Twissel stick setup spinnaker poles

[RDW]

I am interested in anyone's experience with using two foresails poled out on each side.
Have you done it with two poles attached to the mast or two poles attached to each other?
Anyone know where to get a universal joint to fix the two poles together?
Thanks for any input
RDW

[Paul Elliott]

I've done this with two spin poles attached to the mast, and also using a telescoping whisker pole attached to the mast for one jib, and the other jibsheet taken to a block attached to the end of the boom. I had the main deeply reefed and the boom held out with a preventer.

This is a wonderful downwind configuration. We've used it in conditions ranging from mild and calm, to strong winds and fairly large seas. You do get more rolling when going dead downwind, but that's going to be the case with any sail configuration. The twin headsails work great to keep us pointed in the desired direction, even when we've got quartering seas trying to push us around. It takes a while for me to set this up, so I only rig it when I plan to use it for more than a few hours. We've gone days at a time with it. With both sails firmly attached to the headstay, this is *much* more stable than a regular symmetrical spinnaker.

You could probably hoist the second jib loose-luffed, as long as the luffrope can take the tension. I usually use the spare jib halyard to hoist the second jib. This is easy (my headfoil has two slots), but it means I have to drop that jib before I can roller-furl jib #1. I've also hoisted both jibs at the same time, using one halyard. This way I can furl both sails at once.

I've never used the classic twizzle configuration, which has the two poles lashed together and not attached to the mast, so I can't say how this compares to the twin mast-attached setup.



In the above photo the whisker pole extension hardware had broken so we were using it in the collapsed mode. I think my regular spin pole was also broken at the time. I see that the starboard jibsheet is attached closer to the middle of the boom -- It was probably easier to attach it there. I'm a big fan of doing things the easy way! The main was completely furled here, but I often just reef it when using twin headsails.

[Snowpetrel]

I will second everything Paul said above, this has been exactly my experience, its a great long distance running rig.

I haven't used a twizel rig either, but I did know someone who used it RTW and liked it very much.

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[ErikFinn]

This is my favorite setup downwind long legs singlehanded . Advantages are you can easily adjust and reef or take out a sail completely as winds pick up. Normally I don't hoist the main as it tends to bother the flow to the head sails, and no need to be concerned about an accidental gybe. I attach the spinnaker pole to the large headsail and whisker pole to the smaller one, both to the mast on the other end. Although I have hoisted the spinnaker in very very light winds and calm seas when singlehanded but I'm old already with a slipped disc and it could get scary too fast. So I prefer the above. Some roller furling profiles have two slots so you can attach both headsails to the same profile

[Sulaire]

Lots of good info on the rig here

http://www.simetric.co.uk/twizzle_rig/index.htm

[Jim Cate]

On our previous boat, before the advent of furling genoas, we had a K-Z foil on the headstay. Not a furler, but a two track foil with a magazine type loading device which made changing sails very easy. It also allowed hoisting two sails easily. We had but one pole, and would use it to pole out the windward genoa, and would fly the second genoa to leeward w/o a pole. Usually put two reefs in the small mainsail to flatten it, and then sheeted it amidships, bowsed down hard... worked very well as a roll dampener. We did a lot of miles like that in the trades. Might have been just a tad faster with a second pole to hold the clew of the "free" sail out a bit further, but in general we found it quite OK.

On this boat with a Solent rig, we sometimes do the same sort of thing with the genoa poled to windward and the Solent jib to leeward. Not as much sail area as a second genoa, but still a help.

As we've gotten to be old farts, we don't use the kite as much at sea... too much work... but when we do, it is a great sail!

Jim

[knockabout]

quite often use twin poled head sails / we are a three head sail rig / sometimes 1 & 2 / sometimes 2 & 3 depends on wind strength /it's quite easy to jibe and back up the leading head sail and furl it leaving the pole on enabling up wind for a short time / only works one way you have to plan ahead and remove the pole first if your long pole is on the wrong side for that turn / we were in cairns marina when the bluewater rally came through many years ago / a very large cat had two genoas sewn together on the luff on a furler / they could be poled out either side or by clipping the clews together unfurled both on one side like a normal genoa but double thickness / they were the first boat in and were very happy with the gull wing genoa have not used two poles connected together but use two poles clipped on the same mast ring

[RDW]

I thought I would do a follow up on this original question from me. I am 3/4 along the way on the World Arc. We have used the twin head sail configuration as much as possible. I have two head sails and two channels on my forestry furler. We hoist both sails on one halyard to enable furling both sails. We have used it comfortably in 10 to 25 knots. We are not the fastest boat in the Arc but we do real well when we can sale dead down wind and others are tacking
Thanks to everyone for their information to this original thread
RDW