Do you use a spinnaker when you're single/shorthanded?

[Greenheart]

Not a new subject, I apologise. But I'm hoping this won't be a straightforward split between determined regular racers and leisurely laid-back cruisers.

I'm interested if cruising chutes/asymmetrics are regularly flown by shorthanded crews who definitely wouldn't bother with a symmetric's poles and numerous lines...

...or whether experienced non-racers are sufficiently convinced by the versatility of the traditional symmetric spinnaker, to prefer it over the easier asymmetric.

And if you previously regularly used a symmetric spinnaker and were delighted to switch to asymmetric when it appeared, please give your reasons/reservations.

 

[Kelpie]

I've never used a spinny singlehanded, even on the dinghy. I have flown it whilst SWMBO was off watch, thanks to the wind vane, if that counts. She wasn't very impressed at waking up to find she had a big flappy sail to babysit whilst I crawled off to my bunk.

 

[Koeketiene]

Do you use a spinnaker when you're single/shorthanded?

Yes.

44' boat - just my youngest (or the wife) & myself.
We had plenty of practice this year.
Five minutes to rig the blocks and lines - five minutes to hoist and set the sail.
Very satisfying.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I use my asymmetric with a sock on my own sometimes. Light winds only though.

 

[vyv_cox]

The highpoints of our sailing year are good spinnaker runs. Two up, Jill helms and I do the rest, except she handles the halyard when dropping the kite. These two photos are ten years apart, No.1 south coast of Brittany in 2004, No 2 east of Leros, 2014.

 

[yoda]

Yes, symmetric kite as that is what I have. Just moving to twin poles to make gybeing easier (although a single pole has never stopped me).

Yoda

 

[TQA]

I have symmetric kite with a sock on my 44 ft. I use a pole. Happy to fly it single/short handed in benign conditions.

I may consider moving to a code zero on a furler Because most of my sailing is beam reaching now.

 

[prv]

We have a cruising chute on Ariam, and in retrospect I think this was a mistake. I would much rather have a traditional spinnaker and pole so that we could sail dead downwind, which the cruising chute won't do. I'm not convinced there's much difference in difficulty between the two - since we don't race, we wouldn't be trying to do everything at once in a few seconds after rounding a mark which is how racing crews make handling a spinnaker look scary. I would set the pole up first in slow time, fixed solidly in three dimensions with guy, uphaul and downhaul. Then the process is much the same as for an asymmetric, except that the "tack" is out over one rail instead of over the pulpit. I assume we could even use a sock if necessary, furling the thing down to the pole end.

Pete

 

[underdog]

Use my symmetrical spinnaker solo when wind is well aft of the beam and I know that i have plenty of sea room to take it downin any thing up to 20 knots. When racing single handed I am very conservative when approaching marks!

 

[xyachtdave]

With daughter and under 14-15k of breeze will give the asymmetric an outing on our own. I prefer the symmetric kite but if gybing required this is the easier option.

 

[Arcady]

Assymetric - yes. Symmetrical (if we were rigged for it) probably not. When solo I try to endure all work is done from the cockpit.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I use an asymmetric cruising chute with a sock; nice and easy when singlehanded. I find spinnakers too much to handle and of little benefit over the asymmetric chute.

 

[knuterikt]

Our boat (Beneteau First 38) came with a spinnaker. wife and I sailed with it.

After we got a new asymmetric spinnaker on furler we haven't used the old spinnaker (left at home).
Easier to set, douse and gybe, we use it a lot, while cruising the sail is stowed in custom made bag ready to hoist.

As I have posted previously there are ways to use an asymmetric DDW also.

 

[Birdseye]

Not a new subject, I apologise. But I'm hoping this won't be a straightforward split between determined regular racers and leisurely laid-back cruisers.

I'm interested if cruising chutes/asymmetrics are regularly flown by shorthanded crews who definitely wouldn't bother with a symmetric's poles and numerous lines...

...or whether experienced non-racers are sufficiently convinced by the versatility of the traditional symmetric spinnaker, to prefer it over the easier asymmetric.

And if you previously regularly used a symmetric spinnaker and were delighted to switch to asymmetric when it appeared, please give your reasons/reservations.

In honesty - no. I fly it all the time when racing with the lads as crew but not with swmbo and myself. Falling off my motorbike has left me with a dodgy right leg so I avoid foredeck work if I can. And the difference between a strapped down main goosewinged, and the kits really isnt that big. Maybe half a knot max which really isnt an issue when cruising.

 

[Lucky Duck]

Think you might be underestimating the impact on boat speed and of having the kite up over white sails. Can think of plenty of times when its made far more than half a knot difference.

 

[SAWDOC]

This year we had good success with wind aft of the beam and large genoa poled out on the windward side. Akin to goose winging on a run but better.

 

[Iain C]

I fly my symmetric kite (27' boat) with me and SWMBO but only in lighter winds. Fully crewed, no probs.

I do fly my asymm (with snuffer) singlehanded no problem, and higher up the wind range too. It is just so much easier than a normal symmetric kite. WRT to trimming on a tighter reach, I tend to run the sheet 1 turn around the leeward winch, and then up to the windward one so it's right by me if things get ugly.

I know there are people on here who regularly fly symmetrical kites single handed on mid 30' boats and I say fair play...don't fancy that myself. However perhaps a powerful autopilot helps here! Kites always seem fine right up to the point where you say "oh bollocks I should have got that down about 10 minutes ago!"

I've mentioned before on here that I went cross channel on an IMOCA60 once with a Vendee skipper, and to a certain extent I just felt "in the way". When you see the size of a 60 kite, and the power and speed it produces, you really appreciate what big cojonnes these guys and girls have flying serious downwind rag on their own.

 

[PeterR]

On my 34 footer I’ve got the full kit for a symmetric and an asymmetric but for cruising purposes I no longer carry the symmetric. Its not flying it single handed that is difficult its getting it back down reliably that causes problems – plus the hassle of packing it again.

The asymmetric I use in a snuffer and that is a doddle so long as long as the sea is reasonably smooth. In the right conditions i.e about 90-110 apparent in 6-10 knots of true wind it makes a big difference – about 7.5 knots instead of 5 or 6. Less wind and you are still going slowly whatever you fly and in more wind the boat is getting close to hull speed under plain sail. However, the real limitation is that the effective window of wind angles is quite small. Although it will fill at about 60 degrees apparent there is no real benefit until around 80 degrees and below 120 there is a severe risk of getting a wrap so in practice more often than not I end up rigging it on the conventional pole in order to sail deep enough.

To try and simplify things this winter I ordered a cruising code zero on a furler. I am hoping that will give me a bigger range of effective wind angles. Although it should work from about 50 degrees I know it will not be as effective as the chute lower than 90 degrees but in cruising terms the loss should not be that great I am hoping the freedom from wraps and simplicity of recovery should more than compensate on courses where I anticipate the wind swinging around and for sailing really deep I will still use the asymmetric on a pole

 

[Birdseye]

Think you might be underestimating the impact on boat speed and of having the kite up over white sails. Can think of plenty of times when its made far more than half a knot difference.

At the very light wind end of the spectrum you are probably right but from 15kn true and up, you arent - at least on my boat. For reasons I wont go into we sometimes fund ourselves in races a bit reluctant to fly the kite on a leg, changing our mind ( or tbh me changing my mind) part way through the leg. So several times we have gone from poled out genny to kite and even back the other way and half a knot is about the difference. On short race legs I dont consider the kite at all - with our skill levels the delay in getting it up and getting it down cann be greater than the time gained when its up.

You need to bear in mind that once you are getting near hull speed, the extra power required for an extra knot rises sharply, and conversely the speed gain from the extra power of a kite gets less and less.

 

[Tomahawk]

We use a sock ( snuffer) and take our time.
We sock it for gybing then pull it out on the other side..

The incree in BS is worth having it out as muchnas possible... But do not forget

If you can't keep it up. Don't get it out....