Need Advice on launching screecher or asy from sock?

[DtM]

Just one other thing.

The description Dan gives of sheeting the a-sail "hard" causes me some concern.

The a-sail should be allowed to float a little. Give it some air and you will get much better performance.

The brace "hard" and the downhaul "hard" gives stability to the tack. Overtrimming is a sin.

[Ex-Calif]

DtM - Yes you are right. However I have seen boats with an a-sail up that didn't realize have far on the wind they could get. i.e. they used the a-sail as a pure downwind sail not realizing that they could get the wind on the beam more.

Dumaguete - Yes that's a Maxi 77 in my avatar but not my Maxi.

[Sail Dumaguete]

Gentlemen, I guess your both right , loose tack allowing sail to float a little on the downwind and hard on the downhaul on the upwind. Thanks Dtm, Dan, btw, since my bowsprit is not yet installed, I might first try flying the A-sail without a bowsprit and just attach the tack on the bow,just infront of the forestay. What ya think?

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Sail Dumaguete

Gentlemen, I guess your both right , loose tack allowing sail to float a little on the downwind and hard on the downhaul on the upwind. Thanks Dtm, Dan, btw, since my bowsprit is not yet installed, I might first try flying the A-sail without a bowsprit and just attach the tack on the bow,just infront of the forestay. What ya think?

Dumaguete - That is just about exactly what we did. We rigged a downhaul 4:1 and hoisted the spinnaker in front of the forestay. It is a masthead spinnaker and the tack was about 4-5 feet above the deck. We had a hard time hauling donw hard enough in 10 kt winds and when we gybed it, it flew across the bow and had a distinct curve in the luff.

Once we got on a reach and stable, it pulled like a team of mules.

Suggest - Do not put a stopper knot in the downhaul in case you need to release it. Do not stopper knot the sheets (for any spinnaker) - same reason.

Try light airs first. No traffic (we were sorting in our shipping channel) and try ot have 4 crew on board. We were 3 and it was barely manageable.

Alternately you can rig it like the one on this Beneteau. This is how we usually rig ours. However, like you, we would like to have a simpler rig too, which is why we tried the experiment.

Imagine the space between the bottom end of the spinnaker in this picture with nothing but a line holding it down. Much more control with the pole. This is also what I meant by braced hard and sheeted hard.

[Sail Dumaguete]

Ex-Calif - i noticed you were using a symetrical spinaker, I'll be using an asymetrical spinaker, which i presume would be better on a reach than downwind.

Instead of rigging a downhaul for the tack I'm just planning to use a fixed line with a rotating snapshackle at the end. The lenght of fixed line will be just above the pulpit, allowing the sail to rotate freely.

And your right, since this is experimental, I'll try it in light winds.

btw, one of the boats here in the club is sometimes based in singapore, its a Swan 80, called maligaya. just wondering if you've run into it?

[Sail Dumaguete]

Boat name: SRO (standing room only)
Tony Grainger Custom Built Design, Australia
LOA 30.2'/9.2m

[Ex-Calif]

Very cool looking tri. I can see why you don't want to go out on that bow to rig the a-sail. That's pretty narrow - LOL.

[Sail Dumaguete]

Thanks, Thats right Dan, narrow prow + cold san miguel beer = man overboard

[Ex-Calif]

Ito ang beer....

[Tnflakbait]

Downhaul in tight on the reach.

Here is a short clip of us doing about 15 kts reaching with an assy.

YouTube - 15 knots

[Sail Dumaguete]

Looks like you guys having a relaxing sail, btw, it's not so clear to me, are you using a spinaker pole? thanks!

[Tnflakbait]

Originally Posted by Sail Dumaguete

Looks like you guys having a relaxing sail, btw, it's not so clear to me, are you using a spinaker pole? thanks!

No we aren't using a pole. I wouldn't use a pole on a multihull-cat or tri. If you want to move the tack use a bridle, otherwise run one downhaul line through a block on the bow.
Good luck!

[Joli]

For a frac rigged 30 footer I would not bother with a sock. Just throw it up and bear off a bit for the takedown. Letter box it if you want to hide it a bit more. A sprit would help though.

[Sail Dumaguete]

Thanks tnflakbait, will try the downhaul line thru a block on the bow, although i was wondering if i can do away with the block and just have a tack line on the bow instead. (just wanna keep it as simple as possible) Or will i need to constantly trim the downhaul?

[Sail Dumaguete]

yes joli, i agree, its such a small sail, i'm thinking of launching it from the forward cabin hatch.