Cruising chute: whether to rig a barber hauler

[BelleSerene]

The sail I enjoy using most is our cruising chute - an asymmetric spinnaker. It works well as advertised up to 80 degrees off the wind (and I've used it tighter than that).

The instructions say it's worth rigging a barber hauler for the closer angles to the wind. I tried, with a snapshackle onto the leeward sheet, taken through a small block at the base of a shroud and led back to a coachroof-mounted winch. This pulls the downward force of the sheet forwards, like pulling a genoa card forward, tightening the leach of the spinnaker and closing the slot between it and the mainsail.

Seemed sensible to me.

Yet I can't coax any more speed out of the boat upwind like this.

I wondered about using the trick downwind: asymmetries don't fly well dead downwind, so you sail high and keep gybing. I figured pulling the barberhauler in downwind might reduce the oscillation that can set in downwind, by preventing the sail from waving too far to leeward. Again, no real increase in performance.

Can someone please help me with how a barberhauler is supposed to be used on an asymmetric kite?

 

[flaming]

The last thing you want to do to an A sail is close the slot. You just choke it and kill the flow off the leach.

None of the J boats (racing boats with A sails) use barber haulers. If you want to go deep with an A sail, ease the tack line and try and persuade the kite to rotate round to windward. Easiest if you have a load of crew and can roll the boat to windward.

 

[michael_w]

Trying to run deep in waves is the reason I wish I went for a conventional kite rather than an asymmetric. The asymmetric was a cheaper option...

 

[rogerthebodger]

For dead downwind sailing have you tried to use the jib to sail like wing on wing with your cruising chute and pack away the main

 

[DJE]

Never used a barber hauler on my cruising chute. It's a big masthead sail and I generally try to fly it as far from the boat as possible. Tighten the halyard and tack line for close reaching and ease them to sail deep.

 

[BelleSerene]

For dead downwind sailing have you tried to use the jib to sail like wing on wing with your cruising chute and pack away the main

No, surprisingly not. I will! Which would you use on the slightly windward side - presumably the genoa, leaving the asymmetric flying slightly to leeward?

Thanks for all advice - particularly to Flaming for advising against using a barberhauler on the asymmetric at all!

 

[aquaplane]

I tend to keep the main but fly the chute on the opposite side on the rare occasions I'm allowed to get "the big sail" out.

If dead downwind isn't where we want to go we jibe the main and sail to keep the chute full.

 

[DJE]

I tend to keep the main but fly the chute on the opposite side on the rare occasions I'm allowed to get "the big sail" out.

If dead downwind isn't where we want to go we jibe the main and sail to keep the chute full.

Alternatively you can fly the chute from the pole to run deep downwind.

 

[aquaplane]

Alternatively you can fly the chute from the pole to run deep downwind.

Now that I have a pole I could try that, the old pole looked more like an aluminium boat hook with fancy ends on.

I suspect the chute is too big for the boat, that red/white one looks much bigger than the other one I got off a Leisure 27. I tend to keep the tack on a short leash, flying in high up like a spinaker could be interesting.

 

[DJE]

Now that I have a pole I could try that, the old pole looked more like an aluminium boat hook with fancy ends on.

I suspect the chute is too big for the boat, that red/white one looks much bigger than the other one I got off a Leisure 27. I tend to keep the tack on a short leash, flying in high up like a spinaker could be interesting.

When close reaching ours would be hauled up to the masthead and down to the pulpit. For broad reaching it looks like this: