how long should the sheets be on a chute? my boat is 20' x 13.5' with a sprit 5' past the bows. the lines that i have now are about 60' and continuous. they are not long enough. it makes the boat a treat to gybe but i can not dump out enough line to depower the sail.
<br>thanx<br><br>

It depeneds somewhat on the foot length of the kite. My guess would be 84' of 5/16" marstron or similar.
<br>
<br>Mark A. Michaelsen ~MM~
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With my limited experience with chutes, this would be my best analaysis. You would need to figure the mininim needed to go completely around the perimeter of the boat with some left to handle. Roughly figuring the OAL with the pole you would need 78'. Mark M.'s estimate of 84' sounds right to me.
<br>
<br>Clayton<br><br>

84' sounds good. i all most lost her yesterday. came through a gybe, hit a puff and up she went! dumped the kite and the main but she was still going over! i lept up to the high side and thought to myself, '#$#@, this is going to be cold!' well, that will teach me to single hand with the chute.
<br>thanx<br><br>

Hi Basketcase, The easiest mistake to make when determining the length for your spinnaker sheets is to not consider the extra length needed when trapezing. This alone can add 12 feet to the length needed because it has to be doubled (6' out to a fully extended crew and 6' back). Another easy mistake to make is not considering the extra length needed for going two to one at the end of the sheet. Depending on how far the clew block is from the sheet block, that distance is also doubled and that distance can vary depending on the sail angle. The third easy mistake is to not count the extra distance a second set of sheet blocks can add to the length. It is rare that these are used WITH 2/1 sheeting, but I have seen both used together. When all these things are considered, you need to have much more sheet than you might otherwise consider. Even after you have supplied the right length based on these considerations, it is easy to forget why you have SO MUCH extra sheet and then cut some of it off, especially after racing in a bunch of light air races. Then when you race again in a breeze you don't have enough sheet to do what you need to do! Only then do you have a forehead slapping moment and remember why those sheets were so long before! Hope this helps.<br><br>

thanks mike.
<br> i have racks on the boat for the 'non trimmer' to use. i usually trim the chute from the low side of the boat with its one to one sheet. my boat is not a standard production beach cat. she is a bit of an odd ball. "basketcase" is a moddified tomcat 6.2. she has no solid bridge deck but just a set of tramps. dagger boards insted of the one center board and a 32' carbon stick. she looks like a big cat, she sails like a big cat, but she is a small boat.<br><br>

Mr. Case,
<br>
<br>Mikes' comments were really right on. I don't know if your spin trimmer will always be on the low side? Last Saturday in Galveston Bay, we reached for twenty miles to the mark, double trapped the whole way, with the chute all the way. If you have the water, I find it easier and more productive to bear away, and ease the spin sheet very little, using the helm to keep it in it's 'window' with a hull flying, double trapped.
<br>I have a ratchet block, then a block I can turn on or off the ratchet, and a 2 to 1 I can use if it's really loading up on the crew. It does make for alot of sheet on deck, and the Nacra 6.0 already has a very cluttered deck eith the 4-way jib system and all. This is also why I want to try this snuffer I've been planning. I now have all the parts, plans, just need to make it happen, and will soon. We're still in the 80's around here.
<br>Mr. Case, your boat sounds pretty cool, must be a chore getting a D-PN for it huh?
<br>
<br>Todd Bouton<br><br>

thanx. i try to trim the chute by the helm but all of this came out of a gybe.
<br> the set up on the boat is not too bad but i would like to put together a snuffer for her. i find the straight purchase on the chute to be enough. most of the time i do not use it in over 15 knots any way.
<br> i dont have a d-pn for the boat, i race under a lorc (lake ontario racing councle) handicap, mostly against monohulls.<br><br>