Sailing downwind in the new Hunters with swept back spreaders can be hard on both the boom and the main. What do Hunter owners feel is the best means of sailing downwind. Right now I'm divided between a whisker pole or a cruising chute but would like to hear of your experience. Regards, s/v Island Hunter
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Cruising chute
We used a cruising poleless chute on our old H37C and our new HP42. We had 10 feet of length added to it. Sail at 120- to 130 degrees and gybe. Get good speed. Gybing is the hard part.
We used a cruising poleless chute on our old H37C and our new HP42. We had 10 feet of length added to it. Sail at 120- to 130 degrees and gybe. Get good speed. Gybing is the hard part.
Cruising Spinnaker
Find the cruising spinnaker a joy. Jib it by allowing it to circle outside forestay. Works like a charm. Jim
Find the cruising spinnaker a joy. Jib it by allowing it to circle outside forestay. Works like a charm. Jim
depends
You'll be able to sail deeper wing-on-wing, but you'll probably end up getting there faster if you fly a cruising chute and "tack" it downwind. You won't be able to carry most assymetricals much deeper than 155 degrees downwind. My assymetrical is 165% of J and I absolutely love it because of how easy it is to sail. I've found that the key to dealing with those swept spreaders is to have a rigid boom vang (with, ahem, a spring installed). That way you'll extend your options in terms of trimming the main. Do yourself a favor and don't even THINK about purchasing a cruising chute without a sock. That way you'll be able to fly it shorthanded in greater safety. If you're having trouble at first jybeing the chute, teach yourself how to jybe the chute independently of jybing the main. In other words, see if you can jybe yourself into a wing-on-wing situation, and then see how long you can hold that before the main comes over too. Jybing is 90% helm work, and most people try to jybe too fast.
You'll be able to sail deeper wing-on-wing, but you'll probably end up getting there faster if you fly a cruising chute and "tack" it downwind. You won't be able to carry most assymetricals much deeper than 155 degrees downwind. My assymetrical is 165% of J and I absolutely love it because of how easy it is to sail. I've found that the key to dealing with those swept spreaders is to have a rigid boom vang (with, ahem, a spring installed). That way you'll extend your options in terms of trimming the main. Do yourself a favor and don't even THINK about purchasing a cruising chute without a sock. That way you'll be able to fly it shorthanded in greater safety. If you're having trouble at first jybeing the chute, teach yourself how to jybe the chute independently of jybing the main. In other words, see if you can jybe yourself into a wing-on-wing situation, and then see how long you can hold that before the main comes over too. Jybing is 90% helm work, and most people try to jybe too fast.
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