Spinnaker

[BAB97TIE]

I Would Like To Use A Spinnaker On My Oday 222 But Do Not Know Where To Begin.
What Size Sail?
What Else Do I Need?
How To Rig It?
Bets Place To Buy Sail?

Thanks For Any Help.

 

[Joe11688]

I Would Like To Use A Spinnaker On My Oday 222 But Do Not Know Where To Begin.
What Size Sail?
What Else Do I Need?
How To Rig It?
Bets Place To Buy Sail?

Thanks For Any Help.

I have to admit that I know nothing about Spinnakers. No one in my club has one on his sloop as far as I know. I've always wanted one, but being a single hander, it would be hard to set up a shoot by myself unless I could do it with the aid of my auto pilot. So with that said, if I wanted to find out any information on what size shoot to buy, I'd go to a sail maker and ask. They have all the specs on most sailboats including the OD 222. He could also give you an idea of the hardware needed for the shoot. You may want to look into a cruising Spinnaker or a Gennaker. They make a special long sock that comes down over it and douses the Spinnaker with a pull of the line. At any rate, a sail maker can steer you in the right direction, I'm sure.
Joe

 

[Shoaldrafter]

Spinnakersssss

I Would Like To Use A Spinnaker On My Oday 222 But Do Not Know Where To Begin.
What Size Sail?
What Else Do I Need?
How To Rig It?
Bets Place To Buy Sail?

Thanks For Any Help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are two kinds of Spinnakers, symetrical and asymetrical. Study the differences.

For beginners you do not need spinnaker poles. Just a free hayard on the mast head. Best if halyard is thru a block on a bail, but to start, it can be flown with only a free halyard to hoist sail.

A sysmetrical can be flow with just the halyard and two sheets.

An asymetrical is best attached to the front of the boat in some manner. A block on the bow pulpit will work if you have a bow pulpit. Otherwise you have to fix an attachment point fore of the jib. A spinnaker pole solves that issue. However, most spinnaker poles use toping lift so another block up the mast is needed.

To learn how to use a spinnaker a friend of mine who teaches how to use spinnakers recommends one smaller that what is recommended for your boat. Use the smaller spinnaker to learn how to fly the kite. Then move up if you want to.

Buy an old spinnaker to start. Usually you can get a small serviceable one for a couple of hundred bucks. Check local guys who grind up sail boats to take to the dump. I still have an old one off a lightning 19 which I use on a 26 foot boat. I also have a huge one.

Sail loffs will give you a suggested measurement for a spinnaker for your boat. Then find one a tad smaller to start with. Do not buy a racing spinnaker made for your boat to start. Too much money.

Several of the Used Sail Lofts have on line listing of used spinnakers. Also, Captain Herring provides a classifed for such stuff on this web site.

If you do not have extra sheave at masthead then you will need a spinnaker masthead bail. Read the West Catalog. Mast has to be down to put bail on. Remember to have block and halyard on before raising mast.

Have fun...

Ed K
26
Addendum:

 

[RichBone]

Spinnakers can be a lot of fun. As noted above there are two types-
Symmetrical and asymmetrical.
If you're just cruising or casual day sailing or short handed an asymmetrical can be considered. The tack is usually attached with an adjustable pendant to the stemhead, either in front of or behind the headstay. The pendant is used to raise or lower the tack depending how it's being used. The pendant is let out, raising the tack and opening up the luff when going down wind and lowered when the wind is on the beam, tightening the luff so to use the sail more like a headsail. The clew of the sail has a sheet led back to a block near the stern and then to the winch. When gibing the clew is usually brought around the outside of the headstay to the other side. It can be done with one sheet and just moved from one side to the other or with two sheets like the jib. No pole is used with an asymmetrical and there is not much extra hardware needed.
A symmetrical spinnaker on the other hand needs more hardware and a little more learning, but they're more fun too. A symmetrical has to be flown with a pole. You'll need a pad eye on the front of the mast to attach one end of the pole, a line attached to a bridle on top of the pole to hold it up and fed through a block higher up on the mast and if possible led back to the cockpit and another line hooked on a bridle on the bottom of the pole and fed through a block below it on the deck then back to the cockpit. This setup raises and lowers the outboard end of the pole which is hooked to a line attached to the tack of the sail. That line is led back to a block near the stern and then to the winch. Pole higher downwind and lower as the wind goes forward. The clew of the sail has a sheet run back to a block near the stern and then to the winch, on the other side, of course. The tack and the clew change when the spinnaker is gibed. The pole now on the other side of the boat and attached to the other corner, which is now the tack.
The sails can both be used with the wind forward of the beam but not as much as the headsail. It can be exciting using the spinnaker like this as it can develop quite a bit of power as the wind picks up.
Launching and retrieving the "chute" are also things to consider.

Most of the major lofts have info and instructions on their websites:
http://www.na.northsails.com/Home/tabid/1907/Default.aspx
http://www.hood-sails.com/
http://www.quantumsails.com/
http://www.doylesails.com/

To name just a few. There are many more.

Rich

 

[Shoaldrafter]

Spinnakers can be a lot of fun. As noted above there are two types-
Symmetrical and asymmetrical.
If you're just cruising or casual day sailing or short handed an asymmetrical can be considered. The tack is usually attached with an adjustable pendant to the stemhead, either in front of or behind the headstay. The pendant is used to raise or lower the tack depending how it's being used. The pendant is let out, raising the tack and opening up the luff when going down wind and lowered when the wind is on the beam, tightening the luff so to use the sail more like a headsail. The clew of the sail has a sheet led back to a block near the stern and then to the winch. When gibing the clew is usually brought around the outside of the headstay to the other side. It can be done with one sheet and just moved from one side to the other or with two sheets like the jib. No pole is used with an asymmetrical and there is not much extra hardware needed.
A symmetrical spinnaker on the other hand needs more hardware and a little more learning, but they're more fun too. A symmetrical has to be flown with a pole. You'll need a pad eye on the front of the mast to attach one end of the pole, a line attached to a bridle on top of the pole to hold it up and fed through a block higher up on the mast and if possible led back to the cockpit and another line hooked on a bridle on the bottom of the pole and fed through a block below it on the deck then back to the cockpit. This setup raises and lowers the outboard end of the pole which is hooked to a line attached to the tack of the sail. That line is led back to a block near the stern and then to the winch. Pole higher downwind and lower as the wind goes forward. The clew of the sail has a sheet run back to a block near the stern and then to the winch, on the other side, of course. The tack and the clew change when the spinnaker is gibed. The pole now on the other side of the boat and attached to the other corner, which is now the tack.
The sails can both be used with the wind forward of the beam but not as much as the headsail. It can be exciting using the spinnaker like this as it can develop quite a bit of power as the wind picks up.
Launching and retrieving the "chute" are also things to consider.

Most of the major lofts have info and instructions on their websites:
http://www.na.northsails.com/Home/tabid/1907/Default.aspx
http://www.hood-sails.com/
http://www.quantumsails.com/
http://www.doylesails.com/

To name just a few. There are many more.

Rich

Rich,

So you are telling us the spinnaker pole is 5 foot up the mast hidden by the spinnaker with this boat?

Ed K
26

 

[LANCE ON CLOUD NINE]

It is possible your mast already has a bail and block on it- many O'Days came with them. Look up at the top of the mast- the bail is like a little stainless horseshoe shape- sticking out forward-with the rounded part toward front of boat. The pulley block attaches to this. This helps keep the spin halyard just a little forward and untangled from jib. Have fun! P.S. Try and wrap tape over any bolt threads or cotter key ends so you don't snag the sail.

 

[RichBone]

I don't understand your question.

Rich

 

[RichBone]

BAB97TIE- Here are some sites I found that shows spinnaker setup:
http://www.hmc.edu/org/sailing/sailing-spinnaker.htm
http://www.sailmakers.com/sails-chute.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=514494
http://tripatlas.com/Spinnaker
http://www.bostonharborsailing.com/results/manual-Spinnakerclassv1.pdf

Rich

 

[Shoaldrafter]

Rich aka Rbone, said,"...

BAB97TIE- Here are some sites I found that shows spinnaker setup:
http://www.hmc.edu/org/sailing/sailing-spinnaker.htm
http://www.sailmakers.com/sails-chute.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=514494
http://tripatlas.com/Spinnaker
http://www.bostonharborsailing.com/results/manual-Spinnakerclassv1.pdf

Rich

Rich said, "I do not understand question"

In prior post, Rich said, "A symmetrical spinnaker on the other hand needs more hardware and a little more learning, but they're more fun too. A symmetrical has to be flown with a pole."

Rich, some of us do not sail by the book. A symmetrical does not require more hardware and a little more learning. Nor does a symmetrical need to be flown with a pole.

A symmetrical spinnaker can be flown downwind with just a block on top of mast for halyard to raise sail and two sheets. One sheet to each corner and back to cockpit. Not fancy, not for racing, but it does work. I dooed it many times. I use it to get home in very light airs. Typically my wind home is from south or south west or west. Just drag out spinnaker, attach two sheets and attach to halyard and hoist.

It does work. Furthermore, I learned it from others who did the same. It has been done to my knowledge on Hartwell Lake, Kentucky Lake and Chesapeake Bay.

All those highly technical sights are good after you fly a spinnaker and understand what the maximum uses it can be put to. Not necessary for rookies.

Ed K
26

 

[kdnichols]

Re: Rich aka Rbone, said,"...

I have a spinnaker for an Oday 23 that I bought as a "package deal" from a guy in tampa. It's a colorful Neil Pryde spinnaker. If you're interested in buying it, I would sell it.

I don't see myself ever using it...since I single hand most of the time on a medium sized lake.

Kevin

 

[Shoaldrafter]

Kevin on small lake, ... all sailors see Addendum!

I have a spinnaker for an Oday 23 that I bought as a "package deal" from a guy in tampa. It's a colorful Neil Pryde spinnaker. If you're interested in buying it, I would sell it.

I don't see myself ever using it...since I single hand most of the time on a medium sized lake.

Kevin

Kevin,

You said you had a spinnaker, but did not use it. You said you did not use it because you single hand on a 23 foot boat.

I learned to use a spinnaker on a 22 foot boat. I used it single handed. Early on all I had was an extra unused sheive on top of the mast that I had the good sense or luck to have run a small line thru for the day that I might need it.

I attached an improved halyard to the line and ran it thru the shieve and used it try out if I use make a spinnaker work.

In the summer months around here, in late afternoon the wind tyically drops off to 0 to 4 mph. And for me to get back to the dock I need a wind anywhere but from the east.

So one summer afternoon about two miles from the dock, the wind almost disappeared. After trying to keep sails inflated for an hour, I put sails away and dragged out spinnaker bag. I attached top of sail to halyard and somewhat serviceable lines to each corner. (note that early on I did not use spinnaker pole nor proper block on bail at top of mast)

Hoisted sail and in the gentle zypher found myself sailing home without 'Iron Genny'. It was that first sail that illustrated that it could be done and it was what a spinnaker was for. Give it a try before you part with sail.

I do not have a power boat so I was happy with my gentle movement to the dock at 2 knots.

Ed K
26

Addendum:
He is a web site that I received from a Potter sailor in Maine:
http://www.vintagewings-millersfield.com/fallfoliagetrips2008.html

Special thanks for this reference can be mailed to Robert Skinner aka Bob Skinner at:
Robert@SquirrelHaven.com

 

[kdnichols]

Ed,

You've got Lake Hartwell to fly that spinnaker.

Right now...I'm sailing in Lake Monticello (which is a nice medium sized lake).

It seems like a lot of work to pull out the spinnaker.

I do hear some people who typically use their jib halyard and two makeshift sheets without the spinnaker pole.

Maybe on a slow day, I'll pull out that rainbow spinnaker and try it.

Kevin