Asymmetrical Spinnaker Sheet Sizing

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Capt JJ

Would 7/16 be good fit or 3/8 better? Old owner ran aux pulleys and brought sheets back onto the oversized primaries but I’m wanting to add appropriate spin specific pulleys mounted rear of primaries...

Thanks in advance...

Ours are 10mm double braid. Whether its the right size I am not sure, but it is light enough and comfortable to handle. WE don't jibe, instead drop the snuffer and re-hoist when we have changed course.

Pete

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by KiwiKen

Floating Rope is usually polypropylene and one needs to be minful of it's properties,
It is highly susceptable to ultra violet degradation, much more so than polyester.


Strength for diameter is significantly less

Nowadays floating yacht lines are far more likely to be Dyneema or Spectra than polypro. Strength and UV resistance are better than Dacron by far.

Very few folks would consider use of polypro line on a yacht for any purpose... nasty stuff indeed.

Jim

[Jim Cate]

It's been a few (!) years, but back when I was single hand racing my Yankee 30, I always gybed the assy inside the forestay. Faster and easier than the outside gybe, and I never "shredded" that sail, even in the sorta brisk wind and sea conditions in the gulf of the Farallones.

Except in very light airs, I'd pull down the sock on the symmetrical kite to gybe, though.

Jim

[Gary Mc]

I have been using 3/8" Sampson's Ultra-light for spin sheets for about 8 years now. I have a 30 foot boat but it has a big chute.


They are light weight so we rarely change do to the "light" sheets, they float, although I do not think that is very important, and they are big enough to be easy on the hands.

They have a MFP/dyneema blended core so lots of strength.



Good luck

[Captain Randy]

Thanks all. Very useful information. I have been working with Precision Sails and although I have yet to bend them on the service has been excellent, sails priced well and shipped on the time promised. So far so good. I'll be stopping by WM on the way home to go sheet shopping. My new suit of sails just arrived today so I am pretty excited to get down to the boat tomorrow and bend them on. I have sailed with the original sails for far to long.

Then of course off for a sail on Sunday.

[Tillsbury]

Super exciting, all three at once! How much did that end up being, may I ask?

[waterwesty]

Inside Gybes are common for a smaller boat. Your going to want to go outside for a kite that large. or as mentioned, snuff it or top down furl it

[gbillman]

Pete- If you douse it rather than gybe, do you use a single sheet vs double sheets? I'm new to spinnakers and have heard both techniques. Thanks

[Calif.Ted]

I prefer using a "snuffer" gybe as Pete describes while solo and only rig the working sheet, no lazy sheet around the bow. The sheet runs thru a block which has a short loop of line and shackle to aft cleat, unhook and just walk it around.
On a friends boat used for spinnaker class racing we have a continuous sheet rigged because of the numerous gybes but it's still a dance that requires 2 or more.
You'll need a block for the tack line and probably the sheet.

[gbillman]

Originally Posted by Calif.Ted

I prefer using a "snuffer" gybe as Pete describes while solo and only rig the working sheet, no lazy sheet around the bow. The sheet runs thru a block which has a short loop of line and shackle to aft cleat, unhook and just walk it around.
On a friends boat used for spinnaker class racing we have a continuous sheet rigged because of the numerous gybes but it's still a dance that requires 2 or more.
You'll need a block for the tack line and probably the sheet.

Thank you! I think I'm going to keep it simple, too.

[cuffy]

We have top down furling, so furl to gybe. We are cruising after all!!
Sheet is always on sail and is 10mm double braid

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by gbillman

Pete- If you douse it rather than gybe, do you use a single sheet vs double sheets? I'm new to spinnakers and have heard both techniques. Thanks

Yes single sheet and walk it around the mast and baby stay, length is 1.5x boat length which allows the sail to fly out when approaching a near down wind course. The sheet runs through a pulley block mounted on the toe rail at the stern and back to the winches. The tack is held to the furled Genoa on the forestay with a home made ATN tacker. I have some pictures if you are interested in making your own. Height is about 4ft off the deck to clear the pullpit. I haven't experimented enough to see what small adjustments in height of the tack do, might be negligible or may be worth while.

In use the sail fills and moves about with each puff of wind, so unlike using a jib going to windward, there is no need to crank it in hard or minimize stretch to the last fraction with large expensive sheets. I think ours came from the odds bin in the local chandler, looked about right and felt nice to handle. Its also a completely different colour to all the other sheets and rope on board because on a broad reach you do have a lot of string in the cockpit. Plus a bundle at the mast base from the assm halyard and snuffer string, plus your normal cordage.

The assm can be flown on a downwind course but you will need a pole to bring the tack around to the windward side, which means an up haul and guys etc. Quite a bit of extra complication if you are single handing. I prefer the "keep it simple" approach.

As a light wind sail it comes down if the wind approaches 14-15 knots. so working on the foredeck to use the snuffer and move the sheet isn't a problem in the calm conditions we use this sail. It's a big sail so am wary of being caught out if the wind suddenly picks up.

It does provide quite a bit of drive in light calm conditions, great for setting and sitting back on a calm barmy warm day if you have a few miles to cover and just chill out with the auto pilot doing the work. We are still very much at the learning stage with this sail, but its a fun sail to fly rather than motoring or using our 140% Genoa in light winds which it isn't great at.

[bensolomon]

I solo sail my hunter legend 37.5 with the asym. I use two sheets, both connected, ATN tacker and a sock. If the wind is light (3-5knots,) I can outside gybe. Usually, though, I douse the spin with the sock, gybe, and unfurl. Since my boat is frational rig, to inside gybe would chafe my spin halyard bad because the spin halyard on my boat is above the headstay, and wraps underneath the headstay on an inside gybe.

Also, when you connect your spin sheets, make sure you use a snap shackle so you can release the sheet from the spin quickly when necessary.

[TheOffice]

On my Hylas 44 I use 3/8 spin sheets. Whatever you use has to be sized to your self tailers.

[Calif.Ted]

I adjust the height of the tack to keep the foot close to level, so it goes up for deep and down for closer to the beam. In winds of 20 and above when hit by higher gusts the boat feels like it's going to pitchpole. If you are carrying it on the beam the boat rounds up with a vengeance. If you need to get it down in higher winds it helps to have someone at the helm to turn up and let it start to collapse, once you get the top 1/3 snuffed the rest is easy.