Connecting spin haly to top of the snuffer sock or direct to spinnaker itself?

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FairweatherDave

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Basic question on connecting my spinnaker halyard.
Do I connect the spinnaker halyard to the snap shackle on left of the photo and shackle the sail to the base of the pulley block that the continuous line uses? Or have I got it wrong and there is another way?
P1020491.JPG
 
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I don't know why you have the long length of braid with the snap shackle where it is, It means if you connect your halyard to that the spinny will never reach the top of the mast. Your set up looks the same as mine but I don't have the length of braid. Connect the head of the sail to the ring on the bottom of the block perhaps with the braided line but I would have used something shorter. Connect your halyard to the shackle at the top of the block where the whipped eye is now That's how I think it should be done but I might be doing it wrong. It's been known :)
 
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I would have thought the length of rope should be attached to the other end of the block, the spinnaker would then attach to the other end of the rope. The halyard would then go on to the block direct. The logic is that the rope strop sits between halyard and spinnaker to give the sock somewhere to bunch up above the spinnaker.

Yoda
 
Thanks both. Spyro's reaction that the line will stop the spinnaker getting to the top was my thought. But that length does look about right if it ran from under the block to the spinnaker head, so my guess is that both of the D shape shackles should be under the block and the spinnaker halyard shackle goes onto the top of the block. I suspect the previous owner never got round to using the snuffer although I am sure he had used the spinnaker. The D shackle for the snuffer only looks strong enough for a snuffer, not the actual forces of a spinnaker.
 
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Seems to me that
  • the length of braid is indeed meant to provide a sufficient height for the snuffer to crumple up without restricting the head of the sail
  • you do NOT want to suspend the sail from the bottom of the block, or you'll be subjecting the block to the entire force of the halyard. That block's only supposed to hold the weight of the snuffer aloft!
  • therefore you feed that strop down through the snuffer to the head of the cruising chute, and you connect the halyard to the whipped eye. So you have halyard to strop to sail head - all strong components - and the block suspending the snuffer hangs beside the strop, bearing only the weight of the snuffer.
 
I agree with the final suggestions. To make hoisting and snuffing the spinnaker easier, I run the continuous snuffer line through a snap shackle fastened to something on the foredeck, close to the mast. When hoisting or lowering the sock, I then pull the rope upwards from the snap shackle as I think this feels more secure and removes that picturesque scenario of being suddenly lifted upwards as the spinnaker.
 
spinnaker.jpg

This is my set up. Couldn't quite remember it when I previously posted. Now I've taken a pic. halyard attaches to the large stainless ring, everything else hangs from that. The spinny head is attached on the thicker line with the eyesplice It's about 18 inches long. As others said this allows the snuffer to bunch up when hoisted.
 
Cheers Spyro. Yep,very similar to mine (looks nicer)! So do you bother to put the bottom of the continuous line through a block somewhere on the deck as Martin and Rene suggest? Or do you just tie off the lines somewhere once you have hoisted? As I tried to suggest in the previous post I am not sure how compatible using a deck fitting would be with using the foresail as a blanket.
 
FairweatherDave said:
Cheers Spyro. Yep,very similar to mine (looks nicer)! So do you bother to put the bottom of the continuous line through a block somewhere on the deck as Martin and Rene suggest? Or do you just tie off the lines somewhere once you have hoisted? As I tried to suggest in the previous post I am not sure how compatible using a deck fitting would be with using the foresail as a blanket.
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No I don't put it through a block on deck I just haul down on the continuous line and tie it off but Now I'm thinking I might give it a try as I've always thought the snuffing line is too long but that is maybe how it was designed to be used.
 
Dave

I always furl the jib before starting to set the cruising chute up on the leeward side of the yacht, as this makes it a lot easier to sort out the ropes. Before opening the snuffer, I pull the tack rope tight and also tension the sheet and this keeps the chute under control as you unsnuff it. I also tension the tack rope before gybing, whilst when snuffing the chute I release the tack line and initially pull in on the sheet.

I always thought that the idea of hoisting the spinnaker behind the jib really applied to the scenario where you were hoisting a symmetrical chute straight out of a bag. You did this as you did not want the large head of that type of spinnaker wrapping itself around the forestay before you had got the guy and sheet sorted.
 
Martin&Rene said:
I always thought that the idea of hoisting the spinnaker behind the jib really applied to the scenario where you were hoisting a symmetrical chute straight out of a bag. You did this as you did not want the large head of that type of spinnaker wrapping itself around the forestay before you had got the guy and sheet sorted.
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That's the issue where I am uncertain. Mine is a symmetrical shute with a snuffer. The only time I have used the spinnaker was after I removed it from the snuffer as I had never used a spinnaker at all (and had only read up on it and not on using a snuffer).
So given the snuffer is predominantly for making it easy using the spinnaker, and particularly for dropping the sail, is the real idea of a snuffer that it replaces the need to blanket with the genoa? I like the idea of a block on the foredeck to make controlling the snuffer line better but I can't see WHERE it should be if you continue to use a foresail blanket.
(It would be great if I could just go out sailing and work this stuff out for myself but apart from my season having ended and the boat being laid up on the hard the number of opportunities with the conditions being right AND me having crew prepared to experiment is minimal :( . )
 
Dave

Just use the same philosophy on a symmetrical spinnaker. Furl the jib and then rig the spinnaker, with the guy led through the pole. Hoist the sock and then keeping control of the snuffer rope, just pull the sock up enough so that you can tension and secure the guy on the winch and pull the tack of the spinnaker on to the end of the pole and the pole just off the forestay and then tension and secure the sheet so that the foot of the spinnaker is almost pulled tight. Then pull the sock up and make the line fast to keep the sock right at the top. Pull the pole back slowly to the desired setting and slowly ease the sheet.

When dropping, ease the pole forward until it is almost on the forestay and then either trip the guy off the spinnaker or release the guy, pull the sheet in to stop the spinnaker flying away too far and then pull the sock down. I have cam cleats set up low down on the mast on either side in which I can now cleat the spinnaker halyard, at the same time releasing it from its normal clutch. So I can sit on the deck and slowly lower the spinnaker a metre at a time and flake it out into its bag so it does not get a twist in it. I have little lines in the bag with plastic clips on them so I can clip onto the 3 corners of the spinnaker. Ensure you do not wrap the snuffer line around the sock and then you are already for the next hoist.
 
Martin&Rene said:
Dave

Just use the same philosophy on a symmetrical spinnaker. Furl the jib and then rig the spinnaker, with the guy led through the pole. Hoist the sock and then keeping control of the snuffer rope, just pull the sock up enough so that you can tension and secure the guy on the winch and pull the tack of the spinnaker on to the end of the pole and the pole just off the forestay and then tension and secure the sheet so that the foot of the spinnaker is almost pulled tight. Then pull the sock up and make the line fast to keep the sock right at the top. Pull the pole back slowly to the desired setting and slowly ease the sheet.

When dropping, ease the pole forward until it is almost on the forestay and then either trip the guy off the spinnaker or release the guy, pull the sheet in to stop the spinnaker flying away too far and then pull the sock down. I have cam cleats set up low down on the mast on either side in which I can now cleat the spinnaker halyard, at the same time releasing it from its normal clutch. So I can sit on the deck and slowly lower the spinnaker a metre at a time and flake it out into its bag so it does not get a twist in it. I have little lines in the bag with plastic clips on them so I can clip onto the 3 corners of the spinnaker. Ensure you do not wrap the snuffer line around the sock and then you are already for the next hoist.
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Thanks for that. Got it straight in my head, hope I don't have to wait too long to put it into practice. Really looking forward to next year, this grim weather is grrrrrrr
getting me down!
 
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