Flying a spinnaker on a O'Day 23

[Jr]

Does anyone know if these boats are made to have a spinnaker on them? I got one from my yacht club that is supposedly for an O'day 23. I'm not exactly sure how I would go about rigging this on the boat or if I even could. There is a very small ring on the front of the mast, however it isn't big enought for my whisker pole to even fit in there. Can anyone give me any advice? I have flown spinnakers before but only in racing of club 420's. Thank you!

 

[Trevor - SailboatOwners.c]

Any boat CAN fly a spinnaker

Hi Jr -I've used spinnakers made for different boats before - it's always fun to invent a clever way to make things work. But it sounds like you might have a sail actually designed for your boat. If it's a symmetrical chute, you'll need the associated hadware such as pole, foreguy downhaul, topping lift, sheet blocks, and a halyard rigged above your forestay (i.e. on a block). To fly it correctly, you'll need a method of attaching the pole to that ring (or replace it), and the foreguy to the deck. Alternatively, you could tack one side to the bow or forestay and run a sheet as an assymetrical chute to keep things simpler... but it won't be as effective. Spinnaker sailing is about as much fun as you ought to have legally, and I find figuring out how to set things up is worth it.Have fun!Trevor

 

[Keith823]

Yes, Spinnaker is a Factory Sail for 23

I also have a 23 (1973), and it has the spinnaker. Factory blocks are in place at the top of the mast for the halyard, on the front of the mast at the spreaders for the topping lift, on the middle of the bow deck for the downhaul, and on both the starboard and port transom corners for the sheets. The whisker pole has a snap latch the hooks on the ring. The full page photo on the front of the factory brochure for the year of my boat shows the boat going downwind flying the symmetrical chute. Mine is red and blue vertcal stripes with a red/yellow sunburst in the top area...looks great! There are rigging diagrams in the archives that show the layout. Enjoy.

 

[Jr]

thanx for the info

Thanks for the info. While my mast doesn't have any of the equiptment, for an uphaul/down haul or pole (as i have finally figured out). I was lucky enought that the spinnaker I got was asymmetrical. So what I did was to tie a 4' line from the tack to the plate on the bow where the forestay attaches (I have roller furling so I couldn't attach directly with out alot of chaffing). We used the genoa sheets and winches to control it. It was so awesome, I can't wait to fly it again. We were in 5kts of wind, if that, and we were flying by other boats with just mains and jibs, even boats bigger than mine, it was great. The spinnaker is bright orange, yellow, and red, however someone spilled some blue bottom paint on it, so it kinda looks like crap, but it's still fun and the price was right..free! thanx for all the help again.-jr