I would like to ask a question on spinnaker care. For those of you with a snuffer system, what period of time will you leave the spinnaker stored in the snuffer bag between outings (or do you remove it after each sail)?

For those not facing a tropical storm in the gulf like us, have a nice weekend of sailing.

Thank you,

Bob Klein
College Station TX

Hi Bob, When facing a tropical storm you should take the spinnaker out of the snuffer and store it off the boat. In fact, you should take the snuffer off the boat also. As long as your at it, you should take the boat apart and store it somewhere safe too! When not facing tropical storms, you should be sure that the spinnaker is not being affected by UV light exposure (as it would be inside a solid colored bag, for example). If it is inside a mesh bag or has other exposure, then take it out whenever you are done sailing. A spinnaker will get a tie dyed look pretty quickly from UV exposure and the cloth will rapidly deteriorate.

Well, I have to travel with the boat quite a bit for racing, so I take the spin out of the snuffer each time I break it down. I leave it on during the regattas, but that's about it.

With the use I get out of the spin, I'm more likely to blow it out than have it come apart from UV exposure. I replace them about every 2 years, but by then they're as soft as bedsheets and about as useful...