Dingy lifting

[Ocean31]

Help, we must be doing something wrong, we have bent two spinnaker rings and broke one pole end lifiting our dinghy up to the foredeck. We lift a 7 ft Fatty Knees dinghy onto a Ocean 31 (South African Lavaronnas design Cruiser).

We use the spinnaker halyard attached to a strap about 3/5ths down the pole (from the mast) and a snatch block to another strap by the halyard strap. We have the pole at about a 45 degree angle with the ring about 6 feet off the deck.

Any ideas why we keep doing some much damage to the pole end (ring or pole fitting)? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

JSB

Ocean31@Joimail.com
(850) 265-6682

[paulk]

Sounds like the 45 degree angle is torqueing (sp?) the life out of your spinnaker pole rings because the pole end fitting isn''t designed to be "skyed" that way. (All the books talk about keeping the pole level, to get maximum extension for the spinnaker.) If you rig the pole so it is level it may solve this problem. You might also try tying the snatch block to a line run through the outer end of the pole and then back to the mast end of the pole where it could be tied off at the "right" position for whatever maneuver you were doing. Not as neat as a strap, but might give you
the flexibility you need.

[e-27 sailor]

The spin pole & end fitting are only designed for compression loads. The bridal keeps the pile ''in-column'' under compression loads.