What had started out as an article/outline about gybing has grown to the point where it needs to be broken up into smaller pieces. And there are plenty of opportunities for new subjects to be added as time allows. So welcome to gybe central, where the articles on all aspects of gybing will be located.
The Dip Pole Gybe using lazy sheets and guys is the most common gybe on boats over about 35 feet. A "Dip Pole Gybe" is when the spinnaker pole is released from the afterguy, dipped down and swung through the foretriangle and attached to the lazy afterguy on the other side of the sail.
The End For End Gybe has the spinnaker pole swapping ends during the gybe. The end that used to be on the mast is now on the afterguy, while the end that was on the afterguy is now placed on the mast. This style of gybe is common on boats under 35 feet or so.
This is a distillation of a seminar Scott Owens and I gave at the Metropolitan Yacht Club of Oakland back in 1989 or 1990 as part of a series of seminars designed to help prepare participants for MYCO's annual 400 mile downwind race from Oakland to Catalina Island in Southern California. The race course runs down the Northern California Coast, past Point Arguello and Point Conception, a very windy piece of coastline! It is the intent of this article to help you develop skills for driving while sailing windy runs.
Let's jump right into the subject by looking at what a sailboat wants to do on a windy run. Imagine sailing a run on starboard jibe, which I will also call starboard pole, meaning the spinnaker pole is on the right hand side. If the boat heels to port (boom going lower, spinnaker pole going higher), the boat wants to turn right. On the other hand, when the boat heels to starboard (pole going lower, boom going higher), the boat wants to turn left. The former circumstance, left unchecked, leads to a "round-up," an un-controlled turn to the right, while the latter leads to the much more spectacular "round-down."
Before we go into more detail, let's remind ourselves that in general, moving the rudder causes the boat to slow down. The reason we need to pay so much attention to heel angle is that it transmits an early announcement that the boat is about to turn. If we do not like the turn being indicated by our heel angle, we can make corrections before the boat even starts to turn the corner. Early corrections can be small, requiring little rudder movement, and consequently won't slow the boat down. If we like the change in heading, we try to maintain the heel angle until the boat has achieved the desired new heading, and then make small corrections to straighten out the boat to continue on the new heading. When it is blowing hard, and subtlety is no longer required, you still are dependent upon heel angle to give you the advance warning you need telling you what the boat will do next.
In fact, almost all steering corrections can be decided based on angle of heel alone.
Now let's imagine what the ocean is like. On close examination we will see that there are waves moving across the surface. The tricky thing about waves is that they don't hold still. So let's consider a photograph of a wave. It looks like a small mound. If the mound were made of dirt, we could take a bicycle up to the top, point it towards the bottom, pick up our feet and, to no one's surprise, we'd start rolling (coasting) down the hill. The taller the hill, the faster we'd go, as long as we didn't fall over. The same holds true for a sailboat on a wave, except the wave has the potential of moving along under the boat for some length of time.
So, here we are, in our imaginary boat in our imaginary ocean, and it is nice and windy. We are sailing on starboard pole. What do we need to do to get surfing? We need to realize that the waves we are interested in surfing are traveling faster than our boat. So we need to keep the boat moving fast between the waves by reaching just a little (in this case turning right). If the boat is going too slowly, the wave will pass under the boat before we have spent sufficient time "coasting" to develop enough speed to stay on it for any length of time.
There are just two simple rules of surfing when it comes to sailboats. Rule #1: Keep the bow lower than the stern. Rule #2: Keep the boat right side up.
Let's talk through a wave cycle from the boat's point of view. At the top of the wave, you need to be reaching, sailing a little high to keep the speed up. The waves are traveling faster than the boat, so the wave starts to pull out in front of you. Because you are reaching, as the stern begins to drop into the trough, the boat will begin to heel to windward (to the right). As we saw above, this heeling will initiate a turn left. Carefully allow the boat to turn to the left. This will align the boat with the direction the wave is traveling. The next thing that happens is that the stern is being lifted by the next following wave in the sequence. The bow should be aimed straight into the trough, and the boat will start to speed up. Now you simply execute the two simple rules of surfing mentioned above until the wave starts to pull out from under you again. Then turn right to get the boat into the "ready" position, as at the beginning of this paragraph, reaching across the top of a wave.
Since we will be referring to these steps or positions for the remainder of this article, let's give them numbers:
Ready position reaching on the top of a wave.
Bear off maneuver as wave moves out from beneath the boat.
Takeoff alignment.
Takeoff.
Surfing.
Losing the wave.
Go to step 1.
The two most precarious steps are #2 (bearing off), and #6 (losing the wave). Bearing off is a bit risky because it is easy to let the boat turn too far. On the "normal" scheme of things, since the boat wants to turn left on its own, our tendency is to stop it from turning. But if we stop the turn, we are poorly positioned for steps #3 and #4, and we will start "wallowing" (rolling from side to side) and making large steering corrections as wave after wave passes under the boat. Keeping in mind that we are on starboard pole, if we get to step #4, where the boat is on the face of the wave, and we are still reaching somewhat, the boat will begin to heel to leeward, causing it to want to turn further to the right. It will take a monstrous steering correction to bear the boat off in this circumstance. In this position it is usually better to let this wave go by and get repositioned for the next one.
Takeoff alignment (#3) requires a lot of visual input, looking from side to side as the stern is being lifted, looking constantly for cross chop which might lift the bow at the wrong time and prevent the takeoff because the bow is not low enough.
If the boat has been properly aligned for takeoff, the takeoff itself (#4) is trivial, requiring almost no steering. Just go straight ahead, and watch the speed build! Maybe you should "feel" the speed build, as there are much more important things to watch than the knotmeter at a time like this.
Throughout all of this we have to find some path across the water to try to keep the bow down and the stern up, so the boat thinks it is sliding down a hill. And as all these different waves pass under the boat, they change the heel angle, requiring some steering adjustments.
We are now trying to maintain the surf (#5) as long as possible. This is often accomplished by spiritual incantations like cheering, shouting, and stamping your feet so the off-watch gets jealous (and can't sleep!). Also, watch for cross chop and stray waves. Always be looking for the opportunity to keep the bow lower than the stern. You can steer around a bump to find a valley. If a large cross wave is coming in from the side, look for a way to go with it, or an opportunity to step over it, and get it out of your way.
What do you do when you are just a little bit shy in terms of speed at the take-off point? There is an advanced skill to develop, called the "low pole takeoff." This is dangerous, and it can cost you a mast and some sails, but properly executed, it can give you a short duration turbo-boost, providing a little more speed for the take-off. If you elect to try it, be careful. Let's start by considering a good old fashioned round down...on starboard pole, a left hand turn until the spinnaker pole goes in the water and the boom gybes. What a mess! When you are in the middle of your first one of these things your only thoughts are of survival. But after you've done a few, they can become entertaining. One of the things you may notice is that the boat is accelerating wildly as it heels more and more to weather, and is going blazingly fast just before the spinnaker pole hits the water. In the "low pole takeoff", you use this acceleration to help get that last little bit of speed you need to catch a wave. The scenario works like this: If you don't quite have enough speed to catch the wave, try bearing off (left turn in our examples) as part of the takeoff alignment. The boat should speed up, and you are more likely to catch the wave. But remember that you have initiated a round down. You don't want to take it to its glorious conclusion! Straighten out the boat and get back to "normal" sailing. As a driver you MUST know what the apparent wind angle is.
When a boat is sailing "truly fast," you can do things which you wouldn't dream of trying at slower speeds. You can sail very low, even by the lee; even gybing the mainsail and then gybing it back. You can sail very high, so high that at lower speeds you might round up. When the water is flowing over the keel and rudder this fast (typically much faster than the boat designer intended) the boat can become super stable. This means that when you get the boat really traveling, you have a longer leash as a driver. There are more directions you can travel. "Truly fast" is easy to say and hard to achieve, however. To get to "truly fast" you must pass through "dangerously fast." Dangerously fast is when the boat is the most unpredictable. This is usually in the transition between sailing and surfing, when the boat is under great loads. At the end of a surf (position #6), for instance, the apparent wind strength is building quickly because the boat is slowing down. At the same time the rudder is more prone to stalling because the speed of the water flow over the keel and rudder is slowing. We must keep the boat carefully aligned at this point.
In summary, we are trying to become aware of how we can anticipate what the boat will be doing next, before it does it. Angle of heel gives us the most clues so we have time to change what actually does happen next. If we know what the future will bring we may have enough time to react, and modify the future for our benefit. This is just another very small part of the most complex game I know, the game of sailing.
Just because you don’t want to deal with a spinnaker pole doesn’t mean you can’t have a real spinnaker.
We have some customers who used to own a Santana 30. They felt comfortable sailing it up and down the California Coast. They enjoyed sailing with a 3/4 ounce symmetric spinnaker when conditions (and distances) allowed. They recently bought an Ericson 38. A symmetric spinnaker on the 38 would be 60 percent larger than on the 30. The “new” boat did not have a spinnaker pole, and the partners were leery that they could handle it on boat this big. But they needed a downwind sail to continue their ocean and Bay cruising.
Our discussions started orbiting around a “cruising spinnaker” because “you don’t need a pole,” and the cruising spinnaker is somewhat smaller than a full sized symmetric spinnaker. In the course of the discussion, the subject of running came up. Just how well will the cruising spinnaker run? Run as in deep down wind. Well, without a spinnaker pole to hold the leading edge out away from the mast (and away from the dirty air to leeward of the mainsail), there is no spinnaker, cruising or otherwise, that will run very well at all. Certainly not like the Santana 30 with a symmetric spinnaker on a pole!
I pointed out that they will grow into the size of the Ericson 38, just like they grew into the size of the Santana 30. In the fairly near future, the new boat won’t seam all that big any more. And maybe a conventional spinnaker pole won’t be so intimidating either. Is there a temporary (or permanent) meeting point that allows the use of a full-sized symmetric spinnaker without using a spinnaker pole?
The answer is YES. The solution is in the ATN “Tacker.” ATN are the people who make the spinnaker socks. The Tacker connects one corner of the symmetric spinnaker to the furled up jib on the headstay. This constrains the tack of the sail to stay on the boat’s centerline. By placing two sheets on the clew of the spinnaker, just like on a cruising spinnaker, you can fly the symmetric sail without a pole.
The height of the Tacker is controlled by a down-haul line. You adjust the level of the Tacker so it flies at about level with the clew of the symmetric spinnaker. When reaching, the Tacker will be a little lower, and when sailing free, with the spinnaker sheet eased, the Tacker will want to be eased up somewhat.
Dousing with the Tacker is simple (assuming you are using a spinnaker sock!). Trim the spinnaker sheet in, and then bear off until the spinnaker collapses. Now trip the snap shackle that connects the Tacker to the spinnaker. The sail will now be floating in the lee of the mainsail, and you can easily pull the sock down over the sail.
Slab reefing the mainsail is the subject of this article. Slab reefing, also known as "jiffy reefing," is a process of temporarily removing sail area from the main by lowering the halyard and re-fastening the boom to the sail using reinforcements sewn to the sail at the reef tack and reef clew.
By developing the skill to properly reef your mainsail you will lengthen the life span of your sail (by flogging it less), have fewer repairs done to the sail (by not tearing it), and reduce the emotional stress on those sailing with you...and probably yourself as well!
[caption id="attachment_1723" align="alignright" width="387" caption="Parts of the Mainsail"][/caption]
The big deal in reefing is making sure that during the reefing process and while the reef is in use, the loads are carried by fittings on the sail which are strong enough to do the job. When considering a reef, the strongest parts of the sail are the headboard, the reef clew, and the reef tack. You can convince yourself of this by closely looking at the size and number of layers used for reinforcements at these areas. The weaker parts of the sail are the luff sliders, and the spur grommets which are used to fasten the sliders to the luff of the sail, as well as the interim reef points used for tying the reefed portion of the sail around the boom. If you look closely at these locations you will notice that there are only two or three layers of cloth where the spur grommet is set.
Now that we know which parts of the sail are supposed to be pulled on, we need to understand what each line is doing to the sail. The halyard is obviously holding the sail up. The reef clew line is trying to pull the sail away from the mast, and the reef tack line is trying to hold the reef tack down and forward. Each of these lines is doing an essential job, drawing the sail taut, each corner pulling away from the others, making the sail flat...not a bad idea on a windy day.
It is important to note that the luff sliders are simply there to guide the sail up and down the mast when the sail is raised or lowered. Individually, each one is intended to support only a relatively small percentage of the sail.
When reefing, the order in which lines are tensioned or eased needs to follow a fairly rigorous procedure. Most importantly: you must not pull on the reef outhaul until you have established vertical tension on the luff between the halyard and the reef tack. Once luff tension is established, the luff sliders are protected from the large load imposed by the reef clew line. The penalty for improper reefing is usually a torn sail.
Practice reefing with the boat at the dock early in the morning when there is no wind. This is the perfect time to get the predetermined marks on the main halyard. When you practice reefing at the dock, you will be able to focus your attention on how things are progressing without any distractions that come with actually sailing.
I describe three types of reefing systems here:
two line reefing system, which is I think the simplest to use, fastest to reef and unreef, and possibly the easiest on the sail itself.
tack horn or tack hook for reef tack ring, which is easiest for the boat manufacturer to install, and not a bad system, but cumbersome and requires someone go to the mast to get the reef rigged.
single line reefing system, which I'm afraid we are less than fond of here at Pineapple Sails (see below).
REEFING
Generally the reefing operation starts out the same, but changes depending on what type of reefing system you use. The steps are as follows:
unload controls which hold boom down
boom vang
preventer (?!)
mainsheet
hold boom up if possible
trim in topping lift
support can also come from a hydraulic or "rigid" vang
lower halyard and set reefed luff tension
two line reefing system
lower halyard to predetermined mark which leaves reef tack a little high
tension the luff by trimming in the reef tack line, pulling the reef tack down
tack horn or hook for reef tack ring
lower the halyard low enough to slip reef tack ring onto horn
tension luff by grinding halyard back up
single line reefing system
lower halyard to predetermined mark
trim in the reef clew line until the foot of the sail is flat along the top of the boom
release topping lift
trim main sheet and vang
tie in reef points if desired
If you follow the above guide line, the reef should be installed pretty quickly, and easily too. It should not be necessary to pull tremendously hard on the reef clew line, because all you are doing is tensioning the foot. The leech of the sail will be slack, and if you use the topping lift to hold up the boom, you don't even have to lift the weight of the boom with the reef clew line.
UNREEFING
The process for unreefing is essentially the same, but with a twist or two.
untie the reef points if you tied them in
unload controls which hold boom down
ease off the outhaul and/or flattener (NOT THE REEF CLEW LINE!)
hold boom up if possible
be sure all un-related reef lines are clear to run
undo the reef lines
two line reefing system
ease off the reef clew line
ease the reef tack line
raise the halyard
tack horn or hook for reef tack ring
ease off the reef clew line
lower the halyard low enough to slip reef tack ring off the horn
raise the halyard
single line reefing system
ease off the single reef line
raise the halyard
trim on the outhaul/flattener
release topping lift
trim main sheet and vang
The point of item 3 is that it will be easier to hoist the sail if the sliders are under less load. We accomplish this by slackening control lines which are trying to pull the sail away from the mast. Notice we are NOT talking about the actual reef clew line which is in use at this time, but rather control lines which are "below" the reef clew.
SINGLE LINE REEFING SYSTEM
I would like to discuss the single line reefing system as a separate subject. My biggest problem is that one cannot establish luff tension, thereby reducing the load on the luff sliders, before placing a load on the reef clew line. This will often cause the bottom several luff sliders to start tearing out of the luff of the sail. My second problem is that these 'systems' are sold under the notion that they are 'simple.' They are NOT simple. That is partially due to the fact that the loads in a reefed sail are not simple. The load coming out of the reef clew is very much greater than the load out of the reef tack. (If you look closely you will notice that the size of the reef clew patch is greater, and with more layers, than the reef tack patch.) It is difficult to have a single line carry a large load in one end and a small load in another end...not impossible, just difficult (not simple). To get around this, some single line systems do not have a "single line," but rather two separate lines, one is the reef clew line which lives inside the boom with a block attached, and the other, which starts at the front of the boom, travels aft to this block, then forward to the reef tack, then down and aft to the cleat...not simple.
KEY ITEMS TO LOOK FOR
Sail shape is important. It is possible/preferable to get a reefed sail to be relatively flat, thereby reducing excess heeling. A common fault is not pulling aft hard enough on the reef clew line. Sometimes the hardware on the boom is anchored too far forward to allow proper flattening of the foot. The lead should be back and down.
Luff sliders: You don't want to see wrinkles coming out of these sliders at any time. The wrinkle implies a load which is greater than what the slider was intended to carry.
Some of the ways to get these wrinkles are:
by pulling on reef clew line before luff tension is established
by getting a luff slider stuck in the gate where they are inserted into the tunnel/track
by trying to pull the reef tack lower that the sail slide stop will allow the intervening slider to go...solutions: (1) remove the stop and allow the offending slide(s) to come out/off; (2) don't try to place reef tack at the level of the boom...it doesn't matter; (3) instal a jack line onto the sail to allow the sliders to migrate away from their 'normal' location, (4) modify the sail slide gate or sail slide track to allow the slides to go all the way to the gooseneck (elegant!)
If the reef tack is dragged aft by the load in the reef clew line, then there is a reef tack offset problem. The reef tack line is not holding the sail forward enough. The result will be that a large load will be transferred to the first sail slide above the reef tack. This can be solved on the water by tying a sail tie through the reef tack ring and around the mast, being careful not to trap the halyards.
Tearing luff slider off headboard...prevent this by placing the halyard in the aft hole in the headboard, which is a good idea on all windy days, even if not reefed
The reef points should not have wrinkles coming out of them. Their job is to hold the excess sail cloth up from hanging below the boom, not to pull down on the sail above the reef. If your reef lines are properly set, tying off these points will have no effect in the shape of the sail above the boom. If the cloth below the boom is "well behaved," (not flogging, not blocking your view, etc.) we recommend that you do not tie in the reef points, because a common repair stems from trying to unreef the main without untying the reef points!
If you don't have a way to hold the boom up while reefing, be careful that the boom doesn't get caught under the lifelines.
The easiest heading to steer while reefing or unreefing is either a beat (notice a lot of lee helm?!), or a close reach. This will keep the boom out of the cockpit, and away from the heads of you and your crew.
From the sails point of view, the hardest heading to be reefed or unreefed is on a run. The problem here is the sail will be pressed against the leeward shrouds and spreaders by the wind. This will add friction and sometimes cause tears as the sail is dragged past the standing rigging. Full length battens make this problem worse, because the batten is acting as a lever with the shroud as a fulcrum, trying to pry the luff slider out of the sail track. The best solution to this problem seems to be to purchase one of fancy mainsail luff slide systems made by Harken, Antal, Ronstan, and others.
This article will consider, in some detail, the subject of full-length battens. Out of necessity, there will be digressions into other batten lengths, and the characteristics of the sailboat and the mast the sail is set upon. We will look at how the battens effect the shape of the sail itself, in light air, moderate air and heavy air. We will look at what happens to the battens on a run. What about raising and lowering the sail? What are the sail design considerations which come to the fore...what about "lots of roach?" There is a whole container load of often unconsidered baggage that comes with what batten length you choose for your sail. Some of it is good, and some is not so good.
So what do battens do anyway? This seems like a good question to answer right in the beginning. I see battens as having two primary jobs: (1) they allow us to add roach to the back edge of the sail, and (2) they act as a stress reliever, or a load sharing device for the yarns in the sailcloth which makes up the leech of sails. The stress reliever aspect is the result of the battens forcing the leech of the sail into a relatively flat surface, allowing all the yarns which pass under the batten to share the mainsheet load, thereby reducing the load on the yarns in close proximity to the leech, and thereby reducing stretch.
HISTORY OF BATTEN LENGTH
A long time ago, people who were making sails found out that if an edge of a sail was not supported by some type of spar, like a mast or yard, it had to have a hollow cut into that edge to prevent it from flapping in the breeze. But sailors have also always been looking for "a little more area..." Some bright person found that by adding skinny little sticks, which lived in pockets on the sail and were placed roughly perpendicular to the edge, they could begin to cantilever sailcloth out past the straight line defining the edge of the sail. The sail was getting bigger!
If we roll time forward to when people were trying to handicap sailboat performance for racing by measuring the hull and the rig, it should be no surprise that batten lengths were of interest to the rule makers. It had been understood for a long time that longer battens allowed sailmakers to build mainsails (or jibs for that matter) with wider girths. The original attempt to limit girths was done via limiting the batten length. A sailmaker could make a mainsail as wide as she liked, but with the short battens of CCA and early IOR rules, the leech would fall off to leeward, yielding a slower sail. There have been some highly imaginative attacks on the mainsail midgirth problem. One of my favorites was the mast with a huge permanent bend way up near the top. This effectively moved the headboard way aft from its "normal" position, allowing/requiring the sailmaker to put in a huge amount of "roach" (actually luff round) in the luff edge of the sail instead of the "normal" roach on the leech edge. In this way the sail ended up with a massive midgirth, even though it still used short battens. The obvious solution to the midgirth problem is simply to measure the girth on the sail itself, which is what the rule makers eventually decided to do. What went wrong was that they did not go back and reassess the batten lengths, which were left unchanged from the earlier rule.
So along comes SCORA, the Southern California Ocean Racing Association. They were asking themselves "Now that the size of the mainsail is strictly limited, what can be done to make the sail last longer?" Why is it that after a year or so the sail develops a deep crease, or "V" at the front of the top batten? And a few years after that, the crease runs down past the front edge of all the battens? It looks ugly, and certainly goes slow. A bad combination. So these SCORA folks started messing around with batten lengths. Part of their study involved retrofitting longer battens onto old, tired mainsails. They found that the back edge of the sail showed a huge improvement in shape. Basically, the number of yarns which had previously done all the work grew by the percentage increase in the length of the battens. At the location of the number 3 batten (counting down from the top), the SCORA length is double the old CCA/IOR length, so each yarn is doing half the work it did before! Simply fitting the longer battens into an old, tired sail removed the crease, flattened the leech, and moved the draft forward: an altogether healthy combination.
IMS eventually was forced to lengthen their batten limits also, although regrettably they refused to simply adopt the SCORA lengths, but instead came up with their own maximums, slightly shorter than SCORA. And they still kept their huge rating penalty for battens longer than the maximums. They have trouble with the notion that batten length is not a speed producing factor. Speed comes from two things: sail shape and sail size. They have a good handle on controlling the size. Batten length does not really improve the shape of a brand new sail, it just keeps an older sail looking new longer. This is not something to penalize.
The idea of full-length battens is certainly not new. If you have ever seen a picture of a Chinese junk, you know full-length battens have been around for thousands of years. However, the application of full-length battens to modern displacement boats with sloop rigs is relative new, at least in large volume. The remainder of the article will discuss the pluses and minuses of full-length battens versus sails without full-length battens.
TYPES OF BOATS AND BATTEN LENGTH
There is a whole collection of boats which have gravitated towards full length battens for good reason. ("Good reason" in this case means substantial improvement in sailing performance.) As a group, these tend to be high speed sailing craft like sailboards, multihulls, Aussie 18's, the America's Cup Class boats, and the like. What these boats have in common is they tend to sail at relatively small apparent wind angles, especially when on a run, compared to a conventional sloop. This stems from the fact that this group sails runs going so fast that they pull the apparent wind angle way forward. A byproduct of boats which sail runs at small apparent wind angles is that their optimum sail shapes are flatter.
A good (and extreme) example of a high speed sail boat is the 60' trimaran "Lakota" owned by Steve Fawcett. "Lakota" sails on a run so fast (20 to 25 knots of boat speed is common), the apparent wind is always well ahead of the beam, usually hovering in the 50 to 60 degree range! There is really no circumstance when a spinnaker has any value. Their fullest sail is a roller furling jib top which is set on a bow pole to hold it further out in front of the boat. Their mainsail is not substantially fuller when they are running than when they are beating, because the apparent wind angle is not all that different.
Compare "Lakota" to a conventional displacement sloop, like a Cal 39, which sails downwind at boat speeds like 6 to 10 knots. The Cal will be sailing at apparent wind angles of 150 to 165 degrees. Full sail shapes are required to generate power while sailing at these large apparent wind angles. The Cal 39 will need a much fuller mainsail shape for sailing runs than "Lakota."
EFFECT ON SAIL TRIMMING
Let's look at how a mainsail behaves when full-length battens are used and when non-full-length battens are used.
SHAPE CONTROL
In the case of a non-bendy mast (which is most cruising boats and a large percentage of production boats), full length battens take control of sail shape, essentially over-ruling the effect of changes in the outhaul and the cunningham. The sail can be made flatter by (a) using stiffer battens or (b) reducing the tension on the battens themselves. The sail can be made fuller by (a) using more flexible battens or (b) increasing the tension on the battens. An extrapolation of this is that the sail shape is basically predetermined by the batten stiffness. This means the shape will be "okay" almost no matter what you do or don't do to trim it.
In the case of a flexible mast, mainsail shape can be adjusted by bending the mast. The sail becomes flatter when the middle of the mast is bowed forward compared to the head and tack. In this case, full-length battens do not overwhelm the shaping of the sail.
It should be pointed out that many of the 'high speed sailing craft' mentioned above have yet another method of shape control by having a selection of sails, and even rigs(!) to choose from. The sailboard people have "quivers" of sails and masts, as do the Aussie 18's, with rigs numbered 1 through 4. It may be that the America's Cup has nothing to do with most day to day sailing, but the wind range of their mainsails is only about three to four knots wide! More or less wind by that much makes them wish they were using a different mainsail.
EFFECT OF CUNNINGHAM & OUTHAUL
It is surprising how much the full-length battens control the sail shape. Easing the outhaul to try to fill out the sail for running will effect the sail mostly up to the bottom batten, and produce very little change above the batten. Changes in the cunningham seem to have less effect on the draft position, but this might be due to friction between the sail slides at the front of the battens and the sail track. If the change in the cloth tension induced by the cunningham cannot distribute itself the whole way up the sail, then the draft position will not be effected.
MOTOR SAILING / FLOGGING
One occurrence where full length battens have a distinct advantage is when motor-sailing. The mainsail will generally sit quietly on one tack or the other if you are motoring around with the sail up.
LIGHT AIR 'BATTEN POP'
Full-length battens can pose a difficulty when sailing in very light air because the battens seem to be more comfortable/stable when the mainsail is sitting on the wrong tack! The fixes which seem to help minimize this behavior are less halyard tension and less batten tension.
EFFECT OF BACK-WIND WHEN OVERPOWERED
One concern I have with full-length battens is when the boat is overpowered. Suppose you are beating with a genoa and a main which does not have full length battens. Suppose the wind has recently filled in to the point where you wish you were sailing with a #3 jib instead of the #1 genoa, but you're stuck with keeping the genoa up. You can control angle of heel by making the mainsail as flat as you can (lots of outhaul) and lowering the traveler (so you are getting drive only off the leech of the mainsail), and as much back stay as you dare to straighten the forestay and therefore flatten the genoa. At this time the front of the main will have a large bubble in it, caused by the large volume of air exiting off the leech of the genoa. This is known as backwinding the mainsail. It may look awkward, but it is the fastest arrangement given the constraints. If we look at this same circumstance using a full batten main, the battens will prevent the bubble from forming in the luff, essentially forcing the mainsail down into the high speed exhaust flowing off the jib. This is now constricting the air flow, essentially acting like an air dam, preventing the air from exhausting off the leech of the jib. This will be a performance liability...but it will "look better."
DOWNWIND BATTEN BEND
When sailing a run with a conventional displacement boat, and the boom is out at 90 degrees, full length battens suffer from some extreme bending around the leeward upper shroud. The wind is pushing the batten (the whole sail) to leeward outboard of the shroud. The batten is constrained to lay against the shroud, and also be connected to the aft edge of the mast. This contorts the batten into an 'S' shape, and can causes failures at the front end of the batten pocket if the batten cars are not strong enough.
CHAFE
When running, there is the problem of chafe between the shroud and the mainsail. Certainly when you rub sailcloth against a stainless steel shroud, or a spreader tip, the sail will give way. Full length battens tend to cause the sail to chafe faster because the sail cloth is pinched between the shroud and a fiberglass batten. I'm not sure how important this problem is, however. I don't think holes of this type are threatening to the life of the mainsail, unless you are sailing around the world or something similar. What can be done to mitigate this? Placing chafe patches where the batten pockets contact the shrouds will be about the only thing you can do. But let's talk about chafe for a minute. Chafe does not happen when two items touch each other. Chafe only happens when two items rub against each other. There must be movement for there to be chafe. The movement that is the problem here is caused when a gust of wind hits the mainsail. The leech is blown to leeward, causing the boom to rise. As the boom rises, the sail is sliding up across the shroud. After the gust, the pressure on the leech is reduced, allowing the boom to drop back down again, so the sail slides down the shroud back to where it was before. Every time there is a change in apparent wind strength, this movement occurs. If you can reduce the movement of the sail against the shroud, you will get less chafe. This can be accomplished by using a boom vang when sailing downwind. The primary purpose of the boom vang is to control the shape of the leech of the main when sailing on a reach and a run, and it will inhibit the up and down movement of the boom. You will have less chafe and more control using a boom vang no matter what batten length your mainsail has.
EFFECT ON SAIL HANDLING
I have covered most of the sailing behavior of full length battens. I would like to now address the sail handling differences between full-length and non-full-length battens. These are mechanical things which are different when using full-length battens as opposed to non-full-length battens.
BATTEN DROOP / THRUST
The most alarming difference comes from what I call batten droop or batten thrust. When raising (or lowering) a full-length battened mainsail, the leech end of the battens tend to be lower than the front end. This batten droop causes the batten to thrust the luff slide (or sail slide) at the front end of the batten against the mast track. Note that if the batten did not reach the luff slide (not full-length), then, even though the batten droop is still there, it has no effect on the slide. In general, luff slide tracks are designed to be pulled away from the mast, because, without full-length battens, that is what the mainsail does. The change to full length battens completely reverses what is going on. The battens are now pushing the slide towards the mast. There will be a great deal more friction when trying to raise or lower a fully-battened main than a non-fully-battened main. The solution to this problem is to buy specially designed luff slides which are intended to deal with the compression loads from the battens. On boats over about 30 feet, often times the solution is to replace the sail track on the mast with one which is designed to deal with both tension and compression loads, and has low friction slides (now called 'cars') which make raising and lowering the sail much easier. This solution will easily run into the thousands of dollars for sail track and cars only...sail not included!
Nearly all sailboat hardware companies have products aimed at solving this problem. And, no, the products are not all the same. Ronstan, Harken and others offer ball bearing cars. There have been reports that the balls can get gummed up, especially if your boat spends some time in a boat yard where there is sanding and painting going on. In this case be sure to clean the cars carefully after leaving the yard. Antal offers a sleeve type car which fits snugly around their track and requires almost no maintenance. Tides Marine has a product called Strong Sail Track and Slides (suitable for mainsails up to 450 square feet) which uses brass slides on a plastic track. The ball bearing cars like Harken and Ronstan are quite tall. Harken's smallest batten traveler system, "System A", uses "bat-cars" which are 3 inches tall. The headboard carriage is 7 7/8 inches tall. The intermediate cars are 2 1/8 inches tall. (Conventional sail slides average around one inch in height.) A by-product of this is that when the sail is stowed, it will stack much higher on the boom than with conventional sail slides. Putting the main halyard onto the headboard will require a longer reach than before. Note that when the sail is reefed the reef tack position will be higher above the boom because of the height of the sail slide cars. Starting the sail slide track as close to the gooseneck as possible will help.
SAIL WEIGHT
Full length battens also carry a weight premium. They certainly weigh more than the battens in a conventionally battened sail. And when you add in the weight of a low friction batten carriage system and it's track, it can be easily double what a conventional mainsail would weigh. If all other things are equal, less weight aloft is better than more weight aloft.
SAIL STOWAGE
We often hear that full length battens and lazy jacks have some sort of connection with each other, as if lazy jacks won't work unless the sail has full length battens. Actually lazy jacks or the "Dutchman System" work equally well independent of batten length. In fact they will all work with no battens at all!
SAIL DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
What about sail design considerations made possible by full-length battens?
ROACH
The most common request relevant to full length battens is for a sail with "lots of roach." There have been plenty of misleading articles on this subject. First of all, most boats have a standing backstay, and the back stay serves as a pretty good limiter for how much roach can go into a sail. For most boat owners, having to lower the main halyard in order to tack or gybe is pretty much out of the question. In a large percentage of all boats, a sailmaker can get the roach to reach the back stay using non-full length battens, so don't think you need full length battens in order to have "lots of roach."
Now of course if you DON'T have a standing back stay, then things are much different! If you consider the fluid dynamics of sail design, what we as sailmakers would like to get away from is sails with pointed heads. "Lots of roach" is very good, especially if it is near the head of the sail. (Note that we no longer see rudders or keels with pointed tips.) But when we look at boats with no standing backstay, we have just switched over to "high speed sailing craft like sailboards, multihulls, Aussie 18's, the America's Cup Class boats, and the like" as mentioned near the beginning of this article. And, as a group, that collection of boats have trailing edge shapes which are very attractive from a fluid dynamics point of view, and very fast as I mentioned before. There is also a collection of boats with free standing masts, like the Nonsuch line, some of the Freedoms, and the WyileCat 30's, where, if the sailmaker is not constrained by some rule (like PHRF), the roach can become quite large. In these cases full-length battens are the only way to support the large roach, and work very well.
REEF LOCATIONS
Probably the fastest way to wear out a mainsail is to flog it to death. Mainsails tend to flog when sailing overpowered with the jib exhaust dumping onto the mainsail. The sail tends to flog more if there are concentrations of unsupported weight on the leech, as in reef clew patches. Each reef clew patch is composed of 6 to 10 layers of sail cloth which are the reinforcement for the reef clew ring. Then there is the reef clew ring itself, and if the boat is over 35 feet, there might be webbing to anchor the ring to the patch. Then there is the leech line cleat and its cover. This adds up to a lot of weight, and is a 'catalyst' for flogging. One of the features of full length battens we like to take advantage of is their ability to stabilize the reef clew patch. If we can design the mainsail so there is a batten which runs right across the reef clew patch, the batten will do a good job of reducing flogging because it will help hold the reef clew still. To accomplish this properly, the number of reefs must be predetermined, and the number of battens and their locations must be allowed to float to the location which does the most good. Usually either five or six battens will work nicely, depending on how many reefs the sail will have.
SUMMARY
You may now know more than you ever wanted to know about batten lengths. We make mainsails of both varieties. Both styles of battens, batten pockets, and associated hardware are carefully developed to be the strongest and most reliable. But we want to be sure that you evaluate the marketing efforts which have somehow convinced many people that a mainsail with full-length battens is somehow easier to handle. Consider that "bat-cars" never existed before the full-length batten mains became common...which I interpret to mean the fancy cars were not needed in order to raise and lower a sail with conventional battens. (It is hard to imagine how easy it would be to raise and lower a mainsail with conventional battens and ball-bearing luff sliders!)
There are pros and cons to both batten styles. Hopefully with this knowledge, you can make a wiser choice when deciding what to do about batten lengths when ordering your new mainsail.
Prevent the destruction of roller furling jibs while your boat sits in its slip.
We had numerous severely damaged furling jibs brought to us at Pineapple Sails, all casualties of a big blow on Tuesday, December 12, 1995. The peak wind speed of 103 knots was measured at Pt. Blunt on Angel Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. All the damaged sails we saw were sitting furled on the forestay in their "normal" stowed position. Several of the sails came in with the jib sheets still attached to the clew ring, but the clew ring unattached to the sail...litterally clewless.
I would like to share with you some of the things which were learned and relearned from that experience.
First and foremost, an exposed roller furling sail is not that happy in even 50 knots of breeze! (A mainsail which furls inside the mast is less exposed to wind damage.) If anything slips, or goes a little wrong, and the sail starts to unfurl, the sail has a very big problem. Usually a terminal problem. The sail will start to flog violently. If the problem is not attended to promptly, the sail will literally beat itself to pieces. The sound has been called a sailmakers' symphony...
I talked with Peter Minkwitz, a marine surveyor, who related stories about masts which were shaken so hard by flogging sails that the light bulbs in the mast were gone! Think what the swages and shroud terminals must be going through during this kind of shaking!
So what are common threads (no pun intended!) in the furling jib failures? In all cases somehow the jib starts to partially unfurl. This means it is either unwrapping itself from around the headstay (a problem with the jib sheets), the furler drum is allowed to rotate (a problem with the furling line), or the sail is "creeping out" because it was furled too loosely.
Let's start by looking at why the jib thinks it is going to stay furled in the first place. When you furl the sail, the furling line causes the furling drum and extrusion to rotate, rolling the sail up around the headstay. After the sail is completely furled, the tension in the jib sheets is trying to unwind the system. For the jib to stay furled, the strain between the furling line (wind up), and the jib sheets (unwind) must remain in balance. If either one of these lines becomes slack, the jib is prone to unfurl.
Alameda rigger Jack Scullion points out that this balance is never established if the jib sheets are removed from the jib cars, coiled up and hung on the bow pulpit. When the sheets are stored forward, they are just pulling down. Even if there are several wraps of the sheet around the sail, with all the banging and shaking of the rig in a big blow, these turns will start to loosen up and slide down the jib, allowing the clew to start unwinding from around the headstay. Another way to court disaster is to remove the sheets altogether and use a sail tie or shock cord to hold the jib closed. There must be tension on the jib sheets, holding the jib tightly against the forestay.
There have some comments on the net about using one of the sheets to pull aft, while the other sheet is removed from the jib car and led forward to pull straight down. This prevents the clew from migrating up the the furled sail, loosening the tightness of the furl, which might allow the wind to get underneath the leech, and over time, start the sail flogging. This seems like a very good idea.
The furling line itself is often at fault. After furling the jib be SURE the furling line is cleated off in a formal fashion, on a real cleat, or tied off in such a way that it cannot slip out. Better yet, put a few turns around a winch, then to a cleat. The winch provides a large, round surface for the furling line to dissipate the constant strain and shocks without cutting itself. On one sail we saw, the furling line parted. The sail unfurled almost instantly and self distructed in short order. If your furling line is old, or chafed, consider replacing it.
Several jibs showed signs of the 'creep out' problem, where the sail was not furled very tight the last time it was put away. In this situation, the wind tends to get under the leech of the jib and start tugging on the outside layer. This has the effect of cinching up the inside layers, while exposing more sailcloth to the wind on the outside layer, which allows more wind to get underneath this bigger piece, so it pulls harder still. Pretty soon, parts of the leech will be flogging in the wind.
If you know it's going to be WINDY, then the safest move is to get down to your boat, unfurl the jib and get it below. You don't have to fold it if you don't have time, you're by yourself, or it's already too windy. I know that removing the jib sounds extreme, but I also know you won't find YOUR jib hanging in ribbons off the furler the next time you walk down the dock. At the very least, check that the furling line is properly cleated, and re-tension the jib sheets.
Another safeguard is to take the spinnaker halyard and wind it repeatedly around the tightly furled jib, in the opposite direction of the furl, to help hold the sail closed. Also in the safeguard category are the live-aboards. I have heard many stories of these folks retying boats, re-furling jibs, and helping out all over the place, at all hours of the day and night. If you have helpful live-aboards nearby, do something nice for them!
By the way, if you know you won't be sailing for a while, like during the winter months, consider removing the jib from the furler and storing it below until the next time you sail.
Remember: Your mother was right...take good care of your equipment, and your equipment will take good care of you!
[caption id="attachment_1711" align="alignnone" width="321" caption="This is a photograph of the clew of a jib which came un furled in a wind storm. The leech is to the right and the foot is at the top of the photograph. The sail flogged long enough that essentially all the stitching which held the clew reinforcement to the sail failed. But much more damaging than that is the fact that the sail cloth stretched during all the flogging. The rectangle shows the area of the close-up below."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1713" align="alignnone" width="350" caption="In this close up you can see how much the sail (bottom layer) as stretched relative to the clew reinforcement (top layer). Before the flogging, the needle holes in the two layers of cloth lined up."][/caption]
The Problem with inexpensive UV Covers for Roller Furler Jibs (Tedlar Films for UV covers...do they work?)
We have just had a customer bring in a four and a half year old furling jib, made by some other sailmaker, which "needed the leech fixed up a bit." Unfortunately we were not able to revive the patient.
The sail was a dacron jib with a tedlar film for the UV border. One sailmaking catalog describes this material as "flexible, highly sun-protective tedlar film with pressure sensitive adhesive for roller furling sails." Although the tedlar film itself costs about the same as Sunbrella (or Acrilan), it can be installed on the sail in much less time because it is simply glued on rather than sewn down. In today's price sensitive world, this means the jib costs less money...sort of.
This photo gives an overview of the leech, showing the width of the cover, and two typical failures. One is immediately above a seam (see also the photo above), and another tear which is not related to a seam.
With one exception, all the photos are of this particular seam in this sail. However, in other locations, there were four more failures just above a seam, just like this one (although smaller), and two non-seam failures, and, as one photo below shows, several areas which are threatening to fail.
The problems here are as follows:
The tedlar film is not protecting the structural sail cloth.
In areas where the film is not bonded directly to the sail cloth, the film is failing. These areas are primarily (1) on top of the stitching in the seams, and (2) spanning the vertical height from one piece of sailcloth down to the next, which is immediately at the top of the seams in these pictures.
Even in areas where the film is bonded directly to the sailcloth, you can see that it is blistering away, leaving the dacron unprotected.
The order in which the pieces of the sail are put together has caused a problem at the leech of this sail:
The sail was seamed.
The tedlar border was glued on.
A UV treated dacron tape was sewn on the leech to hold the leech cord.
Notice that the film is in much better condition where it has been protected from the sunlight by the leech tape.
Also notice that the UV treated dacron leech tape is failing, and when it breaks the sail itself will tear. There were MANY flaws in the leech tape like this one. (See photo below.)
This is the order Pineapple Sails uses for building roller furling jibs:
The sail is seamed.
The leech cord is sewn into a hem running down the leech of the sail.
The Sunbrella UV border is put on last, and wraps completely around the leech, covering the entire back edge of the sail.
How do you catch the problem in time?
One of the dangers of roller furling jibs is that you don't get down on your hands and knees and fold the sail. When you fold a sail you actually touch the sailcloth, and your eyes are only two feet away from the sail...These kinds of problems are a lot easier to see up close, as the photographs show!
At the end of every season you should probably take your sails into your sailmaker and ask them to go over the sails. In fact it would be best of all if they could go over your sails while you are there (a phone call for an appointment would be appreciated!), so you could listen and learn from their observations. And speaking of 'end of the season,' you might want to read the article on how to destroy a roller furling jib without even going sailing!
This photo show an area of coming weakness. Notice that in the leech tape there is a hole, and in the body of the sail straight in from the hole there is a localized area of wrinkles which is the beginning of a failure which would have turned into a tear if left unchecked.
Are these tedlar films completely unacceptable? No. There are circumstances where they are good. If you have a relatively light sail, say five ounce or less, then the weight of the acrylic hangs pretty heavy on the leech, so something like tedlar might be okay. (The sail in these photographs is a 7.5 ounce 135% genoa from a 44 footer!) We happen to prefer using light UV treated dacron sewn on top of the structural dacron, because when the time comes to replace the cover cloth, we can remove the old deteriorated cloth and put on a new layer. Another case is if you are racing your boat, and you feel the sail will be too slow to be competitive within four or five years, then who cares?
There are other circumstances however which make things more difficult. In the case of this boat, the current owner bought the boat used about a year and a half ago. He had no idea there was anything going wrong with the jib. I can speculate that the previous owner, who bought the boat from a dealer, also did not know the short lifetime he was buying into. If you are buying a new boat, you may want to at least inquire as to the material used for the UV cover on the jib. One of the things to keep in mind is that the cover on the jib has the same job as the sail cover on the mainsail. What type of material is being used there?
For durability, there is nothing currently available which has a better track record at UV protection than Sunbrella. We are regularly re-stitching Sunbrella borders to sails which are 8 to 10 and even 12 years old. I would go so far as to say if you have a non-acrylic border on a roller jib, you need to see it just like you see bottom paint: after a certain length of time it must be replaced!
So, here comes the sales (sails!) pitch: high quality sails made from high quality materials are worth the price. There is a difference, and they will cost less in the end.
Dip pole gybes using lazy sheets and guys - by Task
This is a detailed description of the steps needed to complete a dip pole gybe on a boat in the 35 foot plus range.
The information is presented in two outline forms, first as an overview of the whole boat...essentially a managers view, and this one, reorganized to the job-specific view showing what each task should be doing, in order.
DRIVER
"SET-UP" This call comes from you.
Call "set up for the gybe" loud enough for everyone to hear. Get an idea on what the heading is going to be on the new gybe. Watch how quickly the crew is getting ready. Are they covering all bases?
"SQUARE BACK" This call comes from you.
Start the boat bearing off, usually before you ask for the square back, but after you are convinced the important bases are covered. Watch the spinnaker and the mast head windex, and the angle of heel. Keep the cockpit crew appraised of how the bear-off is going, like slowly, or move faster!
"TRIP" This call comes from you.
The first time the boat heels to weather, call "TRIP!" loud enough for all the crew to hear. Keep the boat turning continuously through the gybe.
DO NOT try to sail dead down wind while the gybe is completed. In light air the boat will not heel to weather, so call "TRIP" just before the boat is on a dead-down-wind heading.
"MADE" This call comes from the bow person.
Swing the boat onto the new gybe, and hold a steady course. Pay ultimate attention to the apparent wind angle, and the direction the spinnaker wants to move towards. There are big gainers for not collapsing the sail! At this stage it is mostly up to you.
DONE It is not clear when the gybe is all done!
Line the boat up on the new course. Watch the sail and the apparent wind angle...don't gybe back! Nobody is ready! If the air is light, push the boat up onto a reach right away to build up the boat speed again. Keep talking to the spinnaker trimmers so they know what you are going to do next.
BOW PERSON
"SET-UP" This call comes from the driver.
Be sure you have enough lazy afterguy at your disposal. Double check that the lazy spinnaker sheet is OVER the top of the spinnaker pole, not hanging down outside the pole tip.
"SQUARE BACK" This call comes from the driver.
Hold the lazy guy your favorite way to get it into the pole jaw properly. Watch the driver and angle of heel for clues as to when the "trip" call will come.
"TRIP" This call comes from the driver.
Focus on the incoming pole. Hold the lazy guy in two hands with about a foot of guy between them. Catch the jaws of the pole with this loop.
Resist the urge to catch the pole with your hands.
"MADE" This call comes from the bow person.
When the new afterguy is in the pole jaws, and the jaws have closed, call "MADE!" loud enough for everyone on the boat to hear. The entire crew's actions are at a standstill until the "made" call is announced. It comes from YOU. Hold the pole until the afterguy pulls the pole away. This will prevent a slack afterguy from looping over the end of the pole.
DONE It is not clear when the gybe is all done!
As soon as the pole is made and you know the new afterguy is cleanly in the jaw you are all done in the bow. Move your weight aft and look for people who need assistance. First choice: help get the topping lift up, and the spinnaker pole car back down to its normal position. If the lazy spinnaker sheet is on top the pole (it typically is at the end of a gybe), pull out the slack and wrap the sheet around the afterguy to prevent the sheet from falling off the top of the pole.
MAST
"SET-UP" This call comes from the driver.
Move spinnaker pole car up to the gybing position.
"SQUARE BACK" This call comes from the driver.
Hold onto the trip line on the pole.
"TRIP" This call comes from the driver.
Trip open the pole with the trip line, and swing the pole in towards the bow with the trip line. Look to be sure the pole jaw has really opened and the old afterguy has come out. Your next area of concern will be helping to get the topping lift back up by bouncing at the mast. Move in that direction.
"MADE" This call comes from the bow person.
After the "made!" call, repeat the call while looking aft. Wait for tension in the afterguy, then help pull up the topping lift by bouncing it at the mast. Watch the outboard end of the pole...do not let it poke straight at the sail, which will be a problem if the topping lift is pulled up before the new afterguy is trimmed in.
DONE It is not clear when the gybe is all done!
Move the inboard end of the spinnaker pole car back to its normal sailing position.
TOPPING LIFT
"SET-UP" This call comes from the driver.
Place topping lift around winch, and be sure the sheet stopper is all the way open.
"SQUARE BACK" This call comes from the driver.
Start easing the topping lift slightly (inches), and know where the black mark on the topping lift is for life-line and pulpit clearance for the spinnaker pole.
"TRIP" This call comes from the driver.
Look at the black mark on the topping lift and ease quickly to the proper location. Focus on the mark more than the pole. If the car on the mast is in the right place the pole will end up in the right place.
"MADE" This call comes from the bow person.
After the "made!" call, pull up the topping lift. Watch the outboard end of the pole...do not let it poke straight into the sail. Tearing the foot out of the spinnaker is not a successful conclusion to a gybe.
DONE It is not clear when the gybe is all done!
Trim the topping lift to the proper height for the current conditions.
AFTERGUY
"SET-UP" This call comes from the driver.
Prepare the afterguy to be squared back (needs a handle).
"SQUARE BACK" This call comes from the driver.
Grind aft the afterguy, being careful not to collapse the spinnaker.
"TRIP" This call comes from the driver.
As soon as the "trip" call is made, ease the afterguy about a foot. Leave it uncleated. It has no more bearing on this gybe. Find another job, like grinding on the new spinnaker sheet.
"MADE" This call comes from the bow person.
This line has no function and needs no attention.
LAZY SHEET
"SET-UP" This call comes from the driver.
Get the lazy sheet around a winch. It will need a handle soon too. Constantly watch to be sure the lazy sheet stays on top of the spinnaker pole.
"SQUARE BACK" This call comes from the driver.
Trim aft the lazy sheet along with the afterguy. From now on the lazy sheet needs to be kept tight.
"TRIP" This call comes from the driver.
As soon as the "trip" call is made, this has become the active sheet. The afterguy must go slack in order for the pole to fall out promptly. This is why the lazy sheet has been tensioned through out the square-back.
"MADE" This call comes from the bow person.
Keep the spinnaker full. If the square back went well this should be a one person job for a while. If you need help call for a grinder.
DONE It is not clear when the gybe is all done!
Back in the saddle again...if the sheet doesn't need to be trimmed in, try easing it until the spinnaker luffs. Be sure you have a grinder.
FOREGUY
"SET-UP" This call comes from the driver.
Get somebody on the foreguy (it will need easing).
"SQUARE BACK" This call comes from the driver.
Ease the foreguy as the pole moves aft.
"TRIP" This call comes from the driver.
A big trim in will help get the pole moving in towards the foredeck.
"MADE" This call comes from the bow person.
Watch the pole and prevent the tip from "skying"...going too high.
DONE It is not clear when the gybe is all done!
Firm up the foreguy when the pole is in it's proper position.
LAZY GUY
"SET-UP" This call comes from the driver.
Remove all wraps from the winch so the bow person can pull out the necessary slack.
"SQUARE BACK" This call comes from the driver.
Do nothing at this time.
"TRIP" This call comes from the driver.
Keep waiting!
"MADE" This call comes from the bow person.
No more waiting now!. As soon as the "made" call comes through, grind the pole aft FAST!. This is typically a two person job.
DONE It is not clear when the gybe is all done!
Trim the afterguy to the current apparent wind angle. Help get the spinnaker pole set to the right height.
OLD SHEET
...meaning the active sheet at the start of the gybe
"SET-UP" This call comes from the driver.
Get ready to ease during the "square-back."
"SQUARE BACK" This call comes from the driver.
Ease the sheet as the boat bears off, being careful not to collapse the spinnaker.
"TRIP" This call comes from the driver.
Fly the spinnaker, but don't ease the clew past the headstay
"MADE" This call comes from the bow person.
Hold on to the old sheet while the afterguy is trimmed aft. Sometimes the old sheet needs to be eased in order to square the pole to the proper position. Do not let the clew of the sail get past the headstay.
DONE It is not clear when the gybe is all done!
This is the perfect time to be sure the lazy (old) sheet is over the top of the spinnaker pole. It usually ends up on top at the end of a gybe. Wind the lazy sheet around the guy to prevent the sheet from falling off the top of the pole.
NEW SHEET
...meaning the lazy sheet at the start of the gybe
"SET-UP" This call comes from the driver.
Get ready to trim on the new sheet when the square back call comes.
"SQUARE BACK" This call comes from the driver.
Trim in the new sheet as the pole is trimmed aft. It is important to keep the new sheet tight through out the remainder of the gybe.
"TRIP" This call comes from the driver.
You are now flying the spinnaker. Watch the sail carefully as the boat continues to turn through the gybe.
"MADE" This call comes from the bow person.
Keep the spinnaker full. If the square back went well this should be a one person job for a while. If you need help call for a grinder.
DONE It is not clear when the gybe is all done!
You are now the primary spinnaker sheet trimmer. Be sure the sheet is eased as far as possible. By now you should have a grinder helping you.
MAINSAIL
"SET-UP" This call comes from the driver.
Cleat the traveler on both sides to prevent the traveler car from banging into the end of the track. Get ready to ease the main sheet during the gybe.
"SQUARE BACK" This call comes from the driver.
Ease the mainsheet as the boat bears off.
"TRIP" This call comes from the driver.
Gybe the mainsail at the "trip" call.
"MADE" This call comes from the bow person.
As long as the mainsail has gone across, look around for someone who needs help...most likely the new spinnaker sheet trimmer, who may need a grinder.
What had started out as an article/outline about gybing has grown to the point where it needs to be broken up into smaller pieces. And there are plenty of opportunities for new subjects to be added as time allows. So welcome to gybe central, where the articles on all aspects of gybing will be located.
This is a distillation of a seminar Scott Owens and I gave at the Metropolitan Yacht Club of Oakland back in 1989 or 1990 as part of a series of seminars designed to help prepare participants for MYCO's annual 400 mile downwind race from Oakland to Catalina Island in Southern California. The race course runs down the Northern California Coast, past Point Arguello and Point Conception, a very windy piece of coastline! It is the intent of this article to help you develop skills for driving while sailing windy runs.
Just because you don’t want to deal with a spinnaker pole doesn’t mean you can’t have a real spinnaker.
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We had numerous severely damaged furling jibs brought to us at Pineapple Sails, all casualties of a big blow on Tuesday, December 12, 1995. The peak wind speed of 103 knots was measured at Pt. Blunt on Angel Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. All the damaged sails we saw were sitting furled on the forestay in their "normal" stowed position. Several of the sails came in with the jib sheets still attached to the clew ring, but the clew ring unattached to the sail...litterally clewless.
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We have just had a customer bring in a four and a half year old furling jib, made by some other sailmaker, which "needed the leech fixed up a bit." Unfortunately we were not able to revive the patient.
This photo show an area of coming weakness. Notice that in the leech tape there is a hole, and in the body of the sail straight in from the hole there is a localized area of wrinkles which is the beginning of a failure which would have turned into a tear if left unchecked.
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