A symetrical spinniker

[shanker]

Hello all,

I pick my H260 up in two weeks and it comes with an a symetrical spinniker. The owner is going to spend a day showing me the boat but he mentioned that he has never used this sail. I was wondering if someone could 1) tell me what this sail is and 2) how does it attach and how do you control it?

If you know of a web site or have a link to where I could do some reading on it that too would be appreciated.

FYI, I have made arrangements to keep the boat on Gull Lake in Alberta on a mooring ball.

Thanks,

Shanker

 

[Alan]

A symmetrical spinnaker is used for off wind sailing and requires some additional gear to be able to fly it. You should also check to see that you have a spinnaker pole, mast mounted pole track, spinnaker halyard, foreguy and afterguy and spinnaker sheets.
If this is your first time sailing, which it sounds like, I would suggest leaving the spinnaker in the bag for now till you learn a little more about spinnaker sailing or have a knowledgeable sailor onboard who can teach you the things you will need to know.
An asymmetrical spinnaker would have been a better choice for newer cruising sailors because they are smaller, less complicated and don't require as much gear to make them fly effectively.

 

[Raisin56]

An A-Spinnaker is easy to fly, you don't need all the things Alan stated which is for a symmetrical spinnaker. You need a spin halyard, tack line and at least one sheet. Go to youtube and look up "asymetrical spinnaker" the use ppconsultant did some nice videos on launching and gybing one (two sheets needed for this).

Dan

 

[stephen Penny]

If you google "Asymmetrical Spinnaker" you will find all kinds of information on them plus u-tube videos. Basically, they are flown like a large genoa on a broad reach without a spinnaker pole.

Set-up helps with a ATN tacker to attach the tack of the sail the head stay or roller head sail. Lead the tackline from the outside of the tacker forward of the main stay through the bow roller to a cleat at the bow. Lead the spinnaker sheets outside of the head sail sheets and lifelines aft through blocks then to cam cleats on each side of the boat. Then attach the spinnaker halyard to the head of the spinnaker. An ATN dousing sock makes it easy to deploy and retrieve the spinnaker. Hope that helps.

After seeing all the spinnakers flying in SF Bay yesterday, I plan to purchase one next.

 

[soling42]

Although it's running off the intent of the original post slightly, after considering all the options we added an A-sail on our h260. I have it permanently deployed on a 4' bow sprit and a Facnor continuous line furler that has a furling line run back to the cockpit.

It's a nice bump up from the stock jib and the boat actually points almost as high with the A-sail.....almost. It furls in a snap and I can easily single hand it with no problem. It's of little use DDW or if the wind is above 12kts as the main is especially large for these boats anyway. To keep a 260/26 on its feet it will be one of the first to reef when the wind picks up a bit.

The stock plastic crap spinnaker block for our internal halyard blew apart almost immediately so I'd look for a tougher one if you intend to load it up hard.

As mentioned, a symmetrical sail will add some juice on light downwind runs but the issue is flying it out in front of the 260/26s' fairly large and roachy main. Aside from the big colorful chute factor, any added speed bonus is greatly complicated by the added crew and gear on a boat with a pretty well designed(simple to use) set of stock sails for it's use.

Congrats on the new boat and be safe but have fun. Make sure to post some pics of your new adventures.

Mike