The adjustable whisker poles are not intended to be used with the smaller tube as the inboard end.
Whisker pole questions
- Thread starter Gene Neill
- Start date
Doubtful. Likely, the same reason that flag masts narrow at the “outboard” (up) end, etc. I don’t think one wants more mass at the long end of a lever arm than at its base. It’s the same as with telescoping boat hooks.
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I once had a telescoping whisker pole with an endless line that I could stop to. a cleat at the inboard end of the pole while attached to the mast. One attaches the pole to the headsail then “clothesline” the telescoping part out from the mast. It required a bit of effort at times to get it fully adjusted. It was easy to take down by freeing the “clothesline” line from the cleat on the pole and pulling in the narrow end, etc. On big boats one does not want the heavy end of a pole where you’re trying to manhandle it to a lively headsail, etc., and set it.
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I don’t agree with the comparison. The base of a flagpole needs to hold up itself plus all of the weight above it, while the top only needs to hold up itself. It also needs to withstand wind resistance, which again is not going to be uniform along the height of the pole. That’s why it’s telescoped. With boat hooks the user holds one end while the other is free flying, so I agree there you want the user end to be sturdier and the free end to be lighter. With a whisker pole the far end is still supported by the leech of the sail, and maybe a topping lift too, so the weight out there doesn’t need to be wholly supported by the inner end. The design of the jaw on the mast doesn’t even allow the inner end to hold up any weight the same way a flagpole or boat hook can. When handling the pole it’s most common to attach the sail end first, so there’s not really a time when the outer end is unsupported.
As I see it the forces the pole is subjected to are:
- Compression or tension, which would be uniform along the length. The weak point here is likely the locking mechanism and not the pole itself.
- Bending from minimal amount of gravity, which would be symmetrical between the ends. This is probably negligible relative to the strength of the pole.
- Bending from gravity or the pull of the sail when the user is first attaching the pole to the clew. On poles with jaws at both ends the user needs to be at the sail to make that connection, so there’s not really much opportunity for this bending. On poles with pointed ends the user might exert a small amount of bending when holding the inner end of the pole and setting the outer end in the sail. I doubt a person could really generate enough force to bend even the thin end of the pole doing this though.
- Bending from the pole bouncing off the shrouds or forestay if mishandled. These loads will be concentrated on the outer end of the pole if it bounces off the forestay, or the midsection if bouncing off the shrouds. This is probably the most common failure mode.
For me, going back 37 years, the issue with the adjustable, larger-type Line Control Whisker Poles always occurs in the early morning hours, say 2 am to 4 am. The three main factors are the boat under some autopilot steering vane, and an increase in wind strength and direction. Some rivets and screws hold the larger adjustable pole at a given length, and this is where the issues can occur. With pretty much any type of overlapping jib, it is when the self-steering cannot correct the course enough and the jib backwinds and then "snaps back" after the course correction that problems can occur. The screws and rivets are taking a fair share of the compression load, not the two alum tubes, as would be the case with a J-length or a J+10 % whisker-pole arrangement. Rarely have I had a customer come to me and say that their whisker pole tube failed because it was winched against the upper shrouds or the forward lowers. Racing on a Wednesday night, whisker poles winched have been winched back against the shrouds many times over the years. Offshore cruising issues always happen in the AM or during summer evening racing, under the stress of a mark rounding.
Another issue is allowing an extended Whisker Pole to go forward, which will come into contact with the headstay. Now you have a long lever arm out in front of the boat under a sheer and compression load. That is usually when the smaller extended tube folds over. Again, I get calls either during the summer evening races or from Sat phones, and owners having had an inner tube fold over in the early am hours due to a significant increase in wind strength and direction.
Bottom line is to go out and sail with your whisker pole a bit in a non-racing situation in lighter winds, and the same goes for if you intend to go offshore. One last comment.......never deploy your whisker pole between the forward lower shroud and your upper shroud. Not covered under any warranty, regardless of the age of the Whisker Pole.
All good points. We have a 107% jib so the idea of someone winching the pole into the shrouds or hoisting it between shrouds didn’t occur to me. Still, with the failure modes you mentioned having the larger diameter tube outboard seems at least as good, and maybe better than having it on the inside.