How much more stress does a asymmetrical put on the rigging. My H23.5 manual, w/fractional rig (no backstay) states I can fly a symmetrical sail. Both tack and luff pulling from the back of the boat. And probably sailing more downwind. With an asymmetrical I would have the tack attached to a tacker around the furling jib. I would now be pulling the boat along by the head of the sail and the basically the forestay and one line to the back of the boat. Will this put too much stress on my rigging?
symmetrical versus asymmetrical Spinnaker
- Thread starter MikeyJ
- Start date
I think I'll give you the short answer... No... the load is on the asymmetrical chute's tack line, plus the clew and head (halyard).. especially the deeper you sail downwind. You might want to use the tacker for close reaching, which is the only time I hook it up. Other wise, I let it stretch out front... works fine and you don't have to go to the pulpit to clip it on and off.
Gybing is actually much easier without the tacker... it's all about controlling the sheet to let the sail fly ahead of the pulpit and forestay. The you simply steer the boat under the sail till you can bring it back in again. Tacking is a no, no.... unless you douse and reset... which I've done... but it means your crew has to go forward again.
Gybing is actually much easier without the tacker... it's all about controlling the sheet to let the sail fly ahead of the pulpit and forestay. The you simply steer the boat under the sail till you can bring it back in again. Tacking is a no, no.... unless you douse and reset... which I've done... but it means your crew has to go forward again.
With proper rig tension and setup you will be fine. A fractional rig with swept spreaders trangulates the load and supports the mast, even without the/a backstay. On our First 260 we sail under spinner up to 12 knots with the backstay totally off. Our Ultimate 20 has no backstay at all, and it is sailed under asym into the 20s.
I know I can fly a spinnaker. The stress on the rigging will be just from the head. The tack and clew are being pulled from the back of the boat. With an asymmetrical my tack will now be attached to my forestay. The higher I let it go, the higher the stress. It's pulling on my rigging. My question is is it significant enough to be a concern.
I may have to revert to a bow Sprint to put the load back onto the boat not the rigging. But I'd rather not.
I may have to revert to a bow Sprint to put the load back onto the boat not the rigging. But I'd rather not.
Misunderstanding. The Asymmetrical sail is attached to the boat using 3 connections.
The Head, the Tack and the Clew
The Head, like for all sails, is attached to the Mast. The mast is attached to your boats keel and held in place by the rigging. The mast exerts downward pressure on the boat driving it forward.
The Tack is attached to the bow of the boat. To provide added trim control the sail's tack is often attached to a line. This line is run through a block attached to the bow. You pull down on the tack and the force is transmitted to the bow of the boat not your rigging.
The Clew is attached to the stern of the boat with a sheet to a block.
The only attachment point to your "rigging" is at the head where all of your other sails attach.
Properly sized and rigged to your boat in light to moderate winds strengths you should have no problem flying an asymmetrical sail on your boat.
A Sprit is often used to extend the asymmetrical sail out beyond the boat, but is not a requirement. A Sprit will add complexity to your boat and systems.
The "Tacker" is used not to hold the asymmetrical to the rig, but to provide a means to help the sail rotate out in front of the furled jib.
In the image you still have the Tack attached to the bow. In this image the tack is adjustable through the block attached to the bow.
He stated he is planning on using a tacker. So the entire basis of your lengthy missive incorrect
A tacker does share the tack load between the head and tack. The higher you let it fly, the more of the load goes to the head.
but the OPs question, pretty sure your be OK with good rig tension.
We used to have a 23.5. We had a symmetrical spinnaker for that boat, and I ran the tack to a block attached to the bow cleat, and used the jib halyard for the head. With that setup I could adjust the tack line as I ran it to the cockpit. Gybed the sail on the inside of the furler. Maybe not ideal using the jib halyard, but it worked fine. There's not much outside the furler to attach to on that boat. I think I had an adjustable downhaul on the pole. Don't remember if I rigged an uphaul. It was kind of a pain for the 2 of us to rig that sail, but I liked it more than the asymmetricals I have on our more recent boats.
Concerning the tacker, it probably would be fine. You're going to want to rig an adjustable downhaul for the tacker anyhow, and I wonder if it's worth the extra expense of the tacker when you could do it all from the bow cleat and 1 block.
Concerning the tacker, it probably would be fine. You're going to want to rig an adjustable downhaul for the tacker anyhow, and I wonder if it's worth the extra expense of the tacker when you could do it all from the bow cleat and 1 block.