[Dave_E]

Hi All,

My boat came with a traditional spinaker (and all the associated rigging), but there's no way the wife and I are going to try and mess with that when so much new inovation is out there. Do any of you cruisers fly a genaker? Do you use a sock or a furler? Pro's and cons? Manufacturer suggestions?

Lastly, the most important question. Do you think it actually, really does improve your downwind performance over wing & wing sailing? (Would love to hear from folks in the 30-32' range).

Dave

 

[jameswilson29]

I fly both an asymmeterical and symmetrical spinnakers. The asymmetrical works best on a beam reach; the symmetrical works best DDW or broad reaching. I don't use a sock. I store them in and launch them from plastic laundry baskets secured by bungee cords. Raising and dousing are fairly easy if you use the main wind shadow and your lines are ready to run (which they should be at all times). Take your time setting up the lines. Gybing is the hardest part, which will be much easier with your wife there steering through the gybe, while you work the pole and/or sheets.

For your kind of displacement hull, I advise you to learn how to fly your symmetrical spinnaker. It is easier than you would think; it is fun; and there is really no substitute for DDW or deep reaching angles. It will make you a better sailor, too!

Yes, they are both quite a bit faster than a genoa in light air - you may be doubling your sail area with a spinnaker.

Asymmetrical:

Symmetrical:

and one more, SFBaySSS Transpac winner Adrian Johnson flying a symmetrical on his Olson 30, which he also flew solo (doublehanded in video):

 

[outbound]

Got a para sailor. Never going back to anything else. Now only use poles when using genny/solent reaching. Can fly the thing by myself if I have enough room to leave the boat on AP for awhile to get it set up and wind is light. Easy to do with two. Gets the boat going with just one sail up. 4 strings- two foreguys/two afterguys- easy to understand. Good for 5 up to ~20k. Expensive but if you're going to hang on to the boat worth it just to not hear the engine.

 

[Boredop]

A sym kite on a 30 footer shouldn't be too difficult to handle. Tweakers are your friend. Plus how are you ever going to broach if you don't throw up a kite?

 

[jimrafford]

When I was younger setting up to use the symmetrical was fun. 30 years of racing I could do it in my sleep. As time passes it becomes more of a chore and less fun so we switched to a sock. A lot more control and no pole but still had to get the chute out and set it up if we wanted to use it and I had to go forward underway which stressed my wife out. End result we didn't use the chute often.
Along came Selden. Put the chute on a GX furling system. Added a bow sprit. Boom!
We hoist the chute before we get underway. Want to use it. Roll up the jib, release the furling line for the chute and yank on the sheet. Done w/ the chute roll it up. Take it down at the end of the day.
No stress.
Will never go back.
Jim

 

[Faster]

If you've got all the gear I'd not be so fast to reject the idea of using the standard symmetrical. It's got a lot more going for it performance/DW angle wise than any Asymm. It's also, IMO, more straightforward (and easier on the sail itself) to gybe than an Asymm, esp if you have an autopilot to hold/change course while one of you handles the pole and the other the sheets/guys. In terms of area it's also usually a bit smaller than the asymm.

For those considering their first kite, an Asymm is a popular idea because of the reduced cost of gear and rigging.

We use both, but if it's not virtually guaranteed to be full-on broad to beam reach, we'll throw up the regular kite.

Whichever, don't choose TOO calm a day for the first go.. nothing more frustrating than trying to fly a spinnaker the first time without enough wind to fill it.