I have a chance to buy a nearly new spinnaker at a great price. The luff is 28' and from what I can see on various sail sites... 24' to 26' is the recommended luff. Is this size manageable?
Spinnaker for my V222 is 28' Luff too big?
- Thread starter Todd Atchison
- Start date
Just curious.... asymmetric or symmetric?
In either case, if the luff is too long, it will not have a stable shape when flying. With way too much curve in the luff, the sail will be too flat in the upper third, and too open at the shoulder, and won’t have enough camber horizontally from luff to leech to support itself. It will collapse much too easily.
Measure the maximum hoist, the dimension from spinnaker halyard hoist to pole end (for a symmetric) or tack ( for an asymm). For a light air spinnaker,, the Luff should be somewhere between 95% - 105% of the max spinnaker hoist, depending on the design and intended use of the spinnaker. If you plan to use a snuffer, go for a luff around 95% of the available max hoist.
It’s generally better to err on the side of having a luff that’s too short, rather than too long. You can compensate for a luff that’s too short by raising the tack, but there’s no way to compensate for a luff that’s too long.
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