We were not very happy with our spinnaker options thus far: our symmetrical was HUGE and needed a 15 ft pole and 5 people on board to drive it efficiently. It terrified Susan (the Admiral). We also had an inexpensive Asymmetrical with a sock, which I got 'used' on Ebay. It was okay, but things never went very smoothly or easily. We needed a solution that worked well shorthanded - with 1 or 2 people on the boat.
It's taken almost a year, but we happily now have our furling Asym Spinnaker in operation. We got the sail from North Sails, added a Selden GX 15 furler, and Selden Bow Sprit. I designed and added a spinnaker crane (aluminum plate) at the top of the mast to hold the spinnaker halyard about 8" in front of the forestay. This was important because it starts the furling from the top, and without clearance from the forestay it is "no bueno".
I've never used a furling spinnaker before so we are still learning. The first try, though, I got it up and sailing by myself.
The Boat Bucks went flying out of my pocket to do all this, but I wanted to do it while I still had a job, which I'm leaving at the end of May. So the easy-access Boat Bucks are now dried up.
Here is the Bow Sprit and Furler.
Here is the Spinnaker Crane holding the spinnaker halyard (rightmost) forward of the forestay/furling genoa.
Note: in the top photo above, the wind is almost on a beam reach. We normally wouldn't use it on that point of sail, and we were just rigging it all up. Normally TWA would need to be 120-130 degrees or more downwind for it to work well.
Does anyone else have a furling Spinnaker?
So far it doesn't seem like a stupid (or cheap) idea, but time will tell!
Cheers,
-Mark
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