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Spinnaker - Yes!!

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2018 11:56 am
by mike cunningham
Finally finally got the gunmount set up completed on Jacqueline, my F30. Although I still need to tweak the rig, I flew and doused the chute twice during a recent sail into the Cali Delta which is a perfect flat water testing ground. Those here who have commented on the ease of use were spot on, it was fantastic! In 8 Kts AWS I was at hull speed around 6.2 Kts. In a seaway I would have been surfing like crazy. Rick Simmonds stated the reins would not be loaded with the sail up. I didn't believe this but he was absolutely right. I was jibing the boat with a casual tweak if the reins. Wow.


There are definitely tricks to be learned on dousing, that process needs to be smooth as silk, especially as the wind starts to pick up.

Need to get out there and do some more practicing. Its not like its hard. You could set and douse the sail ten times an hour and not break a sweat.mm

Re: Spinnaker - Yes!!

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2018 10:09 pm
by gamayun
Oh man, Mike. You're making me rethink the whole gunmount thing....less than 2 months away from our departure!! ARGH! It's cool that you talked with Rick Simmonds about it. He lives near Tallahassee where I used to live and still have family. He showed me his F30 when I was visiting there a few years ago. I may be able to find the pictures I took of his setup although the info on the forum is probably the most helpful. He's a real believer in the gunmount. I need to seriously reconsider finding a pole and doing this, too.....argh. Congrats on getting this done and making it sound so easy to fly!!!

Re: Spinnaker - Yes!!

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 11:46 am
by mike cunningham
Gammy,

You should give it a shot if you already have the gear. I was really really surprised at how easy it was to fly. As Rick points out in his documentation, there is a lot of spaghetti but once the sail is up there are only a few things to worry about. The set and the douse are the key areas where practice is essential. Without a lot of time to practice, I am thinking I will use the sail primarily as a light air performance booster. Light air was a killer for me for several days during the 2016 transpac. I am going to try to get proficient enough to fly the sail in up to 15Kts AWS. Right now I don't think I would be comfortable at sea in anything above 10Kts. I know that sounds wimpy but when things go wrong with a spinnaker, they can really go wrong. Not too bad in the bay or delta but really bad 500 miles offshore. I figure worst worst case I am carting a 50 lbs worth of spinnaker gear to Hawaii free of charge. During the windy reach I will park the pole on the windward side of the boat so I actually get some free rail meat out of it.

If you decide to go for it, I am building carbon pole brackets. I could make you a couple if you want. Here's a pic of model #2 (an improvement on model #1 design which is on the boat). It fits right over the existing stanchion and my lifeline threads through the pole part on the right side. I just need to drill the lifeline hole and clean this piece up. I plan to build four of them for my boat so I can adjust the stowed location of the pole depending on conditions.

BTW, although the bracket looks heavy it is actually foam cored so the whole thing weighs, maybe, 10 oz or so.
Pole bracket.jpg
Pole bracket.jpg (146.49 KiB) Viewed 6057 times

Re: Spinnaker - Yes!!

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 2:42 pm
by mike cunningham
Here are a few additional photos

Pole overall first then closer up on bracket, Note in photo the Portside bracket is mounted on second stanchion back. I plan to add a bracket to the first stanchion so I can mount the pole further outboard which allows easier deployment from the cockpit with the bracket closer to the center of gravity of the pole. The aft position will be my chosen spot for rougher weather. So that leaves me with two brackets either side so I have complete flexibility in terms of pole storage.

Re: Spinnaker - Yes!!

Posted: Tue May 01, 2018 4:31 pm
by JohnReinagel
Wow Mike, that all looks terrific. I've stalled on getting my system completed but this certainly makes me want to resume progress a bit faster for my 32. Thanks for sharing and have fun!

Re: Spinnaker - Yes!!

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 2:39 pm
by gamayun
Mike, so appreciate all the info you post!!! My boat did not come with the gunmount (only a Spinnaker in a crappy sock that I tossed a while back) so I'd need to order the beast somewhere, get it set up, and THEN go practice it before we leave in, like, 50 days?! So please don't build a set of pole brackets for me. I might come find you when we get back and find out how you built them, but I'm beyond my bandwidth to dealing with the things I have to right now. I do have a super light mast top reacher that I might try to practice with if there's time, but it needs to come down in anything more than 6 or 7 knots. Unfortunately, there's probably no longer light enough wind on the bay for that. Oh well. It builds character to bounce around in the swell for a couple of days, right?

Re: Spinnaker - Yes!!

Posted: Sun May 06, 2018 8:31 pm
by sforgey1
Wow...love the carbon fiber holder.

Love to get one for my Freedom 32 if you are making them. :)

I have had the spinnaker up in 15-20 knots and it is amazing...but wow the first few times I tried to douse it went the wrong way and pulled the bow into the water. It makes for real great light air reaching as well.

/s