How often do you use a spinnaker

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I don't use spinnakers as I find them awkward to use, especially single handed and of little overall benefit when cruising. I prefer to use cruising chutes with a sock as they are easier to set and cover wider points of sail. Whats is your preference?

 

[Deleted member 478]

Same as yours.

Well, that was true until mine was shredded by the shredders, or spreaders as some people mistakenly refer to them.

 

[TSB240]

I prefer the spinnaker. I can launch and recover this singlehandedly as long as conditions are within the limits of the autopilot to hold the boat on course.

It gives our boat a much better performance when well of the wind than with cruising chute.

I have had mixed experiences with snuffers especially in wet conditions. I also prefer to do as much sail handling as possible from the cockpit.

I have sailed a friends larger Hanse fitted with a furling asymmetric set up on a continuous line and I was quite impressed but not by the financial hit in the pocket! I wont be converting soon.

 

[mainsail1]

I used to use spinnakers quite a lot but then I moved to a cruising chute. I had scarey experiences with both.
For the last year or two I have just poled out the genny which I find less stressful.

 

[masterofnone]

This is akin to the monty python sketch, do i want a 5 min argument or the full half hour. mention the spinnaker 5 mins, get it out . you get the picture. But I persevere.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

I found spinaker on my older boat more stable than my cruising chute on the latest. Both are a pain to set single handed and worse to get down.

I have just had solent stay fitted so will stick with stay sail and genny down wind except in the lightest of airs.

 

[Concerto]

On my Fulmar I sail singlehanded and use a spinnaker without a snuffer. The performance boost is far greater than most cruising sailors realise. In the past I did a lot of racing and was the spinnaker trimmer, so what ever you might dread happening with a spinnaker, I have probably done all of them in extreme conditions. I hold a spinnaker up to about 18 knots true windspeed.

 

[duncan99210]

I regularly use a chute with a snuffer, finding it easy to rig and control but it took some time to learn how to get it drawing properly. It’s often best set without the mainsail, which doesn’t seem to contribute much other than blanking the chute, so it’s often the first sail up: as the wind fills, we drop the chute and unfurl the genoa. If it’s worthwhile, we’ll get the main up as well but often just carry on with the genoa alone.
Never bothered with a spinnaker, too many bits of string and things for the limited use it’d get. I understand that one would improve downwind sailing but the number of times I’d be heading downwind in light enough wind to use it simply isn’t worth the investment.

 

[Koeketiene]

I don't use spinnakers as I find them awkward to use, especially single handed and of little overall benefit when cruising. I prefer to use cruising chutes with a sock as they are easier to set and cover wider points of sail. Whats is your preference?

Single or shorthanded I avoid the spinnaker - much prefer the cruising chute with sock.

The only use I have for the spinnaker boom is to pole out the genoa when sailing dead downwind.

 

[prv]

I have a cruising chute, but it doesn’t set well downwind. I’d rather have a spinnaker, whose tack out on a pole would not be blanketed by the main. I’ll admit I’ve only flown symmetrical spinnakers with a full racing crew 20 years ago, but with a snuffer I can’t see why it should be any more difficult to use shorthanded than a cruising chute would be - apart from an extra minute to set up the pole first. No need to mimic the high-speed everything-at-once racing style hoist and drop when cruising.

Pete

 

[Laminar Flow]

We use a hand-me-down asymmetric from a larger boat that I cut down to fit, just to see how we would make out with it. Having tried it, I would not want to miss it now. It easily adds 2-3kts to our speed in light going and most certainly makes the all the difference between sailing and motoring in those conditions.

I have done a few thousand miles of ocean racing, flying and destroying spinnakers. We got a fair bit of lip from the "experts" of why we would ever bother with such a thing for a cruising boat and never mind, a motorsailer.

We have since flown it in winds up to 30 kts, on a run and without the main but with the mizzen set instead; (it does make for some interesting retrieval technique). That said, racing along at well over hull speed for some seventy miles in a rising, quartering sea, running like on rails under AP was something I still dream about and interrupted only, and far too soon, by our arrival.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Having blown out two spinnakers and a cruising chute while sailing single-handed I don’t bother any more. I can’t afford to.

 

[Channel Sailor]

Symetrical spinnaker used today in the Eastern Solent from nr Yarmouth to just a little east of Cowes. Solo. Almost Dead downwind. F2 occ 3 with a strong tide at times. Three or four Gybes, one to was to avoid MSC Aysa (container ship). Cockpit full of ropes, lot of laying out, putting away and repacking. The alternative would have been take down the mainsail and motor. The yacht is so much more comfortable on those kind of courses if the spinnaker is up. Below 12kts TWSand going well/deep downwind I find it a doddle to douse a 45 squ metre spinnaker. Only used in light air. Today I had trouble hoisting it because it briefly stuck half in the bag so needed a quick tug to get it out, my poor packing. Also a couple of times it collapsed gently partly into the fore triangle but pulled out easily. Is it worth, yes. Why: more comfortable motion, progress as opposed to lolling about, it can stay up from almost a reach to deep downwind (good course changes) and it is for me sailing fun.

 

[Stemar]

I put mine up once. Running, the difference between spinny & goosewinged was 1/4 knot, so I haven't bothered since. Besides, I'm only just allowed to put white sails up in conditions where they scarcely do any good...

There was an article in PBO(?) several years ago about them, and the suggestion was that the money for a chute or kite would give more bang per buck spent on a folding/feathering prop, because you get the benefit on all points of sail.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Only on longer passages more than an hour and with crew, default is polled out genoa when short handed. I am considering a cruising chute as it would be more versatile.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

There was an article in PBO(?) several years ago about them, and the suggestion was that the money for a chute or kite would give more bang per buck spent on a folding/feathering prop, because you get the benefit on all points of sail.

Very good point.

 

[geem]

I put mine up once. Running, the difference between spinny & goosewinged was 1/4 knot, so I haven't bothered since. Besides, I'm only just allowed to put white sails up in conditions where they scarcely do any good...

There was an article in PBO(?) several years ago about them, and the suggestion was that the money for a chute or kite would give more bang per buck spent on a folding/feathering prop, because you get the benefit on all points of sail.

Haha, typical of a sailing magazine article. They forget why we sail. Its the enjoyment of sailing for me. If it came down to money there is no financial argument to own a boat. The pleasure of sailing with a spinnaker up far outweighs the financial argument for me.

 

[adwuk]

On a sunny day, with the wind behind, where we have a few miles to cover, of course we put the kite up. That's what our sailing is all about!

 

[Stemar]

The pleasure of sailing with a spinnaker up

But each to his own. I may just be a wimp...

 

[awol]

On a sunny day, with the wind behind, where we have a few miles to cover, of course we put the kite up. That's what our sailing is all about!

Doesn't that rather depend on which of the distaff side of the family is on board? ?