Cruising chute

[Paulfireblade]

A previous owner purchased a cruising chute with sock/snuffer which 10 years and 4 owners later is still unused.

Coming in to my third full season with the boat and some more long trips planned it would be useful to have the cruising chute ready to use.

My question is, do people use separate deck gear for a cruising chute or re - utilise existing deck gear that isn’t being used at that time.

I intend to bring all lines back to the cockpit.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I just used the existing spinnaker halyard & the sheet through a block clipped to the toe rail then to the genoa winch. Had to go to the foredeck to raise, deploy the chute and lower the chute in its sock. Worked for me.

 

[wingcommander]

My boat came with one , unused by my first season. Last summer decided to whip out the bag and have a gander to rig it and ee whats what. I was pleasantly surprised to see it had its own condom snuffer thingy , and more sheets and lines than probably all my existing running rigging. As you can imagine it took some fathoming and referencing to see what goes where.
Managed to get it flying quite easily once sorted . Also as its got all independent lines I can pre rig the sock have all controls ready so single handed deployment is easy .
Downside is just more bits of string trip hazards

 

[wingcommander]

Your genoa sheets won't be long enough mine are approx double boat legnth.

 

[Halo]

I have two pulley blocks permanently on the stern quarter. The sheets work better if they are well aft. The sheet goes round the block and onto the existing foresail winch.
I made up a strop which clips onto the anchor housing and clips onto the clew on the windward side of the chute ( for the asymmetric)
I use my chutes most of the time when the apparent wind can be kept abaft the beam. Really good to use them.

 

[Paulfireblade]

I just used the existing spinnaker halyard & the sheet through a block clipped to the toe rail then to the genoa winch. Had to go to the foredeck to raise, deploy the chute and lower the chute in its sock. Worked for me.

Unfortunately I do not have dedicated Genoa winches on the cockpit coaming, my Genoa cars are on the coach roof and my Genoa sheets run back to a shared winch on coach roof

 

[Paulfireblade]

Your genoa sheets won't be long enough mine are approx double boat legnth.

I wasn’t planning to use Genoa sheets, but wondering whether to use foot blocks with jammers which are used to bring Genoa sheets back to shared winch on coach roof

 

[Paulfireblade]

I have bought a shackle etc to mount on anchor housing. Permanent pulley blocks on stern quarter might be an idea, I might need longer sheets as the winches are on the coach roof.

 

[B27]

We tend to fly ours in light air.
We sometimes only rig one sheet, which is fairly light and only about 10m long on a 9m boat.
It's a fairly light sheet, maybe 9mm?
It runs to a ratchet block on the pushpit base. I had a spare couple of harken blocks from a dinghy ....
If the wind picks up, we take a turn on the windward sheet winch too.
Tack runs to a line led back from the anchor roller. So it can be let fly when dropping.
But if it's light, I gather straight into the bag on the foredeck.

we tend to just take a few rolls in the genoa, with the whole genoa, it seems harder to keep everything pulling, but 2/3 genoa works well.

The apparent wind is often forward of the beam.
This year, I'm intending to use a conventional kite more for sailing deeper courses

 

[Tranona]

I have bought a shackle etc to mount on anchor housing. Permanent pulley blocks on stern quarter might be an idea, I might need longer sheets as the winches are on the coach roof.

You don't say what boat it is and the size of the chute. My last boat was a Bavaria 33 with approx 65sqm on a top down furler. sheets led to a block on a strop attached to the stern cleat and then forward to a winch on the coaming. It may be possible to take yours to the coachroof winch depending on the lead. The turning block (or low friction ring) does not have to be at deck level and on the top loop of the pushpit might work. You just have to try it. The loads are fairly light in light winds so having a way of stopping it from flying out of control is perhaps more important than a winch to grind it in.

 

[wingcommander]

I had never flown a cute before, and found this very helpfull

 

[B27]

I had never flown a cute before, and found this very helpfull

That's ideal for anyone who's completely missed the point of asy's and apparent wind sailing.

 

[Paulfireblade]

You don't say what boat it is and the size of the chute. My last boat was a Bavaria 33 with approx 65sqm on a top down furler. sheets led to a block on a strop attached to the stern cleat and then forward to a winch on the coaming. It may be possible to take yours to the coachroof winch depending on the lead. The turning block (or low friction ring) does not have to be at deck level and on the top loop of the pushpit might work. You just have to try it. The loads are fairly light in light winds so having a way of stopping it from flying out of control is perhaps more important than a winch to grind it in.

I didn’t think it was that relevant as what I was trying to find out is if people fit additional pulleys & clutches at the cockpit end for their cruising chute or remove say Genoa sheets from existing blocks and tie them up somewhere so they can use them.

It is a Jeanneau SO 34.2 and specifically made for the boat by Kemp sails so presumably appropriately sized.

From your reply it sounds like you rig up a temporary block with a strop, which I hadn’t thought of.

 

[Geoff A]

My boat came with one , unused by my first season. Last summer decided to whip out the bag and have a gander to rig it and ee whats what. I was pleasantly surprised to see it had its own condom snuffer thingy , and more sheets and lines than probably all my existing running rigging. As you can imagine it took some fathoming and referencing to see what goes where.
Managed to get it flying quite easily once sorted . Also as its got all independent lines I can pre rig the sock have all controls ready so single handed deployment is easy .
Downside is just more bits of string trip hazards

You may have more bits of string but I bet you do not regret trying it out.

 

[wingcommander]

You may have more bits of string but I bet you do not regret trying it out.

Very true, though I probably snuffed it prematurely, thinking the wind was increasing. Very colourful also .

 

[Tranona]

I didn’t think it was that relevant as what I was trying to find out is if people fit additional pulleys & clutches at the cockpit end for their cruising chute or remove say Genoa sheets from existing blocks and tie them up somewhere so they can use them.

It is a Jeanneau SO 34.2 and specifically made for the boat by Kemp sails so presumably appropriately sized.

From your reply it sounds like you rig up a temporary block with a strop, which I hadn’t thought of.

Very similar to my Bavaria. Sail also made by Kemps, but a bit smaller than usual because I sailed single handed. I had specified extra winches in anticipation of having a chute that I could control from behind the wheel. With your set up you will need a crew to handle the sheet on the coachroof winch so the only real challenge is attaching the turning block as far aft as possible and getting a fair lead forward to the winch. A block or a low friction ring on a strop is one way of doing it. On both my Bavarias the cleat was well positioned for that and of a type that made it easy to attach the strop without interfering with its normal use. However deck level may be too low for you.

 

[ashtead]

One idea to experiment with blocks on stern is to attach with some dyneema string to the stern cleats or if the backing plates are large enough the D rings used for lifelines at stern to hold the blocks by harken/Lewmar etc You will see on a walk round a marina blocks for these sheets held up with bits of elastic with bottom bolted down -just make the blocks you buy are up to strain likely -if you are lucky the sailmaker includes some. snaps blocks with the sheets and downhaul for the bow so if in doubt ask Kemps ?

 

[ashtead]

I should have said you might need /benefit from a prodded by Selden etc to fly the bottom of sail off the bow but it’s not essential -we had to have a bowsprit made to go through anchor roller but many fly chutes without of course.

 

[Paulfireblade]

I have managed to use the cruising chute a few times now, thank you for all the guidance. latest time down wind on way back from Lowestoft to Harwich in light airs. Dropped mainsail on that occasion to see if it made a difference.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

... Dropped mainsail on that occasion to see if it made a difference.

Did it make a significant difference with the main down?