The Sailing Bible by Jeremy Evans

Author:Jeremy Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472949554
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2018-01-15T16:00:00+00:00

The spinnaker is made up of the halyard, sheets, pole, uphaul and downhaul. All the control lines (including the guy and sheet, uphaul and downhaul) are kept in place whether the sail is raised or not.

Problems setting the spinnaker in very light winds – 5 knots of breeze is all it takes to fill the superlight ripstop nylon.

Gybing a spinnaker

Various methods are used for gybing the spinnaker, including using two booms or dipping the end of the pole in the gap between mast and forestay. On smaller yachts, the ‘end-for-end’ method is widely used.

As the helmsman steers into the gybe, the foredeck crew unclips the inner end of the spinnaker boom from the mast, grabs the sheet (which will become the new guy) and clips it into the pole’s free end. He pushes the boom out on the new side, unclips the old guy (which will become the new sheet) and attaches the end of the pole to the mast.

The cockpit crew must control the spinnaker sheet and guy to give the foredeck crew sufficient slack at the right time. The helmsman must steer carefully through the gybe, timing the mainsail’s swing to blanket the spinnaker at the phase when the foredeck crew is changing ends on the spinnaker boom.

Dropping a spinnaker

The spinnaker is a powerful sail. To keep control during the drop, the helmsman must steer so that the mainsail helps blanket the spinnaker. The speed of the drop is critical. The halyard must be lowered at just the right speed for the crew to gather it in without the spinnaker falling in the water.

When it’s time to drop the sail, the cockpit crew grabs the sheet close to the clew of the spinnaker, pull in the foot and pull down the sail under the boom, which is bundled straight down a hatch or companionway.

When the spinnaker is lowered, the halyard, sheet and guy can be clipped to the pulpit with the lines tightened.

Asymmetrical spinnakers

Most cruising yachts have asymmetrical spinnakers, also known as gennakers, reachers or cruising chutes. These sails act like a headsail made of lightweight material with a curved luff, but not attached to the forestay. They are effective on a broad reach, but fairly ineffective dead downwind unless a boom is used to hold the sail out.

The tack of the sail is attached to the bow or to a pole that protrudes from the bows and may be pulled out when the sail is launched. The clew is attached to port and starboard sheets, which are led back to the cockpit. The spinnaker sheets must pass outside the forestay to allow the spinnaker to swing round the front of the forestay when the boat gybes; neither sheet must pass between mast and forestay.

Socks or snuffers

The spinnaker can be hoisted by halyard from a bag on the deck, but a more controllable method is to hoist it inside a tubular sock. An uphaul pulls the sock to the top of the mast to let the sail fly;

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