I've just recently bought a new Hobie Tiger. I noticed something strange about the spinnaker setup: With the stock spinnaker pole bridles the head of the spinnaker does not get right up to the pulley on the mast - even with the spin halyard tight. There is at around a foot long 'pigtail' of spinnaker halyard between the pulley and the head of the spinnaker.

I spoke with a local Tiger expert who said that a bunch of the boats at nationals were rigged like this. He used to lengthen the bridle lines to get rid of this 'pigtail', but has since changed his setup to match the fastest boats (which seems to be how the boat is rigged as stock on the 2005 models).

We can't figure out why this pigtail at the top of the chute adds any advantage. It seems like on a reach it lets the chute twist off to leeward which doesn't seem like a great idea.

Anyone care to explain the merits (or otherwise) of this system?

Chris.

Chris,

First, your stock spin pole end bridles should be tight. There should also be a slight upward bend in the pole where you tie it off under the forestay. This is structural and will make your spin pole stronger (less likely to break). If you set the tack of the spin at the end of the spinnaker pole, you CAN NOT hoist the spin head all the way to the halyard return block at the top end of the mast. The halyard return block is secured by a line tied to the top of the mast and a bail (line on new Tigers or a stainless bail on older ones) that runs perpendicular thru the return block about 18 inches from the top of the mast. This keeps the block close to the mast but still allows mast rotation freedom. See F18 Rule B.2.1.4 for Spinnaker Hoist Height specifications. There will be about 10-14 inches of "pigtail" as you call it. This pigtail length will vary depending on how much tension you put on the spin luff and where you position the "plastic stopper ball". F18/Tigers have been running snug on the luff tension in order to carry the chute on a slightly higher (and faster) point of sail downwind. Luff tension can be adjusted while sailing by letting off on the tack line or spin halyard a bit but you generally want to be snug. A tension line inside the luff will prolong with life of the spin. Hope this info helps.

John Bauldry
Hobie Tiger 1317

Actually you want the luff to be softer in order to sail higher (i.e. reaching)...it's contrary to what you are used to with hard luff sails and I was corrected on it some time ago myself - but consider this; as you loosen the luff of the kite, the whole thing will rotate to leeward moving farther away from the wind - this means that you have to sail higher in order to keep air in the spinnaker. If you tighten the luff, the sail is rotated more to windward meaning you can sail deeper and still keep it breathing properly.

I know the I20 guys position their halyard stopper balls to set the luff tension on their kites so they can grab the luff with their fist and rotate 90 degrees. We've been doing the same thing on my Nacra F18 and it seems to work pretty well. In order for me to get that luff tension on my Nacra however, I have to tie the tack and head knots as small and tight as possible to get a full hoist because both corners bottom out just when the tension gets right.

What kind/diameter of line are people using for the tension line?

I agree with you Jake - this is what I do when reaching with the chute in distance races. Seems to work well.



This is how I set up the boat originally - tight stock bridle lines and some pre-bend in the pole, tack of the spin at the end of the pole and enough length on the 'pigtail' to get appropriate luff tension.

My question is - why not raise up the pole and eliminate the pigtail? - you can still keep the same luff tension this way. I have cut off the stock bridles and replaced them with vectran line which gives flexibility to adjust pole height.

It seems to me this pigtail lets the head of the spinnaker move around vs being able to hoist the spin right up close to the pulley on the mast.

I guess the pigtail lets you lower the pole which will generate less upward lift on the spinnaker and more forward drive?



That's also how I have set up my Tiger - but our local Tiger hotshot runs his tighter - only around 45° degrees of twist. There must be an 'optimum' luff tension that changes depending on wind speed and if you are bouy racing or reaching. Looser for higher reaching seems to stop the leading edge of the kite collapsing.

Chris.

The tighter luff curls more, letting you sail deeper; looser flattens for reaching. I don't know, cause I haven't done a lot of spinnaker sailing on beachcats, but having the head of the kite a foot or two from the mast would tend to allow more "slot" and might promote flow over the upper part of the sail. Just a thought. Oh, and like the other poster said, it keeps the sail lower too.

The amount of leftover at the spi halyard is relative to the amount of mast rake, given that the pole height is fixed.
Actually, the Tiger was originally set up to sail with less mast rake than is currently the norm. We used to fully hoist the Tiger spi until we started to use more rake.
It is nice to have a little leeway there to allow a little flexibility with spi luff tension- more in the breeze, less in the light stuff.
I like to have as much spi luff tension as i can whilst allowing the spi to set correctly (not needing to be oversheeted). It varies for different wind strengths and therefore a fixed hoist is not really suitable.