Spinnaker

The next part of my Mirror journey is to use the spinnaker. I think I have the flyaway pole and rigging sorted in my head. What order do you launch and retrieve in, a step by step would be nice and maybe some whatever you do dont ...... Remember I have only been sailing since April.

Hoisting
1- Clip sheet into end of pole

2- Pull up pole as far as it will go

3- Put tiller between legs, or else under one arm, and pull up the halyard using both hands

4-Stick the guy (Windward sheet, I tell my trainees to remember- "Guys have poles!!") into the reaching hook and pull back until the corner of the spinnaker meets the pole

5-Crew meanwhile pulls in the sheet until the kite fills

Dropping
1- Stand up, tiller between legs

2- Uncleat the pole uphaul

3- Uncleat the reaching hook

4- Uncleat the halyard and pull on the retriever like a crazy person


It helps if you hoist and retrieve on a broader reach than normal, because bad things can happen, like big broaches, or the sheets looping round the end of the boom if the reach is too tight

This is exactly what I wanted except point 5 as I dont have a crew. I take it that I then just trim the sheet and settle in for the ride.

I'm likewise still trying to get my kite going, usually singlehanded. Troubleshooting is so much easier with two!!!
I've just changed to a forked pole end which will certainly be easier once I get it angled right. I've had a lot of problems with the pole twisting as it launches so the guy gets wrapped round the end and won't slide through.
I also find the worst tangles occur if I forget to uncleat from the reaching hook when gybing or dropping the kite. Guy ropes are apt to get caught on the forestay, the plastic jib clips and under the front corner of the boat. Whatever happened to the phantom crew who can just slide forward and unhitch it?
I'm still trying to decide whether the kite launches better if I drop the guy into the reaching hook (with plenty to spare) before launching the pole. Having one cleated on either side of the daggerboard case, I try to pull spinnaker halyard and pole launcher together. What have other people found best?
As for keeping the boat anywhere near the right course in all this...
<img src=icon_smile_blush.gif border=0 align=middle>
Any tips on gybing with the spinnaker, please?

pigs can....and do.....

P.S. when the kite ends up in a hopeless mess under the bows, just tell everyone you are trawling for fish!

Edited by - flyingpig on 10 September 2006 20:56:13

Gybing
1- Helm pulls the guy back (to stop the kite going between in jib and mainsail when you gybe)

2- Helm takes the two sheets and stands up in the boat

3- Helm uncleats shooting pole uphaul

4- Helm gybes with the tiller between the legs (And head down!!), flying the spinnaker without the pole (This is tricky, takes a lot of getting used to, it isn't vital, but it's fast!)

5- Crew clips pole onto new guy

6- Helm pulls pole out again

7- Guy in reaching hook, sheet in.

You won't be able to fly the spinnaker without the pole if you're gybing from a reach to a reach, or if you have no crew, the workload does tend to get a bit heavy if you are single handed!! If you don't have a crew you just have to do anything a crew would normally do yourself.

Incidentally, if you have no crew, cleats for the spinnaker sheets might be a good idea, unless you're some sort of octopus!

Hi, here's my twopenn'oth
1. Yes, clip the guy into the pole before you do anything else!
2. I've not used a forked pole. I've no prob with usual spring loaded jaw, but a) I keep it 'mouth' downwards and b)I have the string hanging beneath; one tug, the jaw opens & guy drops out. I've never had a prob.
3. Before drop or gybe, sheet in guy & sheet or they can get under the hull. The answer to this is to practice sailing backwards so the kite floats infront of the bow again & can be hoisted.
4. I fixed a velcro ski tie to my boom which keeps the pole fast when not in use.

Now my questions:
I've never used a pole downhaul however, after reaching with the pole angled high, I release the pole halyard and it doesn't always drop back to the normal angle for fixing to the boom. Is this where a bungy downhaul on the pole comes in-to pull it down?

After realeasing any of these control lines they often recleat themselves, sometimes with disasterous results
Has anyone got a recleat-proof system?

Karl

And another thing:
I have a loop of bungy from the skeg which goes over the tiller when I want to steer on 'autopilot' (keeps the tiller dead centre). If you do need to adjust course a nudge with the knee is enough, then it centres again immediately.
I've found it not only useful when dealing with kite but whenever I'm feeling lazy with miles to go in a straight line.
Karl

AHA! I haven't been pulling the guy back before gybing - could explain some of my tangles. It's certainly time I experimented with an autopilot arrangement - specially so I can crawl forwards and undo the snagged lines.
I'm also planning on rearranging my pole launch system so the pole doesn't ping back so far behind the gooseneck.
Never thought of using backwards sailing to refloat the kite - good idea. I tend to battle on with my jib incapacitated until I can get the wind behind me again (i.e. get far enough from shore/dam to do so on our little pond)
re recleaating - I had lots of problems with the kite halyard doing this as I had a cam cleat with a built in metal loop to hold the rope in place, until one day I applied brute force and accidentally yanked the cleat right out of the underside of the thwart. I had to improvise hastily and ended up with a plastic ring tied on somewhere under the thwart a couple of inches forward of the cleat. This keeps the rope roughly where I want it but I can pull it freely without it running through the cleat. Then a smart upwards tug gets it cleated off easily. Works like a dream!! Now considering how I can improve the pole launcher.
RE bungee to help control pole end height - also works really well if you can figure it out. When I asked for a desciption on the forum, nobody could give one. I had to visit another club to see how it was set up. I think I could mangage to put it into plain English if anyone else needed it.

pigs can....and do.....

Flying Pig wrote:
>RE bungee to help control pole end height - also works really well >if you can figure it out. <> I think I could mangage to put it into >plain English if anyone else needed it.

Yes Please!

Just been and checked my setup - thanks to Philip Benn at Ripon without whom I would still be trying out knitting variations with string and elastic! I'm sure there are plenty of other ways of doing this, but this system works very nicely.
Get your pencil and paper ready and see if you can draw a sketch from this:
There are three small pulleys/blocks. I'll call them A,B,C. A is mounted on the deck a couple of inches forward of the mast using a little bracket and a spring. Bracket must be big enough to tie things to. C goes on the forestay attachment point using a shackle. B, in the middle, is the one which moves.
Take a length of bungee elastic, tie it round the base of A, take it along the deck and bring it up through C, then tie it on to the fixing loop of B but leave yourself scope to adjust the elastic length later.
Bring a lightweight rope from the end of your pole down under block A, around block B and return to tie off under block A.
Then play around with the relative lengths of the rope and elastic so your pole can get to its highest position without block B hitting block A.


pigs can....and do.....

Good description. I drew it out and it looks like the one I saw at the WE

Hi Toddy, great can of worms you have opened with this one !
Can't we get in a Pub somewhere and really chew it over ?
It would be a riot, I'm sure!
Cheers Bob.

R.W.L.

My desk is littered with sketches and drawings of everything I have looked at or learned this year regarding mirror rigging set up etc,
In April I was a complete novice ,I should write " a beginners guide to the mirror"
I now have chute and sock so am another step closer.



Edited by - toddy on 01 October 2006 17:43:50

my tip for all you single handers.

use a very short spinnaker guy. you will find that the sail is much easier to handle and will often fly on its own and during a gybe continue to fly even though the pole is in.

the length depends on how far down the boat your rear blocks are.

mine are along way back and I use a 3mm rope at 11.5m long. in strong winds the 3mm is a little thin so you must have gloves.

s/h technique is to have main sheet and tiller in your in-board hand and control both starboard and port guys with the other hand.

angus

WHEN EVER I HAVE SEEN SINGLE HANDERS THEY USE THE KITE AS WELL AS THE JIB AND MAIN
ED