First I want to thank everyone for their help with my spinnaker questions for retrofitting to my 5.8. And, I apologize for the new forum name (old one jes58 -nephew cleaned up/out my computer that had the UN/PW’S auto stored and now there gone, and the original email account used is no longer).

Anyhow, we have the spinnaker all ready to go but due to work schedules and new baby in the house, I am not going have a chance to test it until the first race of the Land Rover Island series. That said, I know little on how to manipulate the sail, and really don’t know much about the mechanics and theory? Are these lift creating sails, balloons - parachutes, etc… Is it better to have your jib deployed or furled? Traveler and main – I know the main will be acting as the backstay and needs to be sheeted, what about traveler any benchmark settings. Controlling the spinnaker itself, what I do know if it collapses let it out, and if it over powers yank it in – is this correct?

And is there anything written on this?

Thanks

And not to forget:

•May 20 – Hardway Race – Santa Barbara to Ventura - PBYC
•July 2 – Frenchy’s Rum Run – Ventura to Anacapa Island & Back – VSC
•July 15 – Milt Ingram Race - Ventura around Anacapa Island to port - PBYC
•August 26 – Tri Point Race – Ventura around Anacapa Island to starboard - PBYC
•TBA – Anacapa Challenge – One Day Milt Ingram Course – next day Tri Point Course

This is a big topic but I'll try to outline some basics:

Mainsail trim with spinnaker:
I use three leech tails placed on my main. The middle one goes straight back from the hoist height of the head of the jib (right about at the mast hound), the second one goes mid-point between that one and the top of the sail, and the third one goes the same distance between the top two below the middle one. When sailing downwind with the spinnaker, I trim the main so that the leech tails are streaming back but flicking to leeward about every 3-5 seconds or so. Use your traveler and mainsheet tension together to control the amount of twist in the mainsail so all of these are showing similar activity. If in doubt, sheet harder. If the wind is light (on the F18) I usually end up traveling out 10 inches from center and leaving the mainsheet just snug. If it's blowing 10 or better, the traveler is centered and sheeted pretty hard.

Jib Trim:
We trim the jib to try and keep the tales flying. The angle you sail will affect the jib dramatically. Figuring out the proper downwind angle to sail in light air is tricky and experience is really going to be necessary to figure this out. If it's windy, the wind will dictate how high you sail and your decision will be whether or not someone should trapeze. The jib provides only a small amount of drive with the spinnaker up so we don't spend much time with it - but we do try to manage the sheeting tension and twist so that all the tales are flying. If it is very light and the breeze will not support the weight of the jib, we furl it out of the way so it will not choke off the little breeze reaching the main.

Spinnaker trim:
Luff tension, for optimum downwind power, should be set so that when fully hoisted, you can grab a fist-full of luff and turn your hand 90 degrees before the luff gets tight and prevents your hand from turning further. If you are going to try and reach high with the spinnaker (often in distance racing or when sailing to an offset mark) you should ease the tack line several inches to let the spinnaker rotate more. No matter the angle of sail, your crew should trim the sail so that the luff is on the verge of collapsing...in fact, it should curl inward occasionally - once every 5 seconds or so. It takes a bit of skill and anticipation to keep the spinnaker on this edge without being surprised by a wind shift causing a catastrophic full collapse - this will undoubtedly happen the second the crew takes their eyes off the spinnaker to look around.

Thanks Jake, that's awesome. I love how much you guys are willing to share, and how much it helps me conceptualize what I'm supposed to be doing.

dave

One thing about being overpowered with the spinnaker up. You have two courses of action that largely depend on your targeted course. If you are sailing deep for VMG to a downwind mark, you want to bear the boat away further downwind when you are affected by an increase in wind pressure that raises a hull. The crew should continue to maintain proper trim on the spinnaker because if the helm can get the timing right, the boat will bear away exactly as the boat tries to power up and speed up. The net result is that the boat will mostly maintain the same speed but you will be sailing a lower angle closer to the mark - your apparent wind will not change very much so you will not need to make any large trimming adjustments. The trick to staying fast is to be able to anticipate when the gust will subside and start steering the boat back up to the higher course before your speed starts to drop off. You will also find that if you can catch the remaining wind pressure just right as the windward hull starts to drop back down to the water, that you will get a short little boost in speed.

The second method of depowering, you will use if you are already trying to sail as high as possible to reach a mark you have overstood or, again, distance racing. Use the traveler to dump mainsail power - don't touch the mainsheet, just start easing the travler before you try and turn the boat downwind. You will find that it takes a pretty large movement of the traveler to have an affect. As with sailing upwind, downhaul on the mainsail can have a pretty big effect on power even with the spinnaker up and we use it as well if we are trying to reach up high over a long distance.

If you find yourself suddenly overpowered such that you cannot react to it (aka "shooting the mine") I believe leaving the spinnaker sheeted can help pull you back from the depths. Most importantly, however, as the boat quickly decelerates from the sudden increase of liquid resistance, the people-weight must remain at the back of the boat to have any chance of recovery. If you suspect you are in conditions that may precipitate such a condition, stay planted and both the helm and the crew should have a very firm grip on the boat. While driving in these conditions, I usually let the hiking stick skim behind the boat while I hold directly onto the cross bar in a nealing position, facing forward with my windward hand holding firmly onto the side lacing of the trampoline with the traveler line in that same hand. Occasionally in this circumstance, as the boat goes in and the rudders come clear of the water, the boat will want to turn and round up (aka "deathroll"). In this circumstance, the crew needs to release the spinnaker sheet quickly and the traveler needs to be released as well.

Next lesson; managing power and speed while sailing under spinnaker in significant wave action....

When sailing uni, I'll be pretty busy at times!

Jake - this is great stuff - keep it comming - appreciate it.

Another trick when reaching with the kite (e.g. distance racing) and you need to send the crew low side to clear boards/rudders: As well as traveling down, oversheet the kite and stall it out. This really settles the boat down.

Obviously you don't want to sail like this for long 'cause the boat will be dogging, but when you are jammed up close to the outer break of the surf when reaching with a sea breeze, turning down is not an option.

As well as downhauling the main to depower with the spin, pulling the rotator back will also help depower the top section of the sail by letting the mast bend off more to leeward. Just make sure you have a nice strong mast.

All these tricks can help you keep the kite up longer when reaching and the angle is getting hotter and hotter as the wind clocks through the day. And he who keeps it up longest wins

Do not take this out of context!

... we oversheet the chute to reach sometimes. The boards up make a HUGE difference IMO.

Interesting, some headsails like a tight luff for sailing closer to the wind (jib, Screecher/hooter) and looser to sail deeper. True? Why would a cat assymetrical spin be different?

I am not doubting the accuracy of your trim method, but may do some testing. I am assuming you loosen the spin/gen because it is fuller than the jib/screecher and you need the extra "play" to effectively trim the luff curl. I wonder at what "fullness" of sail cut that it becomes beneficial to ease the luff?

What about symmetrical spins? I thought you eased the spin halyard tension to go deep and tighten to go high (thinking of J-22). Mmmmm....may not be applicable since the speeds/apparent wind are so much different.

Reason is that when you have a tight luff, you are pulling the curve in the luff forward and so it cannot flatten.

BY letting a little off, you allow the sail to move back a little and so it flattens (as it moves backwards)

This, in my opinion, is the toughest trick in sailing: As you accelerate down a wave, the chute is overrun and starts to collapse so the crew sheets, sheets, sheets. Meanwhile the driver is steering down and across the wave trying to hang on to it as long as possible. The crew by now has caught up with the sail and starts to ease, ease, ease to keep it pulling and helping the driver stay with the wave. Once the wave passes, the driver quickly steers up and out of the trough before the boat stalls out, so the crew must again sheet, sheet, sheet to keep up with the higher angle, then ease, ease, ease as the boat gets out of the trough and the driver heads down. (Don't forget to breath.)
Watching the best teams pull this off is a beautiful thing and one of the biggest reasons these teams win so often. I know how to do it, but getting my body to respond in time with the driver (or crew if I'm driving) is a different matter. When it does happen properly, the feeling of speed and control is amazing; there is no greater thrill in sailing. If you're looking for a demonstration of this maneuver, watch Kenny Pierce. He is the master of wave sailing and one of the best front-of-the-boat technicians out there.

The soft-luff spinnaker is designed for an apparent wind angle around 90 degrees. If you are trying to run it considerably higher, the front collapses because it is so full and soft. I'm not sure if the sail actually flattens when you ease the tack line or if it helps because it simply lets the sail rotate around to the side more where it can catch wind at a better angle. While this does help keep the sail full it makes the sailing goove extremely narrow and the spin sheet loads are really tough on the crew. We spent about 50% of last year's Tybee tight reaching with the chute. The angle was so high that we were probably only gaining about 1/10 of a knot.

A little big picture overview, my less than two cents. I am a mono-hull and multihull sailor. So trying to offer a broad perspective. My first experience with cat spinakers was the Hobie 21 when it first came out with a chute. That design sucked. Built by monohull sailors is all I can figure. Problem, too full for a cat (think low and slow). I then went to Prindle 19 with spinnaker and now RC27. Technolgy in asymetricals for both cats and mono-hulls (melges 24s) has been flatter over all these years. Objective is to get the apparent wind all the way forward. You should be going down wind so fast that your main is all the way in and jib and spinaker are all the way in. Your apparent wind is so far forward you must drive off. You will be flying down wind at twice the speed of competition (trying to sail conventionally). This is how Randy Smyth does so well. It is how the top sailors in Melges 24s do it now. It has taken years for many to realize. I think this is the reason the hooter was so popular and effective. However if you do not push the apparent wind far enough forward it will not work. Too many use mono hull experience to influence technique on a catamaran. I bumped into Randy Smyth racing his tri down at the St Pete NOODS and asked him about the Volvo 40 program. He basically said they sheet everything in all the way whether going up wind or down wind the sails are adjusted the same. Full speed all the time. The arguement has always been which is better low and slow or high and fast. Answer high and fast, real high....no, higher than that...
Of course this will not work with no wind, it is an overview. However, Randy came on our boat to race with us and I can not stress the difference in how high he sailed the boat verses what I had been used too. I literally thought we were going up wind. However the results were basically amazing. Just passing along some great advise from a great sailor (that sailor being Randy).

good luck.