[Public-List] Spinnaker Question

[Kirk Little]

 Bill, sorry for the long-winded answer.  

? Do you use the spinnaker pole independently of the spinnaker, either for a hammock or for poling out the jib?

Answer; First of all I should clarify that what I have is much more of a 'whisker pole' rather than a proper spinnaker pole.  And yes it is used almost exclusively for poling out the Jib, almost always to windward, flying wing and wing down wind and even with the wind nearly on the beam. 

The windvane loves the way the boat is balanced this way, and it generally hates to steer when you try to sail on a broad reach without going to wing on wing or dropping the main entirely.  

Keep in mind that my opinions here are based primarily from the perspective of single handing offshore.   If I was cruising around the bay with friends, I would have a much different approach to all of this.  And if I was more comfortable and knowledgeable with the spinnaker I would probably use it more.  I don't think anyone should eliminate if from their inventory based on my comments below as much more experienced sailors swear they are a life saver in light winds.  Plus they make you look cool right!?  But in my reality cruisers talk about flying spinnakers a LOT more than they actually fly them.  Maybe we are either lazy or scared...?  I think (its hard to recall) the reason I bought the spinnaker was because James Baldwin convinced me I needed one, and he seems to be right around 98% of the time, so often I wonder if I could be using it more, but in truth It hasn't been out since maybe...  The protected waters of Fiji.  

So here is WHY I don't use the spinnaker more than say.. 1% of the time I'm cruising.  I feel that offshore there is a tiny little window of conditions that make that sail worth setting.  Generally in fairly settled seas and when the boat is going about 3kts, and say you would LIKE to be going 4 to 5 kts, thats IT.  Reason being, if the boat was going more like 2.5kts or slower when your thinking of setting the spinnaker (realize that I'm allready going down wind wing and wing with full main and a 145 Genoa on long pole so I do have a bit of sail out to start, and its probably flopping around a bit at this speed so I might have even put a reef into the main just to flatten it out and keep it quiet, its all the way out, prevented foward, vanged down, and very tight.  On a tender boat such as the A30 your almost certain to have enough rolling to start luffing the Spinnaker and TWICE I've blown out spinnaker halyard block under these conditions.  

Now the other side where your sailing faster than 3kts and you want to go faster (hey this doesn't sound like a cruiser at all, more like a racer!).  I've had a few generally short beautiful runs with the Asym Spinnaker,  these windows are exhilarating but brief, and if the boat is going 4kts I don't really care if I go 1kt faster to make 5, and anything over 5 starts to agitate the windvane.  

Now if I have flat seas, and light wind what I LOVE to do (but rarely do) is pole out the genoa to windward, sheet the Spinnaker to the end of the poled out boom, and fly them like twin head sails, still bored, put up the main too, Amazing how stable the boat is and nearly going down wind at wind speed, so of course your windvane wont steer now but the autopilot might.  And even this sail configuration only makes sense if you are certain the wind is going to remain constant a while, Can you imagine getting caught solo with that much sail up!?  So now you have to pay a lot of attention, again, not so relaxing, but the boat sails like a dream until the wind falls off completely, the swell sets in,  or you get overpowered.  

 ? Do you think you would use a light air main sail and/or jib instead, particularly if it was easy to rig/fly? 
 
Answer; No.  I get by fine with my heavy sails, rarely am I underpowered.  I do know people on similar boats that are VERY happy with a light air Genoa, But, they didn't have roller furling.  with nothing more than my 145 Genoa, Pole, and Main, I can sail rings around 80% of the other cruising boats out here in light winds, that is assuming no one is using a spinnaker. (another reason its hard for me to justify the cost and space for it).  IMHO, the A30 is an over canvased boat for ocean cruising.  When the wind gets up to around 30kts, maybe even as early as 25kts if your trying to sleep, even dead down wind, with only a triple reefed main, you start surfing down the swells, and often have to drop the main completely and revert to just a tiny tiny piece of jib unrolled to keep the boat balanced.  I could say a lot more about how often I feel 'over canvased' on this little boat but hopefully this gets the point across.   Remember your just dealing with wind, your dealing with wind and relatively big swells quite often.  And lastly, if I had just finished my Pacific crossing (rather than the Indian Ocean) I wouldn't be beating this point home so hard.  Hope you find this insightful -Kirk 

Alberg 30 #504, South Africa

P.S. I still have a like new 150% hank on Genoa by Neil Pride that I would like to sell.  It was brand new on Salsa when I bought her but I quickly switched over to roller furling and new sails.  The sail is located in N. VA.  
 		 	   		  
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