Spinnaker Pole Needed?

[Rick1]

The 1978 Hunter 25 that I just acquired came with a spinnaker and is set up to use. However there is no spinnaker pole. Is a pole needed to set the spinnaker properly, or can it be sailed without it?

[cal40john]

Depends. Is it a cruising assymetric designed to be tacked down at the bow or is it a symmetric spinnaker which would be difficult to use without a pole?

John

[Rick1]

It is a symmetric spinnaker. It really looks antiquated though. It has Iron rings instead of sewn in clues.

[gulfstar1]

We live in Jacksonville and have a spinnaker pole in garage looking to get rid of. It came off of our 38ft 1979 Gulfstar.

[Rick1]

That would be great. Do you know if it would make much of a difference if it is for a 25'. How much would you like for it?

[gulfstar1]

Well I'm certainly no expert but I believe that the pole we have would be too big for your 25' Hunter. It has a 3" diameter and it's length is adjustable. At it's shortest it is 12.5' long. If you are still interested let us know.

[Rick1]

Thanks, I will investigate and let you know

[malbert73]

A spinnaker pole makes a conventional symmetric spinnaker do what it does best- which is go deep downwind angles or dead downwind.

When cruising, I often just fly my symmetric spinnaker with the tack tied to the bow and forestay, and the clew to a sheet. It flies just fine that way but you can only sail a broad reach. Only issue is since it is not higher cut on the clew, if you sail too deep downwind and collapse it, it runs the risk of falling into the water.

[roverhi]

A symetrical spinnaker without a pole is usable over a very small range of relative wind. The spinnaker will be so little used as to be worthless. We carried one for more than 10,000 miles cruising and used for a total of only a few hours.

The real reason to have a spinnaker pole is to pole out a jib when running wing on wing. don't leave home without a pole.

Aloha
Peter O.
Pearson 35

[Weyalan]

You can buy a length of aluminium tube from any aluminium supplier. You can buy spinnaker pole end fittings etc from a chandlery. With an electric drill, a decent rivet gun (lazy tongs are best) and some rivets, Robert is, indeed, your mother's brother.

[svHyLyte]

With an ATN Tacker attached to the headstay, you can use a symmetrical spinnaker in much the same manner as an assym, albeit over a more narrow range. We have one an have used it to good advantage with winds over the quarter. With only two, setting and recovering a symmetric on a pole can be difficult although on your sized boat it shouldn't be such a problem. When cruising, we have our spinnaker in an ATN Sock which simplifies things a good bit. For racing we remove the sock and launch in the conventional manner.


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FWIW...

[Rick1]

I am not familiar with a ATN tacker but will follow the link, thanks. After some investigation I find the ideal length of the pole should be equal to the distance from the mast to the jib tack (J dimenision) In my case about 10.5' I would be interested in the pole gulfstar1. I am sure it can be used at its shortest or modified with a section shortened.

[Hydra]

Rick1,
The purpose of the pole is to push the spinnaker away from the big vertical eddy on the lee side of the mainsail. When running downwind without a pole, this eddy will wrap a symmetrical spinnaker around the forestay.

Limiting the pole length to "J" is relevant only for racing. Longer is better for setting the sail but also heavier and probably costlier. It's up to you.

As roverhi wrote, the other interesting use for the pole is to set a headsail "wing-on-wing" for running downwind when you don't dare to set the spinnaker. This stabilizes the headsail, reduces roll and improves steering and speed. Just add a gybing preventer on the mainsail, to be safe.

Alain

[forsailbyowner]

Have 1 3/4" pole fitting I'm not using. Messaage me if interested.