3 tips for chutes?

[Otter]

I'm new to using a cruising chute. We used it for two trips of about 2 hours each, with the wind from dead aft to close reach but I could tell I had a lot to learn. It's a wide chute about 20 feet foot and 31 foot luff, but when I had it set well it was great! anyway, what would be your top three tips for flying a chute?

 

[pagoda]

If it's worth trying - get it flying earlier rather than later.

Experiment with how hard you sheet the main- it can make a big difference how clean the air an asymmetric chute is exposed to- particularly off the wind.

If you have much of a following sea, get the chute down cleanly BEFORE it gets too dodgy to sail with.

I'm sure there are countless more ideas....

 

[ianat182]

3 tips for cruising chutes......

As a start the chute is not good for dead downwind unless sailing by the lee and possibly using a spinnaker pole /jockey pole to support the clew. I have found that it can pay to release about 12 - 18" of halyard when broader reaching; also try releasing the tack , ( but not at the same time). In both instances the pressure can be felt through the sheets. Tighten in the tack more when on closer reaches.
Mainsail angle seems to make a lot of difference too, the 'slot effect' no doubt.
Gybing the chute needs practice and time for the clew and sheets to pass across in front of the (furled) jib,keeping tension on both sheets when doing so.You'll get a wrap occasionally,caused by crossing the downwind line too quickly usually.
Just practice and enjoy! My twopennyworth...

ianat182

 

[Eygthene]

On a very broad reach or run, I set the partly rolled genoa out to windward with a whisker pole (or the spinnaker pole), with the cruising chute out to leeward (and the mainsail). The poled out foresail scoops the wind round into the cruising chute and keeps it from collapsing.

This is very effective, but it is not allowed when racing.

 

[bbg]

what would be your top three tips for flying a chute?

There is only one top tip (but three tips in total). The top tip is called the "head". The front tip is called the "tack". The aft tip is called the "clew".

Seriously - not very good dead down wind. Much better to sail on a broad reach so the sail is not blanketed by the main, and there is some airflow across the chute. If you are trying to go DDW, it is better to gybe downwind in a series of broad reaches and gybes. There will be an optimum angle that will get you downwind fastest.

In general I prefer to keep the halyard fairly tight, and play more with the tack line. Easing it off a little as the reach is broader, tightening it as the reach becomes tighter.

And the easiest way to retrieve the sail is to hoist or unroll the genoa then bear away to nearly DDW. Hold onto the chute sheet, blow the tack line completely (it has to be nicely flaked, clear to run and long enough not to run through the block). Now you'll have a largely blanketed flag held by the head and sheet. Drop the halyard quickly but keeping the sail out of the water as you gather it into the cockpit and shove it down the companionway. Some people advocate a "letterbox" drop where you gather it between the boom and the main (on a loose-footed main) but I think this adds too much friction.

 

[AIDY]

buy a spinniker ! or just pole it out as a spinny

 

[lw395]

Steer the boat actively to keep the kite pulling well, bearing off when you can and heading up a little in the lulls.

 

[Otter]

Thanks for the replies - what are the relative merits of easing/tightening the halyard versus the foot? How high off the stemhead should it be flown?

 

[ianat182]

Suggest you start off at about 2 ft from the stemhead and adjust according to the power you get and how close you are trying to sail. Depending on wind strength gently ease the halyard, again about 2 foot , leaving the tack about the same.
There will be a great deal of tension/power from the halyard; I use a spinlock stopper on mine so is easy and quick to ease and lock. My chute was made fairly flattish so almost close reaches, a fuller cut would not get so close. On a beam to broad reach I could do really well against spinnaker'd rivals,but lost out when going deeper down wind,so a full cut chute may do the opposite.
As an aside I've seen what I think is called an aerosail which has slots in it like those steerable parachutes but I was'nt close enought to see how it performed or was rigged.
It was being flown as a chute, not a spinnaker with pole, so may have been an experimental session.

ianat182

 

[bbg]

Thanks for the replies - what are the relative merits of easing/tightening the halyard versus the foot? How high off the stemhead should it be flown?

In general the halyard should be tight. The sail will be more stable if the head is right at the mast. Personally, the only reason I would fly the head away from the mast is to reduce chafe - something that would only be an issue on ocean passages (e.g. let the halyard in or out be 4 inches at each change of watch, up to about 12-16" away from the mast).

As for adjusting either tack line or halyard, make sure the line is on a winch and loaded before you open the clutch, then ease in or out gently and close the clutch (actually you don't need to open the clutch for grinding in, typically). This should be obvious because it applies to any loaded line, but just in case ...

Edit - how high off the stemhead will depend on the size of the sail and the point of sail. In general, as you go deeper downwind you would ease the tack line more, in order for the sail to be able to project more to windward.

 

[pagoda]

Thanks for the replies - what are the relative merits of easing/tightening the halyard versus the foot? How high off the stemhead should it be flown?

I think it's subjectively easier to ease the tack line- since the halyard has the entire sail under it. You're probably going to use the same coach roof winch anyway?
How have you rigged the tack block?
It often helps to keep things under control if you use a tack block with a becket- and run a short length of bungy cord up to the pulpit rail- discourages too much twisting of the block- and steadies it should you deliberately ease the tack line to sail more downwind than previously. You can position the block more deliberately off the deck a little and it also stops the block flopping around through a gybe....you don't want the tack line round your anchor/rollers!
Just try stuff out -in lighter air.

Graeme

 

[DJE]

I'm new to using a cruising chute. We used it for two trips of about 2 hours each, with the wind from dead aft to close reach but I could tell I had a lot to learn. It's a wide chute about 20 feet foot and 31 foot luff, but when I had it set well it was great! anyway, what would be your top three tips for flying a chute?

Learn to gybe it so that you are happy tacking downwind. Sheet the main in tight before the gybe to let lots of wind get to the chute and reduce the risk of it collapsing onto the forestay.

 

[davidfox]

My penny worth, from my days in laser 4000's - sheet in or out until the luff just starts to curl. And as the apparent wind moves further forward you can head further downwind, but it is only really suitable as stated above for broad reaching.

 

[Otter]

It must be a flatter cut one because it set beautifully on a close reach. The only way I could set it dead downwind was by sailing by the lee.

Hope I've got this right - halyard in until the head reaches the mast (masthead rig) and then play the tack to get the tension right in the luff?

 

[tudorsailor]

It must be a flatter cut one because it set beautifully on a close reach. The only way I could set it dead downwind was by sailing by the lee.

Hope I've got this right - halyard in until the head reaches the mast (masthead rig) and then play the tack to get the tension right in the luff?

Last season I was advised to take the tack line around the anchor windlass instead of a cleat. In that way I can easily let it off to billow out, but can then use the windlass to haul it in when getting closer to the wind. Of course have to be able to take off the anchor chain

TudorSailor

 

[DJE]

Hope I've got this right - halyard in until the head reaches the mast (masthead rig) and then play the tack to get the tension right in the luff?

I use the opposite arrangement as my tack line isn't adjustable from the cockpit (it will be one day) so I set the tack line to get the tack just clear of the pulpit and adjust the luff tension with the halyard. Letting off the luff tension from either or both ends will make gybing a bit easier too.

 

[ianat182]

The arrangement I have for the tack is using a line from the cockpit via spinlock jthrough a swivelling pulley block attached to the bow roller spare adjusting holes ;the end of this line has a snapshackle tied to it . The snapshackle pin has a 6" loop of braided line attached. The snapshackle is attached to the tack of the chute. All adjustments to the tack are done from the cockpit via this tack line.
When taking the chute down a crew member goes
Retrieval is via the leeward sheet, and the halyard is released to match the retrieval beneath the boom directly into the hatchway of the cockpit. When the sheets are undone leaving the Head, Clew, and Tack protruding from the turtle or sailbag, ready to be clipped or tied on at the next launch of the chute.
The forward crewmember returns immediately to the cockpit, where he/she unfurls the genoa. Well that's our way, it may work as well for you!

ianat182

 

[pagoda]

The arrangement I have for the tack is using a line from the cockpit via spinlock jthrough a swivelling pulley block attached to the bow roller spare adjusting holes ;the end of this line has a snapshackle tied to it . The snapshackle pin has a 6" loop of braided line attached. The snapshackle is attached to the tack of the chute. All adjustments to the tack are done from the cockpit via this tack line.
When taking the chute down a crew member goes

ianat182

I use something similar, the tack block is shackled to the spare anchor roller holes, but it has a becket - with an elastic cord up to the pulpit rail above the bow. This keeps it tidy, discourages the block falling over in a gybe etc. I just use the old Spinnaker pole downhaul line through a jammer on the coach roof for the tack control. Works fine!

Graeme

 

[bbg]

I use the opposite arrangement as my tack line isn't adjustable from the cockpit (it will be one day) so I set the tack line to get the tack just clear of the pulpit and adjust the luff tension with the halyard.

Good point. I hadn't considered a tack line that isn't adjustable from the cockpit. I think that is an important feature. As I mentioned in an earlier post, having an adjustable - and VERY long - tack line makes retrieving the sail a doddle.

 

[Ubergeekian]

Tis is a wee bit of a hijack. My new boat has come with a cruising chute. I've never used one (or a spinnaker) before. Can anyone point me to some general guidelines on what to do with it? Is it basically just a big, baggy free flying jib? All enlightenment gratefully received.