What is the best line (type and size) for my spin halyard/tack/retrieval lines? I'm looking for low friction on the sails, snuffer, etc yet easy to grab. Also, my small spinlock needs to hold it well.

Please advise.

I like the Marlow Racing 4 mil. Strip the cover when it has to go thru a snuffer or where it will contact the spin, it will wear a spin or a carbon snuffer, the cover is abrasive, but the core is nice a smooth.

It is easy to stip and bury the cover. If you dont know how, check out this link http://www.samsonrope.com/home/pdf/ClassII_Core_Dep_Strip_Inst.pdf

I've got this stuff on my spin halyard and the retreival line, and the halyard (same line, on a loop) and the tack line, works great, hold well in cleats.

Eric:

I use a Vectron 1/8 inch spliced into a Conception 1/4 inch (for the hands). You can buy it spliced from APS. Make sure the cleat is gripping down on the Conception. Vectron for windage and weight attaches to the Spinnaker Head.

Later,
Dan

Just get some New England V-100, either 3/16" or 1/4" depending on what size you like, and have it tapered (I can do it, and I have several hundred feet in stock). Rick sells it on this site. This is a great line! See attachment.

I've tried Flightline with the cover stripped off the section from above the mast cleat to the sail head. Stuff is very light and grippy, and more importantly loose part on tramp does not like to hockle up during hoists/douses. Have not been able to find it is 3/16 yet, which would be ideal.

Probably should not be letting this tip out to this site as Dan D. here surely doesn't need any help beating me more than he does already, but we've been using some super-duper glove technology that grips like nothing else. I'm seriously thinking of using only 1/8 dyneema core for the entire halyard/douse line because of these gloves. To find these gloves, just stop by your HomeDepot or similar on the drive home from work and find the large box of cotton gardening gloves with the palms dipped in (usually) blue latex. They smell like rubber bands and this will stay on your hands for a day after using. They are pretty much shot after a 3-4 races, but at $8 for a pack of 3 pairs, why not buy a whole mega box load! Can be worn over standard Ronstan gloves for even better performance/comfort.

P.S., they are also available in pink for the ladies (Dan's crewmate ;-)

Mike.

Mike:

Thanks for the compliments.

Later,
Dan

Dan,

How does the skinny line work out on the douse?

Chris.

Yes, Flightline looks like a really nice line. I haven't tried it personally, but it has a thin SK75(dyneema) core and a nice grippy polypropolene cover. It seems to have been designed with spinnakers in mind and I expect we'll see a lot of it around.

A while back, I bought a box of knitted kevlar gloves with nitrile coating on the palms & fingers (for handling cut glass). Maybe I should try those instead of my Harken gloves sometime...

Chris:

The crew never feels the 1/8 inch Vectron. The 1/4 inch Conception goes to the dousing holes in the spinnaker. The other reason, besides grip, I picked the Conception is the weight issue. While flying the chute the Conception is hanging on the spinnaker. If you think about it the bottom hole in the spinnaker for take down should be right at the place that you are grabbing the line to pull it down.

I tie an additional knot about 18 inches from the top hole, that stops at the bottom hole, so the dousing points do not enter the snuffer at the same time. This makes for a really nice entry, and subsequent exit, to the sock. I have an endpole snuffer and only pull by two points. That saves some wear on that light material as well. I could splice that last 18 inches and save some weight aloft but have not gone that far yet.

Later,
Dan

Re gloves...one of the biggest diff I notice with the very grippy gloves...hand fatigue is very much reduced. You don't need to squeeze much at all to hold line even under high loads...great for long off-wind spin sheet or upwind main sheet holding periods.

Mike.