rigging the asymmetrical spinnaker

[Tim]

One of my goals for the coming summer is to rig and fly a symmetrical and an asymmetrical spinnaker (yeah I know-don't try to fly both at the same time...). I have a symmetrical spin and from earlier posts on here, have a pretty good idea on how to rig and fly it. Goal #2 is to try sailing in the local lakes "Rooky Races".

I am not so sure about the aspin. I've seen the atn tackers, but was thinking about trying to use the famous Steve Birch Marine Hardware's double bow roller I've got on the boat for a tack point. I don't know if the pulpit would interfere with the tack at this location.

I also don't know what the dimensions should be for an aspin. Sailrite lists an aspin with a 30.81' luff 16.78' foot and 28.37' leach. The 30.81' luff seems a little long (especially if I use a douser). I expect the luff will be arched quite a bit, except for when on a reach so maybe the 30.81 luff is ok.

This is what I've gleaned off the internet for rigging the aspin:

The tack:
The farther forward the better for the tack.
The tack is best done with a line through a block (for use as a downhaul)
Alternatively, the tack can be attached to a pennant or it can be attached to the furled jib with the ATN tacker or parrell beads. I am guessing the luff should be made much shorter if the sail is attached to the furled jib rather a point on the deck/bow roller.

The head:
Nothing to special here. Use a block on the mast crane outside of the forestay attachment. If using a douser (sock) do I really need 2 feet or so above the head to store the pulled up sock?

The clew:
Two sheets (twice as long as the boat) run outside the lifelines and shrouds to blocks at the stern quarters.

I am also guessing that a drifter would rig similarly to the aspin?

 

[bobnlesafloat]

We have an asymmetric/cruising chute on Spring Fever (I think that's what you'd call a drifter?) I can't tell you the luff length as it's stored on another boat at the moment and I can't get at it to measure - I'll bet Steve Birch will be along shortly with that sort of technical info though.

As far as rigging it is concerned, we have a halyard up to a block mounted at the masthead about two inches above the forestay/headsail roller foil, whilst the sheets lead directly back to blocks fastened with eye-bolts into the toe-rail, about half-way between the pulpit and the rearmost stanchion; these fittings were all installed when we got the boat and were previously used for flying a symmetrical spinakker - we've not moved or altered them at all. The Cruising-chute's tack has a webbing strop on it (about two feet long) which we shackle to an eyebolt, that we've installed through the 'standard' Vega bow-roller as a replacement to the rollers original spindle bolt. I did have some/slight concerns about the integrity of this fixing until we got hit by a 40-50 knot katabatic wind-gust in Greece a couple of years ago; this eyebolt, nor any of the other fixings and fittings moved or were damaged at all, but it did blow the sail itself into
three pieces - a quick, efficient, but painfully expensive method for testing their integrity.

Whilst we've no downhaul on the tack, I've never had any difficulty in simply hand hauling the halyard tight enough for it to work well - we could continue to reach in light breezes with the wind well forward of the beam - until we fitted a snuffer last spring that is: How much clearance you need to leave for the crumpled sock will probably depend on the sock you have, ours is very lightweight and also relatively wide, as a result we've probably no more than about 4 inches of rope between the halyard shackle and the head of the sail, when the sock is snuffed, the vast majority of the sock's material compresses into that space and the rest, along with the snuffer's fibreglass mouth, sits loosely over the top six inches or so of the sail triangle - no problems with chafe or any noticeable effect on the sails efficiency. BUT (isn't there always one) even that extra 4" prevents us from getting the luff quite as tight as before, which means that we now
cannot get as close to the wind; whilst I could offset this increase in effective luff/halyard length by shortening the foot-strop, I'm reluctant to do so as the foot currently sits just clear of the pushpit, if I were to shorten the strop the sail would come into contact with it and potentially give us a chafe problem. The complete (but costly) answer, would probably be to get the sail's head cut down/re-made (there are lots of cruising yachts around here with truncated spinakkers/drifters, which I presume have been chopped to accomodate a snuffer) but I don't like to spend my hard earned money, nor am I that keen on sailing to windward anyway, so I'll put up with it until I blow it out again, then get the next one made a few inches shorter.

Bob Carlisle
Spring Fever 1776

 

[vegatern]

Bob has more experience than I but for comparison I'll describe the rig on the Tern, which is just a bit different. The asymmetrical is easy to set up and fly, and I haven't used the symmetrical since I started using this one, though I need to swallow hard and do it again. I've only flown in light weather and when white caps start to show I don't hoist or I put it away. Might take that into account with what follows.
I have a tackline which runs from a cleat on the port side deck outside the cockpit, down the deck to the stem, a single purchase tackle (one block which is shackled to the triangle piece), to a snap shackle. I bring the sheets back to a turning block at the base of the pushpit. There should be a tab there to fasten one.
I rig up when on the last port tack before my run. I don't have a turtle or anything fancy but use instead an old knapsack, which I fasten outside the lifelines on the port bow, a couple feet back from the stem. Run the sheets outside everything to the turning block then back into the cockpit. The port sheet should be brought around, 2 or 3 times, a winch and then cleated. (The cockpit winch is occupied by the jib sheet but the previous owner was kind enough to install a separate one on the coach roof.) Go back forward and snap the tack into the snap shackle. That bit of sail is outside the pulpit and the tackle lays forward in the "U". I leave about one and one half feet of the tackle slack which puts the tack of the sail near even with the top of the pulpit. Connect the head to the spin halyard and look up. Verify that it is a clear run to the mast head. I have a bit of velcro tape on the bag to keep the swinging halyard from pulling the sail out of the bag too soon, which I don't want `cause when she goes, she goes.
Come about, and after verifying that the sheets and lines are clear, bear off to a deep broad reach, ease out the main but leave the jib where she is. Haul the spin sheet quickly to the mast head and cleat. Haul in the port spin sheet to tighten up the leech. The sail won't yet be filling right ( but making noise) because the jib is still blanketing her, so pull the jib down to the deck with the down haul or I guess furl the sail. The quickest way to settle the spin down at this point is to head down a bit to fill the sail, and then pick your course as you trim the sheet. The luff should just curl over a bit. By bringing the tack line back to the cockpit you can adjust the luff, looser on a run, tighter for a reach, though, like Bob I don't adjust it much.
I don't use a sock. I think the sail is small enough and the wind light enough, it's not needed, and I haven't thought out how I could do it alone easily. To douse her I take a light line with a snap hook on the end up to the bow and connect the hook to the ring on the snap shackle. ( I run the line and snap it ready around the pulpit before I hoist in case I need to drop in a hurry) Hoist the jib and blanket the spinnaker, when it collapses grasp the sheet, jerk the light line to the snap shackle, and the sail flags out down wind. Blow the halyard and haul in the sheet then leech down into the cockpit and down the companionway. Sometimes I actually get it down before it gets wet. Unsnap the halyard and take it back to the mast.
It took me a good number of tries before I actually had the nerve to hoist for the first time, too many youtube videos and some near disasters on a local race boat. When I described my first hoist to a non-sailing friend; the nerves as I set up, dry mouth, adrenalin, then the hoist and these great colors before me, orange and yellow against a blue sky, the rush and then. . . the pure exhilaration when the sail came down ok. That all I wanted to do was beat back out and do it again, he looked at me and said . . . "Sounds like drugs." I think he was right.

A couple more thoughts; On your first hoist you might just run the port spin sheet, the hoist and drop is enough to deal with, no need to gybe first time. Problems I've had all related to not checking that lines are clear, (running inside a lifeline, tangle at the rope clutch. If you drop the spin halyard down the companionway to keep the cockpit clear, stuff a beach towel under the sink pump pedals first.) or not thinking my next move through first.

If the jibtacker is used then are you forced to use a sock? The tacker is used around the furled jib, right? So there's no way to blanket the spinny. I don't know, also I don't know now the measurements of my sail. On the asymmetrical the sail's LP should equal the boat's (Jx1.65) so . .. .J=3.1 meters x 3.28084 = 10.17 feet x 1.65 = 16.78 feet. But that's the LP, not the foot. The luff, I can't believe, could be any longer than the forestay, so I think that's the deciding measurement there. (But I'm NO authority)
This was a long post, but for a bit I felt like I was back on the boat. It was a good sail, thanks.
Craig Tern#1519

 

[tim_klynn]

Bob and Craig,
Thanks for those very detailed accounts of rigging the aspin. It's interesting to see how different sailors do things.I appreciate the time it took for the thorough write up. However, I was a little surprised that Bob's account had no mention of beer.....

I'll probably start looking for for an aspin on Ebay with a luff size of 27-30', rig it and see how it goes, then take Bob's lead and once I blow it apart, buy a correctly sized one.

On another note, when I bought my boat the previous owner (Hans H.) was kind enough to include several original Albin brochures. I finally got around to installing some scanning software, scanned in the brochure on all the options available on 1974 vintage boats, but when I went to upload them (16 pages or so in one file), it turns out 8mb is just too much for email. Other than posting them page by page (unless that is the best way to go) is there a better way to upload these to the groups file section? Perhaps I could upload them page by page and the site administrator could put them in one file?-Tim