Any tips on packing a spinnaker quickly

[Don107]

Hi all

Any tips on packing a spinnaker into a turtle quickly

Thanks in advance

Regards Don

 

[PeteCooper]

What size boat -it makes a difference.

 

[DanTribe]

It rather depends on the size of the spinnaker.
I recently crewed on a boat where they hung the turtle just below the forehatch and dropped straight into it while someone below stuffed it in ready for immediate use, needs a bit of crew co-ordination but very impressed.
I usually put the head up in the forepeak, tack and clew to each side, then stand behind the cabin table with the turtle on the floor and stuff the sail in starting from the middle. The corners are then the last bits to go.
Mind you, I once lost the fruit bowl doing that and had to undo it all.

 

[bbg]

Shove it in as fast as you can.

No guarantees on how it comes out.

Can you give more details? Type / size of boat, circumstances? A lot of smaller boats like J-24s will have the turtle hanging in the companionway and as the kite comes down it is just pushed in, ready for re-launch on the next leg.

 

[bbg]

I don't stretch it out in the boat (again, depending on size of boat), just run the tapes.

Turtle in front of me - maybe I'll sit on one side with the rest hanging down in front of me. Start at one corner and run my hands along the tape up to the head, then back down to the other corner. That ensures there are no twists. Shove the belly of the sail into the bag, then the luff tapes, then the foot on top and corners hanging out.

I also use a permanent marker to read "HEAD" in large letters on both sides of the head, and "TACK" and "CLEW" on an asymmetric.

 

[Georgio]

I have three cheap plastic clips on a handrail below.

Find the head and put on the middle clip. Rundown each side of the sail (loosely collecting/bundling it as I go) and then clipping on each corner. No need to do anything with the foot of the sail if the sides are done as described

Stuff the bulk of the sail in the turtle and then unclip the ends becore putting them in last.

Works well for me when racing boats between 24-40 ft over many years.

 

[Georgio]

I also use a permanent marker to read "HEAD" in large letters on both sides of the head, and "TACK" and "CLEW" on an asymmetric.

That last bit is important if you don't want to embarrass yourself!

 

[vyv_cox]

My turtle is attached to the guard wires on the side ahead of the mainsail, with the inboard side attached to the hand rails on the inboard side. When we are ready to drop the spinnaker I release the guy from the winch but do not disconnect either the guy or the sheet from the sail I walk forward and sit alongside the turtle while Jill releases the halyard. I can then pull the spinnaker down and stuff it into the turtle. Sheet, halyard and guy are not released until all three ends are clipped into the Velcro straps in the turtle. The sail is now fully ready to be used next time, guy and sheet, pole up and down-haul are tidied up and we are ready to sail under genoa. Masthead spinnaker, 34 ft boat, two people. The only time the sail is packed is at the end of the season.

 

[Don107]

Sorry guys for lack of information

Jenneau 33 i Performance with a larger than normal Spinnaker used in club racing on short courses

Regards Don

 

[horatio_nelson]

Layer it from bottom corner of the bag up, starting from the gathered middle of sail, lay side to side like flaking a sausage, keep three corners at top of bag, marked and accessible - clipped onto rings on bag ideally

 

[Don107]

My turtle is attached to the guard wires on the side ahead of the mainsail, with the inboard side attached to the hand rails on the inboard side. When we are ready to drop the spinnaker I release the guy from the winch but do not disconnect either the guy or the sheet from the sail I walk forward and sit alongside the turtle while Jill releases the halyard. I can then pull the spinnaker down and stuff it into the turtle. Sheet, halyard and guy are not released until all three ends are clipped into the Velcro straps in the turtle. The sail is now fully ready to be used next time, guy and sheet, pole up and down-haul are tidied up and we are ready to sail under genoa. Masthead spinnaker, 34 ft boat, two people. The only time the sail is packed is at the end of the season.

I like the idea of this but normally we drop it when coming up to a mark and am not sure i could get it into the turtle on the deck quick enough

Regards Don

 

[lw395]

I have three cheap plastic clips on a handrail below.

Find the head and put on the middle clip. Rundown each side of the sail (loosely collecting/bundling it as I go) and then clipping on each corner. No need to do anything with the foot of the sail if the sides are done as described

Stuff the bulk of the sail in the turtle and then unclip the ends becore putting them in last.

Works well for me when racing boats between 24-40 ft over many years.

That's what I do.
If it's a real hurry, a second person can be working down the other luff tape. Then you only really need to clip the head somewhere.

 

[prv]

Make sure the cooker is off, and isn't still hot from the last brew

(Don't ask me how I found that one out )

Pete

 

[Georgio]

I have three cheap plastic clips on a handrail below.

Find the head and put on the middle clip. Rundown each side of the sail (loosely collecting/bundling it as I go) and then clipping on each corner. No need to do anything with the foot of the sail if the sides are done as described

Stuff the bulk of the sail in the turtle and then unclip the ends becore putting them in last.

Works well for me when racing boats between 24-40 ft over many years.

I you don't have/want clips I have stuffed the head/corners through a hand rail or just flopped over a lee-cloth/seat back, works just as well as long as the boat isn't being bounced around too much.

 

[Lucky Duck]

I like the idea of this but normally we drop it when coming up to a mark and am not sure i could get it into the turtle on the deck quick enough

Regards Don

I'd drop/launch from the forecabin hatch after the initial launch from the Turtle.

 

[johnalison]

I haven't done it for many years but my method came to me in the night. Starting with the turtle in front of me and the sail beyond, I would tuck the port clew into the turtle with the ring showing, then flake the foot of the sail until I reached the starboard clew, which I then tucked in. I would then tuck the port edge in, starting at the clew, followed by the other side. This would leave a bunch of sail in the middle, which could be roughly shoved in until the head comes to hand and is tucked in last. I don't claim that this is necessarily the best way, but it worked for me on a Sadler 29 and I never had a snag on hoisting.

 

[Don107]

I'd drop/launch from the forecabin hatch after the initial launch from the Turtle.

Thanks all for the replies so far and there has been some interesting information

This is a interesting way to do it

I assume you raise the head sail, let some brace go , pass the some spinnaker sheet down to someone below and then lower the halyard as he pulls it down through the hatch with the halyard, sheet and brace still attached and the clew with the brace attached goes in last so it will come out first on the next hoist

I think we could probably do this as we have long sheets

And on the next hoist pull on the brace until the clew comes up to the beak of the pole, brace it back, have a crew member on the foredeck feed the head of the spinnaker under the headsail and over the rail and hoist it as if you are hoisting it out of a turtle

I assume you still hoist it with the headsail blanketing it

Am i missing anything and are there ant potential problem in doing it this way other than making sure it come out of the hatch cleanly without catching on anything

Regards Don

 

[Lucky Duck]

That sounds about right but others from the Racing forum will be able to advise far better on specifics and/or how this differs for a windward spinnaker drop.

 

[Triassic]

Never having used a spinnaker on a monohull reading this makes me realise how lucky I am.....
Routine for dropping my asymmetric is to sit crew member on cabin top lee side just in front of the shrouds and facing out with the bag between his knees. When ready unfurl the jib and bear away a few degrees which effectively collapses the spinnaker. Crew member grabs sheet and pulls clew to him, and then chases along the foot as we blow the tack line until the spinnaker is effectively a vertical sausage, we then let the halyard go and he then pulls it straight down stuffing it into the bag as he goes. Takes about 8 seconds from bearing away to gybing/rounding up the mark. Our big advantage over you guys is we don't have a pole or guard wires to get in the way, plus a big trampoline to fall onto when it goes wrong!

To answer the Op though I don't think it really matters how it goes into the bag provided the three corners stay attached to their respective lines until it's all in..... (we don't disconnect them during a race unless we have to swop sides).

 

[vyv_cox]

I like the idea of this but normally we drop it when coming up to a mark and am not sure i could get it into the turtle on the deck quick enough

Regards Don

Would probably be too slow for racing but works very well for two handed cruising. For us it's the repacking that is the bigger problem and dropping it into the turtle completely avoids that.