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Does anyone have experence with flying an A-symetrical spiniker or down wind spinniker pole on an M ?
When we bought our M last year we purchased an A-symetrical spinniker and like the speed we get out of it 8 mph in 10 mph wind. The problem is trying to single hand it, I am thinking about buying a sock for it to douse it for better single handing, any experence with this setup? I also have been thinking of making some kinda of bow sprit to hook it up to.
For those of you that have 150 drifters our boat came with the 110 jib on roller reefing and didn't want to change it.
Our down wind spinniker is from my wifes old sail boat (aprox the same size boat) it works great when running straight down wind (which happens more than I like). It gives a great ride, it lifts the front of the boat and makes our M float across 3 to 5 ft swells super and with the main up we get a stable and fast boat but it takes 2 people to set up the spinniker pole. Does anyone have this kinda of setup?

After 43 folks viewing this subject no spinniker or gennaker sailors out there to add anything they have experenced ? Gas in Hawaii I here is already $20.00 a gallon so learning to USE SAILS MORE should be on folks to do list.

bubba i dont have a spinnaker yet but im waiting to hear from others on how you use them

Who needs a spinnaker pole...

Get a friend to hold out the Genoa with the boat hook.





Jim

ON EDIT: I sort of jumped into a race that was underway. I started about 300+ yards behind and never got any closer...they all had real spinnakers and the winds were very light. And when they made the turn to head back upwind I got out of the way.

I have purchased a whisker pole end ( at West Marine) to fit my telescoping boat hook on the handle end and a ring for the mast to hook it to and on the hook (these parts come in a package acording to the dia of the handle end). I cut a plastic paint roller handle so it has a 6'' metal stim and screwed it to the boat hook end, I put the metal stim thru the ring on the corner of the sail. This makes a great whisker pole for smaller boats without carring extra poles.
I also bought an attachment for my boat hook called a Happy Hooker to hook ropes to bouys. This attaches to the boat hook by using another paint roller handle to thread the Happy Hooker to the boat hook. It works easily when single handing.

here's my bowsprit still in production my 26m


Heres my wisker poles wing on wing my Mac 19


My 350sq ft a spin on a CDI spinnaker furler




J

Hi Highlander I am sure interested in a couple closer photos of your bowsprit it looks real interesting, a lot like I was thinking of making. How long is it from your bow?
I didn't understand your rolled up spiniker please explaine further. Can you fly your A spinniker sailing solo from the cockpit?

bubba wrote:Hi Highlander I am sure interested in a couple closer photos of your bowsprit it looks real interesting, a lot like I was thinking of making. How long is it from your bow?
I didn't understand your rolled up spiniker please explaine further. Can you fly your A spinniker sailing solo from the cockpit?

Did you not notice that when I was shooting the video of the spin I was sitting on the bowsprit seat & their was nobody on board steering the boat !

here is my 4ft bowsprit on my mac19 all sails are controlled from the cockpit three diff furlers storm sail on hanks


you can view all my mods on my photobucket sites
at albums maccutter19 and maccutter26m
the mac 19 bowsprit is 4ft the mac26m bowsprit is 4ft for genny with a 2ft pull-out extension making it 6ft for spin. it is still in the making I hope to get it finnished before the end of june !!
The spin is mounted to a CDI Spin Furler you can check out the CDI site for more info they are not cheep $

J

Thanks for the photos they give me some ideas I can use.

We have three spinnakers for our


1. Symmetrical
With 25' Chutescoop dousing sock and extendable pole and adjustable mast track.
- We set the pole at 10 feet for this spinnaker, as this is the suggested proper length to match the "J" length of the X (distance from the base of mast to forestay attachment to deck). We use the full rig topping lift (to hold pole up) and tack line to hold the pole from rising. I can do this single handed in lighter air, but use the asym when it picks up.
- The mast track position is usualy just above the boom height. Gets a little higher the more down wind we get. The trick with pole position is to keep it perpendiular to the deck and to the wind. Eg. if wind is abeam > the pole is almost touching the forestay, if running dead downwind /\ the pole is almost wide out a beam.

2. Asymmetrical
With 25' Chutescoop dousing sock
- the tack of the sail is attached to a tack-line that is at the bow and controlled from cockpit. This is raised and lowered depending on the angle of the wind. The tack is tight to bow if heading into the wind or wind is abeam. It gets slacked off and the tack raises higher the further the wind is to aft.
- 50" 3/8 sheet that is ran outside the headstay so the sail tacks/gibes forward of the forestay. I do this so I can leave the 150% genoa sheets attached and ran to the cockpit.

3. 160% Gennaker
With 25' Chutescoop dousing sock
- the tack is attached to the tack-line at the bow the same as the asym, but stays tight all the time. This sail has similar shape to our 150 Genoa., just lighter material and pretty color.
- we extend the spinnaker pole to 18 feet (length of sail foot) when dead downwind sailing wing-on-wing. Also use the tack line here as a preventor. (Stops the boom from a dangerous accidental gype.)

Wind Chime where do you get your ' 25' Chuteshoot dousing sock ' ? My wife and I are very interested in getting one, what is the cost ? Does the control lines for it run to the cockpit so it can be single handed? what is the diameter ?

Hi Bubba,


We bought all three of our Chutescoops http://www.chutescoop.com/DesignPage.htm from Ebay (USA) for about $100 each (including shipping etc to Canada)

The diameter increases in relation to the length. The 25' has a 9" diameter.

We use the 25' as we still want the clew and tack sticking out the bottom.

We have all running rigging to the cockpit except the chuteshoot deployment lines. You could probably rig something, but I sail singlehand alot of the time and use it almost every trip (wind permitting)

I have each sail in the chutescoop ready to deploy in turtlebag.
I furl the headsail
find a safe consistant wind angle
lock off the helm
go on deck and run the downwind (control) sheet as I go forward and leave it slack
clip the turtle to the mast
clip the head of the chutescoop to the spinnaker halyard and raise the Chuteshoot
attach the tack
attach the sheet to the clew
raise the chutescoop cover and the sail deploys but flogs slightly from slack control sheet but does not hourglass
run the windward (lazy) sheet as I come back to cockpit
trim control sheet and tack-line to work the wind for all its worth or just sit back and look at the pretty colors

If the wind picks up fast or gets gusty and things start to get crazy, I use the "Emergency Break"... which is to release all the sheets and both the sails flog like mad and she stops on a dime, waiting for my next command . Take care not to snag anything on the spreaders at this point as this is a temporary stop to regain control, not a heave-to situation. And, I also find that she will only sit like this for so long and wait before she gets bored and starts to make her own decisions on what to do next.

Hi Bubba

The problem I have with setting my assym. with no crew is once the wheel tied, and all lines are outside and clear, then I jerk the halyard, and have a sheet wildly flailing until I can get back to cleat it off. This can turn the boat downwind no matter where the wheel is set, and leave you with a lot to deal with if it gybes back on you. I know MadMike does it frequently, but I've not gotten that trick down yet. A pole would only make it worse, but in light wind I use the pole with any foresail available.

Richard O'Brien said ('the problem I have with setting my assym') Which assembly are you talking about ? Are all your lines run back to the cockpit ? There are times I run my motor to keep the boat tracking straight while setting rigging or whisker pole, after all it is a motor cruser and I do not race when I am single handing our M.

bubba wrote:Richard O'Brien said ('the problem I have with setting my assym') Which assembly are you talking about ? Are all your lines run back to the cockpit ? There are times I run my motor to keep the boat tracking straight while setting rigging or whisker pole, after all it is a motor cruiser and I do not race when I am single handing our M.

Yup! I need it during races, and they don't like to see the motor running, Drat! No My spinnaker halyard is not run back, but I have to go forward anyway to drag it out of the hatch. I usually have the tack, and halyard lines connected, but I don't use a turtle,and if I leave the assym on deck it can get knocked in the water by the jib. I have an 80' sheet run back to blocks on my stern combing, and it still isn't long enough. I need about 90' to make sure that I don't lose a sheet in the water,and worse under the hull.