For Singlehanders: Gybing without shifiting the pole for short term situations

Not just for singlehanders!
On some boats, the tweaker/strangler/twinning line is too far forwards if pulled right down. I guess it's a function of pole length.
Experiment when you have a crew and some sea-room?
 
birdseye said:
What do you do if you dont use tweekers but have seperate sheets and guys on each side
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Short answer, sail with several crew!

More useful answer, sheeting the kite on the lazy guy, without the pole, is much the same as pulling the strangler on the sheet.
Simply, pulling both clews down makes the kite stable and compliant?
 
What do you do if you dont use tweekers but have seperate sheets and guys on each side
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It is really necessary to have the tweakers. The spinnaker will shoot up into the air without them and you won't have any control. More so in higher wind. Tweakers are very easy to add to any boat.
 
Foolish Muse said:
It is really necessary to have the tweakers. The spinnaker will shoot up into the air without them and you won't have any control. More so in higher wind. Tweakers are very easy to add to any boat.
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This question is directed to Foolish Muse
I cannot cut & paste the question to which you were answering ( dunno how to do that) But it was asking what if you only have sheet & guys & not tweekers

so far I have seen the terms Guys, tweekers, stranglers, sheets in this thread
I am getting confused & that is having spent my 30's on foredecks looking after the bloopers & spinnakers!!!

I have nearly always rigged a spinnaker with 2 lines to each clew of the spinnaker. One being called the sheet. That is the one led right aft & is the main trimming one
The other is the guy & is sheeted down to the deck near the shrouds

Your diagrams show ONE line
The picture on the front of your book seem to show ONE line

Now will you please explain what you are talking about when you describe as "tweekers & if they are not the guy or sheet, then surely one does not have 3 lines each side!!! -----I know that you did not introduce the term "screecher" so we will ignore that one for now. I have had plenty of those in the cockpit in the past:ambivalence:
 
Daydream believer said:
so far I have seen the terms Guys, tweekers, stranglers, sheets in this thread...

I have nearly always rigged a spinnaker with 2 lines to each clew of the spinnaker. One being called the sheet. That is the one led right aft & is the main trimming one
The other is the guy & is sheeted down to the deck near the shrouds
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Tweakers are short lines that run from a block on the toerail by the shroud to a block which goes round the sheet. By pulling this line you change the angle of the sheet and thus it can do the job of being the guy. It may offer advantages in small boats compared to having separate sheets and guys on each side.

In this scenario you need to pull the windward clew (without pole) downwards to keep it under control*. This is achieved either by pulling on the tweaker (as per Foolish Muse's images) or by tensioning the guy on the windward side.

*Note how normally you would have a foreguy helping to prevent the pole (and thus the windward clew) lifting.
 
Tweaker, twinning line, twinner, strangler, choke, any others?
A line which pulls the sheet/guy down to the gunwhale, somewhere around the shroud area. Pulling it on converts the sheet to a guy, pulling the pole down and giving a better angle forthe guy to stop the kite pulling the pole to leeward.

Can also be pulled on 'a little' to adjust the sheeting of the leach of the kite.

Some dinghies use a variation where a knot in the sheet behind the twinning line presets the guy for a tight reach.
 
Daydream believer said:
This question is directed to Foolish Muse
I cannot cut & paste the question to which you were answering ( dunno how to do that) But it was asking what if you only have sheet & guys & not tweekers

so far I have seen the terms Guys, tweekers, stranglers, sheets in this thread
I am getting confused & that is having spent my 30's on foredecks looking after the bloopers & spinnakers!!!

I have nearly always rigged a spinnaker with 2 lines to each clew of the spinnaker. One being called the sheet. That is the one led right aft & is the main trimming one
The other is the guy & is sheeted down to the deck near the shrouds

Your diagrams show ONE line
The picture on the front of your book seem to show ONE line

Now will you please explain what you are talking about when you describe as "tweekers & if they are not the guy or sheet, then surely one does not have 3 lines each side!!! -----I know that you did not introduce the term "screecher" so we will ignore that one for now. I have had plenty of those in the cockpit in the past:ambivalence:
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Tweakers allow you to pull down the sheet to effectively make it like you are sheeting the sail from further forward in the boat. Basically so that you can keep the clews level when you start lowering the pole to depower the kite. Very useful when running deep and the wind builds, and also snugging it down before the gybe.

spin1,1a.gif


The rigging is shown here as parts DEF.
 
Others have described the tweakers well, but perhaps not a couple of purposes.

In high winds, tweakers are used on the guy to act as an extra safety. If your pole downhaul pops open then the guy tweaker will keep the pole and spinnaker tack from flying up into the air. I've had this happen and it's not fun, especially when singlehanding. You lose complete control over your spinnaker when the pole is pointed straight upwards. Likewise, the guy tweaker can keep control over the pole and tack when you release the downhaul to pull the pole backwards as you move to a run. I also use the guy tweaker to keep the guy down below the lifelines when I'm sailing on a beam reach with the spinnaker. The guy tweaker should be down to the lifelines when you are launching the spinnaker but before you have settled on the pole position. It will keep control of the guy. So the guy tweaker has lots of good uses on its own, and I always have it down tight.

The sheet tweakers are often used on the sheet to keep the clew of the spinnaker down. This can have a very significant effect on boat speed and control. If you are sailing on a deep run in high winds, keep the sheet tweaker tight to pull the clew down. This will go a long way to stop the boat from rocking. You'll see this all the time on professional boats. On the other hand, if you ease the sheet tweaker, it adds twist to the top of your spinnaker and you'll spill air out the top. This is very good in high winds as you move up towards a broad reach. On a beam reach, I release the sheet tweaker all the way and this makes the spinnaker into the foil shape that you want for max speed.

And of course, as I mentioned earlier, the sheet tweaker really is necessary for this whole topic of gybing without shifting the pole. Otherwise the new guy will just shoot skyward.

A second line on each clew (twin sheets) will not perform the same function as a tweaker. The tweaker pulls the corner of the sail, whether that be the tack or the clew, down towards the deck of the boat. Very handy and in fact necessary as you move to higher winds.
 
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I really do not see the point of the " tweaker" A guy sheeted forward would do exactly the same thing, would it not? Why have a third line each side to play with & get tangled
As for poles flying, Most of the bigger boats I sailed had twin poles so gybes were different & poles were somewhat heavier than modern carbon ones. They were always held down at the end from the bow. Easy enough to pull down.

On smaller boats we still held the pole from the bow but I normally duck gybed them as I could do it so fast.( c..k ups accepted:ambivalence:)
On my own small boat the pole was mid fixed & went end for end but was small enough to pull down easily enough & a stopper in the line prevented that. Rarely lost it to the sky.
 
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Daydream believer said:
I really do not see the point of the " tweaker" A guy sheeted forward would do exactly the same thing, would it not? Why have a third line each side to play with & get tangled
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I don't think anyone has 3 lines each side, it is generally a case of one system or the other. For the smaller boat tweakers (on a single sheet per side) offer some advantages:
- Less weight on the clews than 2 full lines
- Loads on the tweaker are light so line and hardware can be too (cost saving)
- Doesn't require an additional winch
- Often is either full on (guy) or full off (sheet) so makes for very simple manoeuvres.

NB I disagree with Foolish Muse's comment that twin lines would not work for this technique, simply transfer tension to the (forward sheeted) guy as you would in a normal gybe to prevent the windward clew lifting.
 
TLouth7 said:
I don't think anyone has 3 lines each side, it is generally a case of one system or the other.
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Every boat I've ever sailed on had tweakers on the sheets, even if they also had separate guys. It's just a standard trimming aid. Plus of course in a normal fully crewed gybe, once you've got the kite off the pole you want the tweakers on the sheet to stabilise the kite.
 
flaming said:
Plus of course in a normal fully crewed gybe, once you've got the kite off the pole you want the tweakers on the sheet to stabilise the kite.
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Cant say I have ever had an issue with that. Running almost dead downwind whilst swapping over the pole is stable. But then I guess you are interested in the least possible time going in the wrong direction and using lightweight kit which can be easily handled
 
birdseye said:
Cant say I have ever had an issue with that. Running almost dead downwind whilst swapping over the pole is stable. But then I guess you are interested in the least possible time going in the wrong direction and using lightweight kit which can be easily handled
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You can get away without the tweakers in the light. But try that in breeze and you'll rock and roll all over the place.
 
flaming said:
You can get away without the tweakers in the light. But try that in breeze and you'll rock and roll all over the place.
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Bit of a generalisation?
Boats vary a lot, kites vary a lot. Boats with no tweakers may be set up not to need them, possibly to the detriment of setting the sail in some conditions.
One boat I crewed on for a bit didn't rig tweakers, but moved the sheet turning blocks along the toe rail for windy or light.
 
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