Cruising/spinnaker

ghostlymoron

ghostlymoron

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What's the difference between a cruising chute and a spinnaker and when should you use them. My new boat has both - unused by the look of them - and I have no idea what do do with them. One sailing friend says the best thing to do with the spinnaker is to keep it in the bag!
Seriously. though, any tips?
 
A lot to put in one post and probably needs a few more details from you (have you got a pole etc). Best thing would be to get someone to come and show you how they work - I am a bit far away but you may find a more local Forumite to be willing.
 
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cruising chute is a reaching sail

spinny is flown when going down wind, you need a pole for this and a guy and sheet.

[/ QUOTE ]And crew who know what they are doing /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Have you ever been with two very similar woman (Not at the same time I might add) one was nice and ordinary the other just plain dirty. Well the cruising chute will get you there but with the spinaker you will also get there and have a lot of fun on the way. With a couple of fit and able crew there is nothing better so many sailors seem afraid of them though.
 
Cruising chute is much easier to set and fly with a small crew(no spinnaker pole needed) but to make it even easier you need a 'snuffer' - which is like a long sausage which the chute is inside, you haul the lot up to the masthead, secure the tack at the bows and a sheet to the rear quarter, then haul up the snuffer, the chute flies out and you adjust it. To lower it you release the sheet, pull down the snuffer which dowses the sail and then haul the whole lot down. Easy peasy!
 
A cruising chute can add a good few knots of boat speed....

A spinnaker can add just as many knots, but also turn your hair white..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Seriously, a chute is pretty straightforward, whereas a kite can be a bit more comple3x... both can be fun, both can get you into a bit of pickle....

Best advice above IMHO is to get a decent crew who know what they are doing with the spinny and/or CC and learn from them.....
 
A cruising chute is really a big lightweight genoa. Handles in much the same way - ie flown from the bow with sheets just like your roller reefing.

A spinnaker is almost like a kite - not surprising since thats what its often called. You need a pole to hold one corner of it (its three cornered) out to one side of the boat, and with sheets attached to the third corner.

The difference between them is the angle of wind that they work with. Broadly speaking, the kite works between 120 degrees apparent on the port side to a similar sort of figure on the stbd side. The chute like your genoa works when the wind is less than 120 degrees.

All this is a sweeping generalisation since there are an almost infinite range of both sails. But you get the idea.

In my view, the kite has no real place on a family crewed cruising boat - it takes some skill and maybe 3 people min to fly it. A cruising chute is a useful tool on long light wind legs even with 2 crew.
 
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In my view, the kite has no real place on a family crewed cruising boat


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Disagree.

I admit, we/I've cocked it up a few times.
But we/I've gotten it right a lot more - and those have been some of our most rewarding sails.
Crew - wife, kids (16&11) and me.
A cruising chute's nice and easy (especially when shorthanded) but I would not be without our spinny. It says something about the crew.
 
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[ QUOTE ]

In my view, the kite has no real place on a family crewed cruising boat


[/ QUOTE ]

Disagree.

I admit, we/I've cocked it up a few times.
But we/I've gotten it right a lot more - and those have been some of our most rewarding sails.
Crew - wife, kids (16&11) and me.
A cruising chute's nice and easy (especially when shorthanded) but I would not be without our spinny. It says something about the crew.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agree entirely.
But don't try and learn Kite flying from books (or worse from an internet forum!), get someone who really knows kites to come and give you a few pointers.
 
there is only one sailing skool that i know of that flys spinys & he is based in SYH on the Orwell
but i wont "Rant" about it /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]

Agree entirely.
But don't try and learn Kite flying from books (or worse from an internet forum!), get someone who really knows kites to come and give you a few pointers.


[/ QUOTE ]

I dunno - more than one way to skin a cat.
Who's to say what the right way is to learn something?

The first time we did it I had nothing more to go on than a 20min DVD (in German) and a diagram I downloaded off the Selden website.
Just took it from there.

The most important thing is to just 'have a go'.
 
The cruising chute as already said flies from the bow tack on the deck.
this means that like a genoa it will colapse and snap full of wind when the wind is right behind you. They really work best a little off dead down wind.
A spin having the tack on a pole can be pulled right out to the side so that the sail is flat and rightangles to the wind hence it will hold steady when running square. Spins are a little more difficult to set but I think the real bad press on spins is because they can provide huge power when the wind gets stronger. In fact the boat goes really fast until for some reason the boat turns into the wind where the spin will over power the boat and lay the mast in the water. The faster the boat goes the more critical the helming. On smaller boats weight at the back will help.
Spins can be made to work to wind abeam ie 90 degrees but as the wind moves forward the value becomes less and the risk of rounding up ie over powered becomes greater. 2 weeks ago I was running closer to 50 degrees from the wind with spin but that was in light conditions and for a short leg until I could bear away again. ie bloody mindedness to not pull it down and rehoist in a few hundred metres.

Certainly flying spin in stronger winds is for the racers and or those who are plain mad (like me) The terror is often just not worth it. but Oh the joy of seeing the bow wave move back to the keel and know that you are way beyonds the brink of disaster. And hull speed is a thing for the text books. olewill
 
"Certainly flying spin in stronger winds is for the racers and or those who are plain mad (like me) The terror is often just not worth it. but Oh the joy of seeing the bow wave move back to the keel and know that you are way beyonds the brink of disaster. And hull speed is a thing for the text books".

I can relate to Will's thoughts above..... many moons ago I used to crew on a Beneteau First Class 10 here - we were going around the cans one Saturday, and had just started on the downwind leg, and the skipper called for the kite to go up, with a very ominous looking black squall rapidly approaching...... the kite went up, flawlessly (for a change!), and a few minutes later the squall hit us...... and we took off, with the speed log pegged at (I think) 16 knots, and all the crew perched as far aft as possible.
And yes, then the inevitable happened, and we broached - masthead was in the water.
I dunno quite what happened next, but she picked herself up after spinning around horizontally 180 degrees, the kite filled (no wraps at all), and we took off at a rate of knots again....
Another boat lost her rig in that same squall after being knocked down - we were lucky.

Sorry for the thread drift, but I just wanted to illustrate the perils that can happen - if we had poled the headsail out instead of flying the kite we would probably have not broached.
But it wouldnt have been so exciting...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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In my view, the kite has no real place on a family crewed cruising boat - it takes some skill and maybe 3 people min to fly it. A cruising chute is a useful tool on long light wind legs even with 2 crew.

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I disagree. I fly my spinnaker singlehanded. The only thing I do differently on my own is to take the sail down and reset rather than gybe it. Just a little too much to do on my own.
 
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