A Tale of a Twisting Spinaker Sock

[John J Frank]

While attempting to hoist an ATN Spinaker Sock on my 1989 Hunter 30, it keeps twisting as it is being raised. Subsequently, it jambs up as I raise the sleeve. It is a fractional rig with the spinaker halyard located just above the furling headstay. Any helpfull suggestions and/or comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[J. Tesoriero]

Preparation!

Let me see if I remember all the steps we use when hoisting and setting our cruising spinnaker. At the start of the season, I lay the entire assembly out on a lawn and pull the sock up to the top end of the sail - using the internal sock halyard. This reveals all of the twists, knots and jambs that are present and gives me the opportunity to straighten them out. I then lower the sock to cover the sail with care to keep the sock halyard cord running free. On the boat, as I raise the sail in the sock and keep the sock raising/downhaul cord loosely secured to the mast or life line so that it does not get away from me. Raise the sock , adjust the sheets and enjoy the sail.  With the sock raising/downhaul cord secured, it is an easy matter to douse the sail.Remember, this is supposed to be fun!

 

[Frank Walker]

Up the Mast

John, I mounted a new exit block about 12" above the jib stay termination. This gets the spinnaker halyard away from the furling swivel at the top of the jib. Life is a lot better with the spinaker, but I do not use a sock.

 

[Andy]

Leeward hoist

Hoist it on the leeward side so the wind carries sock and sail away from jib halyard (prev. furled jib). Do not hoist tight to the the top, leave a little room at the top. Manually spin sock until it is un-twisted (thats why there is a gray stripe-so you can make sure it is not twisted.Then rais the sock!

 

[John J Frank]

Thanks for the suggestions

Without trying to trash talk my wife, the solution to flying my spinaker was to leave her at home! The problems that were resolved were that: One, that as Andy said was to raise the sock and then untwist it. Two, keep tension on the sock halyard(i.e., not the spinaker halyard) as you are raising it. once I followed these simple, but unmentioned tidbits in the ATN instruction sheet, all went well and I know can sucessfully deploy and retrieve my chute. Yeehaaaaaa. Thanks again.