Ripped my spinnaker

[Jared1048]

We had a serious of small issues that came together at the wrong time and had to turn into the wind causing the spinnaker to wrap around the spreaders while trying to put her down. It caught an edge and ripped a 4 foot slash across the pink part (if you can see my profile pic).

I'm going to take it into a local loft for repairs but wanted to get some advice before I drop some cash on fixing it.

Any seattle folks in here recommend a loft? Can it be repaired without having a big ugly patch on it? About how much is it going to cost? Could sail tape work?

Cheers!
-Jared

 

[Bill Roosa]

Consider buying "the sailmakers apprentice" for $25. Everything you ever wanted to know about building and repairing sails.
Patch jobs are pretty easy and only require a sewing palm, needle, and thread. Finding the pink fabric may prove an exercise though. You can fix a 4' rip in a few hours once you "find your groove" and become one with your palm.

 

[Seattle Scott]

After i rip a chute I take it to

http://www.schattauersails.com/ at shilshole. i think you will end up with a patch, the sticky sail tape sewed on. I have about 10 of those on my chute.

 

[Alan]

Why would you turn upwind before dropping your spinnaker? To dump it in a hurry you can just release one sheet and the halyard and pull in the remaining sheet and stuff the chute down the front hatch. Oh well, next time.

 

[Jared1048]

Why would you turn upwind before dropping your spinnaker? To dump it in a hurry you can just release one sheet and the halyard and pull in the remaining sheet and stuff the chute down the front hatch. Oh well, next time.

Well to be exact. The spinnaker pole was on upside down so we couldnt release the pin to get the sheet free. While this was happening we were 100 yards and closing fast at 7 knots to some house boats heeled over 20-30 degrees. I was waiting, waiting and waiting for the bowman to get the sheet free and proceeded to turn on the motor in case the situation got worse. We were not able to get the sheet loose so I turned up wind and dropped the halyard and went to the front to pull her in.

So we learned a couple things here and looking back could of done a lot better but this all happened in about 30 seconds. Oh, well. This was probably our 6th time ever flying the chute!

Got a quote and it looks like its going to be a $80 lesson. Dropped it off at schattauersails.

 

[Alan]

..so not too bad a lesson. Not sure I understand though, why you didn't simply let the sheet (or in this case the guy go)?? Even with the pole inverted the line would have run through the end of the pole. The pole can stay up till after you make your turn.
(please don't get me wrong, I'm just trying to sort it out in my own head.)

 

[Jared1048]

No offense taken.

We were getting pretty close to shore. We turned maybe 40 yards from some house boats. That sounds silly but if you saw the lake we were sailing on in this race it would make more sense.

If we would of thrown a guy the sail would of gone out toward the house boats. Turning into the wind was safest as it seamed. We would of still had to turn into the wind at some point with the sail going all over the place. Neither choice was very good.