Whisker Pole Selection

[Harve Druker]

I thought it would help my downwind sailling if I had a whisker pole for my 150% Genny. Sounds simple - just buy one. The J-dimension on the C-30 is 12 ft. The West Marine catalog recommends a 10 ft - 18 ft pole size. Great!! A Salesperson suggested that an 8 ft - 14 ft pole would work just as well and would cost less.I sent an Email to Boats/US and asked them; they suggested the longer pole, 10 ft - 18 ft.I asked a sail maker too. He said a pole matching the J-dimension was fine. And since most of the poles are made by Forespar Co., I checked their website. They say the pole size should match the foot of the sail. My genny has an 17 ft + foot; that indicates the 10 ft - 18 ft pole.Who can help me with this? I am sure confused.

 

[Mike s/v Chute the Breeze]

Whisker pole

Harve, Sounds like they are mixing in raceing rules, most perf or club races that I know of only allow u to use a pole the lenth of your J.. so 12 would be the right answer there, but I didn't hear u say u were only racing.. So u could use as large as u can which would be some where around 16 to 18 because your foot is 17 u r coming from the mast at an angle out to the end of your sail. I'm sure it won't be as tight as the rigging but it will depend on the trim u want..pole forward, pole back all play a big part in that..my .02 worth Mike

 

[h.banick]

pole

a 10' to 18' will work fine. I have one that adjusts from 10' to 18' and move it in or out depending how light the wind is. good luck