical in a second

Good luck.