Flying an Assym chute by the lee.

[CharlieCobra]

Sunday we had light air and had trouble keeping the chute full on the leeward side. Quite by accident, we got it to fill and pull on the windward side. We were sailing about 150* or so on a broad reach and put the Staysail up once the chute was stable for extra umph. We held that tack for more then two hours with dolphins chasing and playing with us. Must've been 30 - 40 of them out there, unusual. Later we turned upwind, sheeted in hard and flew the chute to within 50* of apparent like a giant Genoa. It was cool considering I still haven't replaced the 150 I blew up. We flew four sail offwind and thought about five but I was too lazy.



Looking aft

[Stillraining]

I think you use your boat more then anyone I know Charlie...Thoes people definitely gave her to the right person..Oh excuse me SOLD her..

Had a job on the hill above your marina and came down to try and find your boat...noticed her in the locked up privet section so couldn't leave a note..I thought she was coming out of the water?

Never flew one so get it all knowed up and you can teach me.

[CharlieCobra]

Sure, no problem. It's fun to play with. I decided to haul her out on August 1st because they're redoing the docks in Sept so I won't have a place to moor her for a month.

[MedSailor]

Judging by the pictures it looks like you were using the wind spilling off the main and staysail to fill the spinnaker. I discovered this technique quite by accident on my wooden sloop sailing wing on wing under genoa and main. As I sheeted in the main (probably preparing for a gybe) I noticed the genoa fill nicely from the back. I kept the main partially sheeted and it appeared to funnel wind into the genny.

Using wind twice.... Would that be wind recycling?

I've also tried the same thing under 110% jib going wing on wing and found that the wind funneling off the main would hit the clew of the jib and cause it to get all swirly.

I use this technique quite a bit now. I've never read anything about it but it seems to work for me. Now that I've got a Ketch I'm going to try and funnel wind from the mizzen, to the main, to the genny..... Kind of like wind pinball.

Enjoy!

MedSailor

[CharlieCobra]

Yep, recycling the wind. I like that.

[JohnRPollard]

Hi Charlie,

Nice photos. We've done this a few times too, with decent results when trying to head dead downwind. But if we have a choice, we try to "heat it up" and sail a higher course, jibing our way downwind. That's really how these sails were intended to be used.

Next time you are sailing deep in light air and are having trouble keeping the asym filled, you might also consider putting a reef in the mainsail to reduce its blanketing effect. If it is a good-sized chute, the improved flow will more than off-set the lost mainsail area. Just a suggestion....

[CharlieCobra]

I thought about a hotter angle but that would've put us in the rocks or gybing our butts off so we just stayed on the course. We'd started out on a hot angle but the difference in speed was negligible. On either course we were just below wave speed and had very little felt apparent wind so I figured we were getting all we were gonna get out of the available breeze. Besides, I was feeling lazy and just chillin that day.

[hphoen]

Charlie,

I really enjoy your sailing posts! And thanks for posting photos, too. I'll have to try that trick sometime.