I also sailed my spinnaker for the first time this week-end on my 5.2. It took me a long time to get there: the club being closed because of foot and mouth, and the pressure of family prevented me to hit the water for months! So this week-end I finished the install and flew it for the first time.

I use an generic aluminium pole, a stealth 16 snuffer and loop, a 17.5m2 hobie spi from unknown origin (a H16 maybe? Or a FX1?). It was mostly drifting winds yesterday but I decided to sail without the jib to remove some of the lines from the tramp. Bad mistake as going upwind without a jib is slow in 1o 5 knots of wind.

Anyway, downwind was fun, and the spi worked without a hitch. Pull a line it goes up, pull the other side and it parks nicely in its bag.

Questions:

* Where do you route your spi sheet? I have mine going to the bottom of the sidestay, rounding a block there, then rounding a ratchet block attached to the front beam where the jib tramp line attaches. Unfortunately the daggerboard is on the way and the sheet touches the board.

* How do you manage the sheet length and prevent it from going in the water all the time?