Asymmetric Spinnakers; a few tips from a J105 sailor…

A bowman's job is never done nor done fast enough for everyone else on the boat, so as people step up to give their 2 cents worth it is valuable to point out where to get the information.

Those silly enough to take their dance to the pointy end deserve some advice once in a while. Oct 18, 2006 Sailing World, Steve Marsh's article, "The Bowman's Guide to the Asymmetric" the article is a bit dated but I wanted to put a pointer to it so you have it as a resource. This is one man's view on how to survive and thrive on the pointy end with an asymmetric spinnaker.

During the time of the article Steve sailed on Masquerade which is a J105 sailed out of the San Francisco Fleet in California. Based on the J105 Association's website the boat is owned by Tom Coates and is Hull #17.

In the article Steve talks about Masquerade's spinnaker setup and some techniques that they use to keep things simple and light like using spliced spinnaker sheets. Here is an excerpt of his article,

Setting the spinnaker
As we come to the weather mark, the crew is hiking, and if there's an offset in place, we stay on the rail until the boat flattens on the reach to the offset. Once it's flat, I open the hatch, go forward, and pull the tack out past the pulpit. As we start to round the offset, I'm pulling the rest of the tack, and the head, out of the hatch (or bag), and as the mastman hoists, I run the luff tape to make sure there are no twists. A twist generally shows up near the head, and by running the tape it can be cleared quickly as it comes out of the hatch. If your previous drop was questionable, then give yourself a couple of extra seconds to make sure it comes out clean. It is always best to have your mastman and pitman on the same page with you during any maneuver. If they're watching what's going on, they can control the speed of the set and allow the bowman to clear a twist or fouled sheet.

The key to having good sets is marking everything. For the tack line, we have a 3-inch-long mark at the jammer. The halyard has a mark showing full hoist, and the pole has a mark to confirm it's fully extended.

As soon as the spinnaker is clear of the hatch, I go directly to the furling line exiting the drum and furl the jib. An immediate furl allows the spinnaker to fill more quickly. Once the jib is furled, I get ready for a jibe by grabbing the weather sheet, sitting low, and waiting for the call. At this point, take a look back; it's always fun to see if the spinnaker is up and flying before your transom clears the offset. Make it a goal.

Assisting through the jibe
When the call is made to jibe, I stand up, go forward, and as the boat starts to go through the wind, help the kite through the jibe by pulling aft and down. How hard and fast you need to pull is determined by the wind strength; slow and controlled in the light stuff, fast and furious in the breeze. Kite size also makes a difference because larger kites require more strength in the breeze. On a J/120, with its massive spinnaker, we've found that in more than 18 knots, the outside jibe is much easier than muscling the entire thing through an inside jibe. With either jibe, the rate at which the trimmer tails can make or break a good jibe. The trimmer should be tailing the sheet for all he's worth. The second trimmer simply eases the old sheet, and once the clew is past the headstay, lets the sheet run free (making sure he's not standing on the tail).

Coordinating the drop
For sets and douses, our team has developed a choreography that has a few of the crew changing positions. The bowman always stays forward, but the spinnaker trimmer, who happens to be one of our bigger guys, bumps the halyard on the set, and helps get the kite down. Our pitman works the middle during the sets and jibes, but moves below to become the sewer man during the douses. The second trimmer takes the spinnaker sheet on the set, then passes it to the trimmer, who is already on the weather rail and in position to trim. The hardest part of this crew-switch technique is the second trimmer's multitasking. Before the drop, he needs to preset his jib, take the spin sheet from the trimmer, and then become the pitman where he drops the halyard and releases the tack line."

To read the entire article you can go to Sailing World's website here, "The Bowman's Guide to the Asymmetric"

Based on class rules the J105 has an 89 meters squared Spinnaker, we sail a J122 which has a 155 meters squared Spinnaker I'm going to go back and look at the techniques that we use to see how they are similar or different from the ones above.

This will be a several part writing I think.

Pirate Mike
Bowman, Second Star Racing