As promised, here are a few things I learned during my first time hoisting my cool new asymmetrical spinnaker.
The most important thing we learned is that you don't really get to enjoy seeing the spinnaker the way everyone else on the lake does. The main is in the way. So we sheeted the main to just about close-hauled. This accomplished at least two things. First, and most important, we could enjoy the spinnaker more. It also slowed us but even more important than that, it took the worry of forgetting to sheet in the main before jibing out of the equation. Yes, we could have gone faster but I don't regret that one bit. Besides, I'm not a racer. I sail to enjoy sailing.
Take in everything off the sides of the boat that could possibly foul the sheets. We don't particularly care what others think if we leave fenders hanging. But we will bring them all in when flying the spinnaker from now on. Goes for life rings and anything else that could get in the way.
Be patient and make sure your first mate, er wife, is patient, too. She was incredibly patient with me. Neither of us lost our cool, even when rasslin' the clew from the roller furler during the poorly-executed jibes.
If someone obviously takes your picture, flag him down, give him your email address and BEG him to send you pictures. We're still kicking ourselves over that one.
Read everything you can about flying a spinnaker and watch all the videos you can find. The one article I never read was how to trim the sheets. I played a little with the tack line but didn't realize until later that night that I could have shortened it and sailed closer to the wind.
Loosen the tack line and jibe VERY slowly. One person described it as turning the bow under the clew. We jibed quickly and tried to pull the clew between the furler way too quickly and hard. Apparently that's why the clew got fouled. First time was easy. Beginner's luck I suppose.
Make sure the sail is hoisted completely above the forestay. I knew it wasn't above the forestay and should have lowered the sail a bit and tried hoisting again. I have no idea if that caused problems. That's something I just read today in the article on trimming.
Speaking of articles on trimming the sheets, here's the link. http://www.fxsails.com/spinnarticle3.php
Talk to your sailmaker about what you might have done wrong. My guy at FX Sails was lots of help on the phone. He gave me several tips, some of which I've already mentioned here.
I'm pretty sure I'll think of other lessons I learned. I'm also pretty sure most of you old salts will find problems with what I've written here. Please feel free to gently add your wisdom. We all need to learn and want to help others when we can.
Kermit
The most important thing we learned is that you don't really get to enjoy seeing the spinnaker the way everyone else on the lake does. The main is in the way. So we sheeted the main to just about close-hauled. This accomplished at least two things. First, and most important, we could enjoy the spinnaker more. It also slowed us but even more important than that, it took the worry of forgetting to sheet in the main before jibing out of the equation. Yes, we could have gone faster but I don't regret that one bit. Besides, I'm not a racer. I sail to enjoy sailing.
Take in everything off the sides of the boat that could possibly foul the sheets. We don't particularly care what others think if we leave fenders hanging. But we will bring them all in when flying the spinnaker from now on. Goes for life rings and anything else that could get in the way.
Be patient and make sure your first mate, er wife, is patient, too. She was incredibly patient with me. Neither of us lost our cool, even when rasslin' the clew from the roller furler during the poorly-executed jibes.
If someone obviously takes your picture, flag him down, give him your email address and BEG him to send you pictures. We're still kicking ourselves over that one.
Read everything you can about flying a spinnaker and watch all the videos you can find. The one article I never read was how to trim the sheets. I played a little with the tack line but didn't realize until later that night that I could have shortened it and sailed closer to the wind.
Loosen the tack line and jibe VERY slowly. One person described it as turning the bow under the clew. We jibed quickly and tried to pull the clew between the furler way too quickly and hard. Apparently that's why the clew got fouled. First time was easy. Beginner's luck I suppose.
Make sure the sail is hoisted completely above the forestay. I knew it wasn't above the forestay and should have lowered the sail a bit and tried hoisting again. I have no idea if that caused problems. That's something I just read today in the article on trimming.
Speaking of articles on trimming the sheets, here's the link. http://www.fxsails.com/spinnarticle3.php
Talk to your sailmaker about what you might have done wrong. My guy at FX Sails was lots of help on the phone. He gave me several tips, some of which I've already mentioned here.
I'm pretty sure I'll think of other lessons I learned. I'm also pretty sure most of you old salts will find problems with what I've written here. Please feel free to gently add your wisdom. We all need to learn and want to help others when we can.
Kermit
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