never had a spinaker before?

[shamblin]

sailors,

"miss sara"  is a c23 that sails pretty good to windward on mainsail alone,  to the delight of her old and lazy pilot.  also she has a tiller strap that keeps her sailing straight if i go forward. 8-)

she came with a used symetrical spinaker  that says cheong lee on the name plate and is in a sailbag from hawaii.  the 2 sides are marked red and green.   there is no snuff sack and i haven't raised it up the forestay yet.    it seems like  there are many training videos on youtube that tell you what to do with a symetrical spinaker.  i am almost ready to get out in the middle of the lake and give her a try with wind 5-10 .   it looks like i can get her down by hauling in one sheets or other.

is there any good advice for such a spinaker neophyte on a c23?   thanks much.

 

[Shawn]

If it is a symetrical spinnaker do you have a spinnaker pole? You will also need a topping life and down haul for the pole along with the sheet/guy for spinnaker and blocks/cleats for the sheet/guy.

Before anything else I'd try raising at the dock when there is no wind to check fit and see how everything will go together.

Shawn

[shamblin]

thanks.   good  idea.   i forgot to mention i do have a metal spinaker  pole of about 5 feet that extends to about 9 feet.


i will get familiar everything in working order at the dock.   bill

[Shawn]

After you test fit it all on the dock try rigging it a few times so you aren't trying to figure it out when you are raising it for real the first time. When you are raising/lowering it while sailing try to shadow the spinnaker with your main sail to make it a bit easier.

Do you have a 'turtle' (bag to launch out of)? That will help with launching it. Also, make sure the wind is pretty light the first time you try it. Be sure to run the windward sheet in front of the forestay in case you try and gybe with the spinnaker.

I fly an asymmetric on Serenity that has a spinnaker sock. The sock makes launching/retrieving the spinnaker dramatically easier.

Shawn

[Billy]

Socks are not that expensive. Maybe $200 or so. And totally worth it. If you dont have someone to show you how I would strongly recommend using one. That way, spinnaker sailing will be fun....... not stressfull.

[Shawn]

"Socks are not that expensive. Maybe $200 or so. And totally worth it. "

Check West Marine's closeouts section too. I saw a closeout ChuteSchoop for around $60 the last time I was at West Marine.

Shawn

[shamblin]

Thanks much guys!

I do have a turtle to launch out of. 

What will the boat end on the spinnaker pole attach to?   From looking at You-Tube,  It looks like a small loop of rope tied low on the mast,  below the boom  might work?.

[Shawn]

You need a spinnaker ring pad eye mounted on the mast or on a track on the mast to make it adjustable.

http://search.defender.com/?expression=spinnaker%20ring

I don't think loop of rope would work, too much play front to back (it will smash the pole in/out of your mast during puffs) and it wouldn't be fixed vertically. You will also need a topping lift to hold the pole up and a downhaul on the pole to keep it level. You will also need a spinnaker halyard on the mast if you don't have one already.

You should be able to use the pole as a whisker pole on your jib when going downwind and you don't want to use the spinnaker.

Shawn

[skip1930]

" symmetrical spinnaker " " with a 5 to 9 foot pole ".

What if it is asymmetrical? Really doesn't matter.  Tac the windward side of the to the bow pulpit on a thick black rubber strap in the center of the pulpit and the lee side sheet to the stern cleat.

It's a big sail and on my CP-19 it has a tendency to bury the bow into the water. I like it on close reaches when the spinnaker can be left up for at least an hour.

It's nice to have a furler to reel in the head sail. Or if it's hanked on, a down haul to pull the headsail down and secure it with a bungee. Trouble is walking fwd to do all this.

You'll need a sheave-pulley-block what ever you'd like to call it at the mast head on the loop facing fwd.

It's nice to have a spring stiffened block on the deck of the cabin at the base of the mast. And a three line organizer also on the cabin top. One for the halyard and two for the spinnaker sock with these lines leading back to the cockpit. That way the spinnaker can be deployed or doused from the cockpit. Still have to go fwd to change tac's.

And a halyard to raise the spinnaker that is long enough to be 'parked' on a cleat at the base of the mast...going up the front of the mast through the sheave, back down the front of the mast to the cabin top, through the three gang organizer and back to the three gang rope clutch.

And the three corners of the spinnaker, green on the starboard side of the hull, red on the port side of the hull and the middle for the halyard. This can all be stuffed into a bag or a small plastic garbage pail secured to the bow, or stored in a spinnaker sock. All sheets for the spinnaker I feel ought to be run clear of everything and tac'ed at the stern cleat. The slack side ought to be long enough to reach through the stern cleat and finished with a figure eight stopper knot.

In In-addition to all this the spinnaker pole will need a tac on the mast, a loop/snap hook for the sheet, a line to hold the pole up and a line to hold the pole down and a line to hold the pole in or out so as to maintain this pole about 90 degrees to the mast.

Typically spinnakers are a pain in the butt when single handed, and can be quite a hand full when the wind pipes up. Someone has to go up there and get her down if a spinnaker sock is not in use.

When I bought my Star Cut asymmetrical 3/4 ounce spinnaker from SailsEast [Hong Kong loft] at the All Sail Boat Show, Navy Pier, Chicago it came with a sock in less then four weeks in three colors. $510.00.

skip.

[shamblin]

Thanks everyone.  I'm learning a lot.

[NateD]

For simplicity and practice you might want to try flying it like an asymmetrical, just tie off one of the sheets at the bow cleat and run the other outside of the shrouds on either the port or starboard side. You probably won't be able to gybe it, but it will be very simple to handle (instead of 2 sheets, topping lift, downhaul, pole). You could practice raising and dousing without the complications of the pole and associated rigging. Once you get comfortable handling the sail you could rig up the pole and add a new level of complexity.

I had a symmetrical that I used that way on my CP16, never did rig a pole. My CP23 came with an asymmetrical with a sock, which is really nice.