Whisker Deployment

[riverjames]

78' Cat with hank-on foresails. I recently purchased a 7-14 whisker and am having issues with deployment. I would like to use this with my 150% Genoa but find that with full deployment, the pole will not work forward of the running rigging, seems too long. Should I run the pole between the standing rigging? Seems dangerous and possibly destructive.

Also, it is not rigged with topping life, foreguy or afterguy. Is this totally necessary?

What is the best way to extend the pole for deployment and then retrieve it? The buttons that lock the pole into place have no automatic release, so once locked into extension, the locking buttons are seven feet off the deck. I have to unhoook the whisker at the mast and bring the whole pole in manually before shortening it again.

Most everything I see online uses a roller furling setup which appears much easier. Alas, I am old-school (and short on boat-units).

Tried to deploy coming back into MB from Oceanside this past weekend and ended up with a lot of headsail in my face as my dad tried to keep us pointed wing-on wing.

Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[sinnettc]

Definitely don't put the pole between your shrouds! You may need to shorten your pole a bit if it seems too long. Ours only goes full extension with the 155. With the smaller jibs I have to shorten it a bit. Sounds a bit high to me too, but you don't mention what size your boat is.

What you describe - removing it at the mast then pulling the sail inboard to disconnect it is also pretty much the way I do mine. It can be a pain but I don't know a better way. Maybe others do and will add their 2 cents.

 

[riverjames]

I have a Cat 25. Are you able to deploy your whisker ahead of the shrouds without resistance against the forward-most stay?

 

[sinnettc]

I have a Cat 25. Are you able to deploy your whisker ahead of the shrouds without resistance against the forward-most stay?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Do you have roller furling? Are you referring to the jib being wholly, or partially deployed? In either case, yes, I can deploy the whisker pole with the roller genoa all the way pulled out. Not sure what the measurements are on my pole (it's on the boat) but since I've got a Capri 22 it should be smaller than yours.

Hmm . . . if your whisker pole is too short then it would allow the genoa to come back too far and the pole would hit your shrouds. Two questions come to mind - is your pole fully extended, and is it long enough? Forespar recommends a 7-15 foot pole for boats 25 feet to 30 feet and I saw a post on the Catalina 25 association site where they had a 7-17 footer. Maybe that 7-14 is too short . . . ?

If you haven't already, I'd ask the same question over on the C25 association site: http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/default.asp

 

[Ron20324]

A topping lift should be a low-$$$ option. The pole should be horizontal when in use. When I had a B235, I had a 150 and button-lock pole, and it was great going downwind. Yeah, the buttons were not the easiest thing to use, so on my B323 I got a line-drive pole which uses internal blocks to extend the pole. Lots better, but it is some $$$ from the wallet.

 

[sinnettc]

Ron,

How heavy was your pole on the 235? I can't imagine needing a topping lift on the pole on my Capri 22. There was one for the spinnaker pole, but that's a whole other beast.