Whisker Pole Selection

[stevensuf]

My new to me boat came with a basic sail set up, main, genoa and storm jib, I'd like to add a pole for holding out the jib in downwind light air situations, can anyone offer any suggestions? mast is 15m genoa 630 foot ish.

cheers

[msponer]

I've been happy with fixed length poles. Two of them were second hand, and started life as telescoping poles that broke (and then ended up as trash). I then riveted them in place to make fixed poles. I've had luck getting broken poles from riggers.

One of my second hand poles had really cool racing boat style pole ends. With a bell housing on the mast and a sort of pin on the pole that looks like a spacecraft docking mechanism. It was neat because it would click home all by itself, without having to open jaws or anything like that.

I read in one of the old cruising books about extending the track on the mast that the pole traveler car slides on. So I did that, so that I could slide the pole up the mast and clip the other end of the pole to the base of the mast. I feel this is super duper, since one person can then set the pole really quickly and easily. Just have all the lines cleated on the right lengths, then pull down the traveler and the pole naturally swings out into the set position. Pretty cool. Otherwise setting the pole for me has an awkward stage where it's not completely constrained and wants to swing around.

Also, poles do not have to just be for light air. I used them quite a bit in heavy air, it keeps the jib filled and from pumping the forestay if the boat slews around from the waves.

[Ziggy]

Have you checked:
1) http://www.forespar.com/pdf/techTips...-Checklist.pdf
2) http://www.forespar.com/pdf/forespar...e-brochure.pdf
3) Whisker Pole Selection Guide (your boat is not listed, but you can use another boat with a similar J dimension and sail area)

[djmarchand]

Steve:

Your GibSea 43 will require a pretty long and heavy whisker pole. The Forespar site gives a lot of good information. I would choose one of their line control models. The easiest (but the most expensive) way to handle the pole is to mount it on a track in the front of the mast. That way you can hoist up the butt end up the mast and clip the outboard end to the base of the mast to stow it away. Forespar has all of the bits to do this.

[Valkyrie654]

As a rule of thumb your fixed whisker pole length is approx equal to the LP of the sail. Fixed length poles are much lighter and stronger than an adjustable whisker pole, however a 155 will require a pole that is very long for the boat, thus hard to store when not in use. Vertical storage is the way to go, much easier than trying to wrestle a pole on a heaving foredeck. Our mast originally came with a car on some T track. Very hard to adjust with just the pole on it, impossible with the load of the sail added to that. I finally just bit the bullet an installed a Harken ball bearing car and track. OMG what a difference that made, now we can actually adjust pole height even when fully loaded. With a fore and after guys set, the pole is always under control. Set the pole first, than unfurl the sail out to the pole. Other then a lot of friction through the jaws, you just winch the clue out to the end of the pole. If you add a snatch block to the end of the pole, it is much easier to pull the sail out. You can attach the snatch block to the end of the pole by dropping a short strope into the jaws and clipping the snatch block to that. A spliced spectra loop makes a great strope. It only needs to be 3 or 4 inches in diameter.

[stevensuf]

thanks for the advice, i think i will look at the forespar telescopic poles with track on mast, i like the simple idea of just lowering it on the topping lift, nice neat solution to stashing it away.

[nauticalnomad]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

My new to me boat came with a basic sail set up, main, genoa and storm jib, I'd like to add a pole for holding out the jib in downwind light air situations, can anyone offer any suggestions? mast is 15m genoa 630 foot ish.

cheers

What ever you get remmember to secure it tight on deck
If you come accross a white one in the North Sea somewhere let us know.
Ive had 2, now ive only got 1