Personally I agree it is largely a mindset problem although some drawback is reported to be present on the upwind legs.

However as gary says, for that Drawback you got a HUGE boost downwind making you way faster around the whole course. I my opinion some people are making to much of their "8th or so around the first weather mark while I usually was 3rd". Position at the weather mark doesn't count in a race at all. Everthing is determined by the order on the finishline. OF course what they don't say is how they are first at the leeward marks after having set the spis in a fleet of spi less boats. Overhere we found that even on handicap you have a hard time winning over spi boats. Simply because they are just that much faster. More than ones I just punched through the lee of a spi-less boat because the speed difference (momentum) is just that big. Simple put there is no covering a spinnaker equiped boat UNLESS you fly a spi yourself. Therefor you position at the windward mark with respect to non spi boat is neglectable.

The way I see it there is one other aspect left that is used "against" the kite by non-spi sailors and that is the setup time of the spi gear. I'm currently working on that as I want to race more around the country next year and I'm always late.

Right now. I can take my whole spi gear apart and put it on the boat in a very short timespan. I haven't measured how much but singlehanded it should be doable in less than 3 minutes or less.


This is how it works.

-1- I assume the rest of the boat is setup as we are talking additional time of setting up the spi gear and not the time needed to step the mast and fit the trapeze lines.

-2- The ratchet blocks to the sidestays chainplates are premanently fixed and never come off. I have Riley autoracthets here and they are very suitable to that job. The plastic is off better quality than ronstand and the racthet mechanism is fully exposed meaning that if can be unstock with a little water very quickly. They are also very much cheaper than the Ronstan (65 %) and Harken (less than halve) gear so replacing these every few season is not biggy. (no time spend here)

-3- The second set of autoratchets blocks come of with a quick release setup. Some 100 mm on the inside of the hulls and about 30 mm of the mainbeam I have two grommets in my trampoline. I have two pieces of line with a loop on one end and a beat on the other. Between these I have some 300 mm of single line. I put the loop throught the grommet from underneath the trampoline and then through the eye of the autoratchets. I then loop the end with the beat over the mainbeam and push the beat throught he little loop at the other end. SNAP ! this autoratchet is fixed and won't come off. (20 seconds for both sides) Okay at one afternoon you need to adjust the length of the loop but even that didn't take me more then 5 minutes. There is a trick to bowline knots that lets you adjust these very easily without undoing the knot completely. Fitted these two extra autoratchets takes me about 20 second for both sides.

-4- Run the spi sheet through the 4 ratchet blocks = about 20 seconds. The block and spi sheet takes a total of 40 seconds.

-5- Grap the spi pole with the snuffer permanently attached. Shove it over the pin at the mastbase OR rest it on the bea while the forward end rests on the ground. Now I have 4 pieces of line with a loop on one end. Two of these have a bowline on the other end and the other two have a figure 8 knot there. First the shorter lines with the figure 8 knot. I loop both their loops around the spi pole (right in front of my bridle strut) and pull the linse through their own loops. Both are now attached to the spi pole (20 seconds) Now I take the figure 8 knot end and push this through the tangs near the bridle chainplates than I loop it once underneath itself and pull the knot tight. The figure 8 not at the end prevents the hitch from undoing itself as long as this line remains under tension while sailing. I tdo the same for the other side (again 20 seconds). Then to the tip of the pole. I fit the loops to the pole here in the same way as the others. Than I fit the other ends to the tips of the hulls as show in the attached picture. (adding 40 seconds to the total). Than I lift the pole up putting all the lines under mild pretension and fix the bridle strut to the bridle intersection. The pole is not fixed (another 20 seconds again) = total to fit the pole = 100 seconds

-6- I run a line runing through my snuffer sock when I take out the retrieval line after I took the boat apart. I use this line to pull the retrieval line back through the snuffer sock again. (20 seconds)

-7- I store my spinnaker in my spi bag in such a way that the little line attached to the top patch runs through all the patches and keeps them in line. My spi (after drying )is stored in the bag in the same way as it sits in the snuffer sock only it is curled up to fit in the bag. I take the spi out and put it under my left armpit while I hold the line with the patches. I grap between the sheets of spinnaker cloth to the top patch. This is actually quite easy with the spi bundled up like this and when you know to start to work your way in from the leech or luff (never from the foot). This way it only takes a few seconds to get hold of the line at the top patch. While holding it with left hand I I run the real retrieval line through the aligned patches and throught the bead, tying it off to the line at the top patch with a figure 8 knot. (40 seconds) Then I pull the spi in the snuffer straight away. As it is already folded as it should be it will go right in. (20 seconds) I do not pull it in fully but let the last 500 mm hang out. Note that this lets the tack, top and clew of the spi hang out of the snuffer !

-8- I know attach the halyards to the tack and top first and then I attach the sheet to the tack. If you pull the halyards a little bit tight first before attaching the sheets than you can never tie it on the wrong way. This way you are also sure that the retrieval line, sheet and halyard line will never have been looped around eachother. (40 seconds)

-9- I now pull the spi completely in the snuffer and the spi setup is ready to go. (total setup from scratch time = about 240 seconds - 3 min when working actively but without any haste)

With two people you should be able to fit the stuff in under 2 min.

Also the technic with the knots will always set up the pole to the exacte same position as the times before. There is no trimming or finetuning involded. Also no stainless or alu fittings are used only line and plastic beads. This of course weights next to nothing and is easily replaced after a few seasons of weather wearing down the components.

Therefor it is fast, fully effective, lightweight and cheap !

What more can you ask for.

In my case I want to sail solo without the pole from time to time (as an A-cat) especially during evenings after work as our summer evenings have daylight till 10 pm. And I can now take off the pole and snuffer and put it in the trailer or shed within (seriously) 30 seconds. Than use another 120 seconds to put the main up fit the mainsheet blocks and go sailing.

I do still need to fit the snap on system on my rudders though. Fitting those little rings takes the most time on my boat right now. Easily 1 or 2 minutes.

See attachments in the next posts

So many times I wonder why people will hang themselfs up on issues like this and not choose to spend some time working out some better faster ways of doing things. Sure in the beginning it took me over 10 minutes to fit the spinnaker as well but I knew from the beginning that when given some time and effort I could get it down to only a few minutes or even less than that (when being helped by your crew). This is principle is also a mindset issue


Wouter