MacGregorSailors.com

Spinnaker or Gennaker (or whatever you want to call it) for single- handed sailing?

Does anyone know of a downwind rig that can be managed single-handedly (I do a lot of solo sailing).

This guy does it around 3 minutes in. Good how-to...

What size Asymmetrical spinnaker for a 26X?

I see sizes 1 - 10. ???

I've got the asymmetric spinnaker that BWY sells with an ATN sock. I fly it from separate mast hound installed about 16" above the standard one with the tack attached to the end of the anchor roller. I really like the sail. It's usable from a dead run to almost wind abeam and quite forgiving of imperfect sail trim. I really don't use the genoa anymore as the spinnaker is much faster and almost as easy to trim going downwind. I did have it begin to oscillate once when the wind gusted up about 18 knots or so, but mostly it's been dead easy to fly compared to spinnakers on other boats I've experienced.

I don't have the halyard for the spinnaker sock run back to the cockpit, so I have to go to the bow to launch and douse the sail. When the winds are up, the sail tends to billow, making the sock sometimes difficult to raise and lower. I can do it single handed in winds of about 10 knots or less but much higher than that and I feel I need crew onboard to control the spinnaker sheets and keep the boat headed downwind while I'm on the bow struggling with the sock.

It might be manageable if the sock halyard were run back to the cockpit. That halyard is a loop made from really soft line, probably to minimize chafe on the sail and the sock. It's not standard double-braid halyard line. I'd be interested to know if anyone has had success running a spinnaker sock from the cockpit.

Even if the sock was run from the cockpit, it would still be necessary to go forward to bring down the sock when going to windward. When hoisted, the sock hangs just in front of the jib, messing up the airflow across the jib and slowing the boat down when going to windward.

So I'd say unless you want to do some work to run the lines back to the cockpit, the asymmetric spinnaker is usable for single handing in relatively light winds only.

Here's some sail dimensions I found on the internet, so they must be right

Also, you need a surprising amount of line for the sheets. The sheets run outside the shrouds to blocks on the stern pulpits, then forward inside the cockpit to the winches. So the lazy sheet runs from the winch to the stern, forward around the forestay, then back to the clew of the sail.
I used about 85 feet of 1/4" double braid for my spinnaker sheets.

Thank you. I was pleasantly surprised to find that BWY has them, and in stock, in a more perfect world, I will be using them this weekend

Can't use bungee cords?

wakataka wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 4:18 pm Also, you need a surprising amount of line for the sheets. The sheets run outside the shrouds to blocks on the stern pulpits, then forward inside the cockpit to the winches. So the lazy sheet runs from the winch to the stern, forward around the forestay, then back to the clew of the sail.
I used about 85 feet of 1/4" double braid for my spinnaker sheets.

dlandersson wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:46 pm Do ypu know your Symetric spinnaker measurements?

Mine is the standard cruising spinnaker (dimensions are on the chart in my previous post). It's asymmetric so it doesn't require a spinnaker pole.

Blue Water Yachts sells them at a fair price, along with the hardware needed to add a mast hound.

http://shop.bwyachts.com/category-s/386.htm

to answer the question how to hoist an asy spi singlehanded the easiest, you could install a spi furler

https://www.segelwelt.at/shop-de/1912/1 ... etail.html

Have to say I don't have such a thing. Maybe other use it. But it looks great...

Thx

wakataka wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 4:12 pm Here's some sail dimensions I found on the internet, so they must be right

I ust received (after the weekend of course) my asym. spinnaker from BWY

I'm not clear on how the tang installs 18 inches above the forestay - there are no instructions?

You simply duplicate what the forestay hound looks like, but 18” higher. Mark the mast carefully so the holes are symmetric. Run the halyard line through the forestay hound on its way down to the deck, and the other leg outside the existing hound.

You can terminate the halyard on a cleat on the mast, especially if using a sock to keep it under wraps while hoisting it.

I keep my halyard tied off to the bow rail to keep it out of the way, with the added bonus of being a backup forestay, though I don’t lose sleep over the integrity of the wire rope.

I'd really like to see this, I'm not able to visualize it.

Tomfoolery wrote: ↑Wed Sep 08, 2021 4:35 am You simply duplicate what the forestay hound looks like, but 18” higher. Mark the mast carefully so the holes are symmetric. Run the halyard line through the forestay hound on its way down to the deck, and the other leg outside the existing hound.

You can terminate the halyard on a cleat on the mast, especially if using a sock to keep it under wraps while hoisting it.

I keep my halyard tied off to the bow rail to keep it out of the way, with the added bonus of being a backup forestay, though I don’t lose sleep over the integrity of the wire rope.

Ok, so I bought the BWY asy. spinnaker package (it was pretty competitive) and was able to use it Sunday. Light winds, from a good direction, etc.

Being a chicken, I enlisted a bud, and we set everything up in the slip (in the sock) before setting off. Not sure we like the SS attachments used on the clew, may change them out.

It worked pretty well, I was able to get within 80 degrees, but it really did better downwind. It moved us along about 1/3 - 1/2 wind speed. I don't know how single-user friendly it is until you've built up some experience.

We got a surprisingly LOT of attention when we got back and did our usual masterful slip approach.