Stretch and blow drop 28fter.

[Channel Sailor]

A few days ago I was solo on a reach and wanted to douse the spinnaker. I have used the stretch and blow A few times with crew, but not solo. Decided to turn down wind and drop it instead. What put me off was how to handle the bundle of somewhat billowing sail between the side deck and the companionway and the same time be able to reach back to release the Guy at the right time. For those of you that have tried this, do you stuff the sail down the forehatch or companionway? Any tips on how and when to release the Guy without losing some of the sail in the water? is it better to have some genoa/jib up to blanket the spinnaker or does that change the airflow such that the spinnaker does not stay out of the water?

 

[Lightwave395]

Don't really see that as a solo type drop, but each to his own

 

[Ingwe]

The first thing is that yes you definitely do need the jib/genoa up to blanket the spinnaker during the drop. If I was doing a shorthanded drop on a tight reach in enough wind to make the drop difficult and wanted to get the spinnaker down fast I would just bear away and do a normal drop, if racing and I didn't want to lose time / distance to leeward by doing that I would do a letterbox drop into the companionway as you can then carry on white sail reaching or can go upwind without problem, however shorthanded after a letterbox drop I would allow nearly 10 minutes to get the spinnaker repacked and all the lines sorted out to be able to relaunch it, whereas after a conventional drop you can re-hoist pretty much straight away.