gybing a cruising chute and other issues.

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rtchina

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Gybing a big cruising chute can be a compete disaster, I know I have had at least one spectacular failure, but it is clearly essential. Of the 3 options, drop and re hoist, gybe inside the luff of the chute, or gybe outside, I suppose the most popular method would be to gybe outside. The problem for me is the weight of the 12mm rope used as sheet and guy. As the boat goes dead down wind, the apparent wind speed drops so the sail doesn't exactly fly around as one might suppose it should. The most practical solution seems to be to post a crew member at the bows to give a little impetus to the "guy to become sheet" but this is not so easy if short handed. I think lighter lines might be better but would say 8mm be strong enough (the chute is 140square mtrs)?

Further, I have on two occasions started the engine with one of the lines in the water, which naturally caught around the prop. On the second occasion this happened within 5 minutes of explaining to a novice just how important it is to keep the lines out of the water.
This brings me to my second point. Does anybody know if there is a "polyprop covered with nylon" rope which would float, be a good "hand size" yet not be the price of Dynema??
 
Keep it lighter - 12 mm is too much, use dyneema (maybe stripped except for the last meters in the cockpit) 8 mm should be enough I use 6 mm for a 95 sqm. Don't think you can get both (Floating and lightweight), just don't start the engine (or at least don't engage it) until all lines are out of the water (sorry :p)

rtchina said:
Gybing a big cruising chute can be a compete disaster, I know I have had at least one spectacular failure, but it is clearly essential. Of the 3 options, drop and re hoist, gybe inside the luff of the chute, or gybe outside, I suppose the most popular method would be to gybe outside. The problem for me is the weight of the 12mm rope used as sheet and guy. As the boat goes dead down wind, the apparent wind speed drops so the sail doesn't exactly fly around as one might suppose it should. The most practical solution seems to be to post a crew member at the bows to give a little impetus to the "guy to become sheet" but this is not so easy if short handed. I think lighter lines might be better but would say 8mm be strong enough (the chute is 140square mtrs)?

Further, I have on two occasions started the engine with one of the lines in the water, which naturally caught around the prop. On the second occasion this happened within 5 minutes of explaining to a novice just how important it is to keep the lines out of the water.
This brings me to my second point. Does anybody know if there is a "polyprop covered with nylon" rope which would float, be a good "hand size" yet not be the price of Dynema??
Click to expand...
 
Gybing our chute has not always gone to plan and we've tried various methods to improve the gybe; the most promising way has been to slacken the tack line first to allow the chute to create a bow in the luff and transferring the sheet to the guy side between the furled jib and the luff. On our boat this means taking the tack up to the height of the pulpit for the manoeuvre and re-trimming the tack to the required height afterward.
We make a point of not going forward to do this and have rigged the tack line back to the cockpit, from where the snapshackle is also freed by a second line to it, when eventual retrieval of the chute is done.
We believe the secret (for us anyway) is to maintain tension on both sheets all the way though the gybe.

ianat182
 
I tried a few ways, in the end I settled for 2 sheets and pulling it through the gap between its own luff and the forestay, but it will depend on your setup, this method is made easier if you can ease, and tension the tack line from the cockpit.
 
A couple of other ideas - unfurl a bit of genoa before the gybe. Maybe just enough so the clew is in front of the shrouds (if an overlapper). This will prevent the chute from wrapping around the forestay.
Before the gybe, take some tension on the windward spinnaker sheet. Pull the clew towards the forestay a bit. In some conditions, I sail quite deep with the clew pulled very near the forestay (sometimes even on the forestay). Then, don't ease the "old" sheet - blow it right off and make sure it is clear to run. Then pull in on the new side.

As others have said, gybing "inside" rather than "outside" is generally easier, and means you are less likely to run over the sheets.
 
If you've got a spare crew member get him to run forward along the side deck with the old working sheet. That is of course having made sure it is free to run.

I suspect many of your problems lie with the 14mm sheets. Not just with the weight but with the excessive friction. Try to find the data sheet for your blocks (or as close as you can find) and look to see what the optimal thickness of rope they are designed to be used with (quite often 2mm less than the maximum they quote).

Also compare the SWL of your blocks and sheets, a significant difference there means your line may well be oversized.
 
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