jeanpaulcopie
Well-Known Member
Has anyone got a good experience of the PARASAILOR spinnaker? I would be gratefull on thoughts about it. Many thanks
Parasailor
- Thread starter jeanpaulcopie
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snowleopard
Well-Known Member
Here is a pic of us on a 2-day run up-channel last season.
It's a powerful sail and pretty stable. The advice is to fly it on its own which seems to work pretty well. It claims to cut down on rolling and we felt that was true.
It comes down fairly easily with the built-in snuffer though our friends said that they once got caught in a squall in mid-Atlantic and the speed went up to 14 knots before they tamed it - not bad for a 15 ton 43 footer!
It's a powerful sail and pretty stable. The advice is to fly it on its own which seems to work pretty well. It claims to cut down on rolling and we felt that was true.
It comes down fairly easily with the built-in snuffer though our friends said that they once got caught in a squall in mid-Atlantic and the speed went up to 14 knots before they tamed it - not bad for a 15 ton 43 footer!
tcm
...
Yes, i did a big writeup about it on multihulls4us.com, the very thing for pelting downwind esp in a catamaran, i got 21knots instantaneous SOG last transat, easy to sit about and run through the night, i have flown it to 44knots true wind. If you find pix, we're the "Pirate" black sail.
Magaz97
Well-Known Member
We have used one quite successfully on a 26ft Long Keeler (like a folkboat) directly downwind. Need to use it by itself, but it worked well, and seems the only way to get a small long keeler to go directly down wind with any sense of control.
douglas_family
Well-Known Member
Here is a pic of us on a 2-day run up-channel last season.
It's a powerful sail and pretty stable. The advice is to fly it on its own which seems to work pretty well. It claims to cut down on rolling and we felt that was true.
It comes down fairly easily with the built-in snuffer though our friends said that they once got caught in a squall in mid-Atlantic and the speed went up to 14 knots before they tamed it - not bad for a 15 ton 43 footer!
How can you tell how it effects role on a cat?
snowleopard
Well-Known Member
It was on an Island Packet. And it didn't affect my role, I was crew.
tcm
...
I am gonna assume you are asking about how it *affects rolling* on a catamaran?
Part of the idea (or an accidental fortuitous design feature) is that the escape valve is in the centre of the sail, so there's little or no induced rolling due to the sail itself. It is also usually flown wth no mainsail, and this again (no main) improves the motion of the boat - you're being pulled from fwd of the centre of rotation, and likely with less downward component than when the main is used, hence less tendency to be driven into wave troughs. I suppose that this far downwind (150degrees plus) you are likely to have no main anyway.
jeanpaulcopie
Well-Known Member
Thank you everyone for the replies. I'll go and see the multihull website although my boat is a monohull!
Tintin
Well-Known Member
solo
Does anyone have any experience of using them solo?
Does anyone have any experience of using them solo?
puddock
Well-Known Member
oldvarnish
Well-Known Member
No, I haven't but I have a similar interest; I was talking to the dealer at the boat show and he was recommending taking the snuffer downhaul to a ratchet block on the deck so you were standing in a more stable position to haul it down. Good idea. It's a small step from doing that to taking the line all the way back to the cockpit. As the way of getting these things down is by letting off the sheet and pulling down the snuffer, both lines in the cockpit would be a great help if singlehanded.
I'm thinking of buying. I'll let you know.
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
They are more likely to blow up than a normal spinnaker witness a number of ARC boats have reported catastrophic failure. I wouldn't touch one.
snowleopard
Well-Known Member
One thing that gave us a bit of a problem was the fact that the length of the chute was greater than the distance from halliard sheave to deck to when we got the snuffer down to the deck there was still 10-15' of the foot hanging out that had to be stuffed into the snuffer by hand before we could drop it onto the deck and pack it in the turtle.
oldvarnish
Well-Known Member
How many boats and where are their reports? I have certainly read of one but they admitted that the sail had a tear in it before they set off. I'd be interested to read the rest.
PembrokeshirePromise
Well-Known Member
I'm not aware of a large number of failures in the Arc this year (and I did it with TCM). Know one boat that had bowsprit failure - but that was just bad design.
Undoubtedly its a complicated sail - construction wise - but I've flown TCMs in conditions that would undoubtedly shredded my spinnaker - so I was quite impressed. I know one cat that shredded theirs (not on Arc) - but they admitted they had it sheeted down too tight. One of the key things is to fly it high - and the more wind you get - the higher you fly it thereby reducing the overall windage. At a certain point you can't keep it full any more - but its a long way up by then.
As for bringing the snuffer line down through a ratchet block - we had 4 parasail reps on board one afternoon - and they couldn't agree on it ! Personally I think it would be a good idea - as one of the problems is having to keep pressure on at the point you are squeezing air out of the wing. A sudden gust at this point can open the sail out again - with associated rope burns (don't ask ... and yes I did have gloves on)
All in all though - especially for downwind sailing - I think its great - very stable - no concerns about jibing - can be flown by less experienced crew than a spinnaker.
I'd have one - well apart from the price which has made me hesitate ...
Undoubtedly its a complicated sail - construction wise - but I've flown TCMs in conditions that would undoubtedly shredded my spinnaker - so I was quite impressed. I know one cat that shredded theirs (not on Arc) - but they admitted they had it sheeted down too tight. One of the key things is to fly it high - and the more wind you get - the higher you fly it thereby reducing the overall windage. At a certain point you can't keep it full any more - but its a long way up by then.
As for bringing the snuffer line down through a ratchet block - we had 4 parasail reps on board one afternoon - and they couldn't agree on it ! Personally I think it would be a good idea - as one of the problems is having to keep pressure on at the point you are squeezing air out of the wing. A sudden gust at this point can open the sail out again - with associated rope burns (don't ask ... and yes I did have gloves on)
All in all though - especially for downwind sailing - I think its great - very stable - no concerns about jibing - can be flown by less experienced crew than a spinnaker.
I'd have one - well apart from the price which has made me hesitate ...
snowleopard
Well-Known Member
Well as I mentioned, my friend got caught out in a squall during the ARC and saw 14 knots boat speed on his 15 ton Island Packet. That is one hell of a lot of force and the sail didn't suffer any damage.
OTOH during the ARC I did, virtually every boat that carried a conventional spinnaker managed to blow it out, in fact at least one boat blew out more than one.
rhinorhino
Well-Known Member
PM Sent
Twister_Ken
Well-Known Member
It costs HOW much?!!?
mcframe
Well-Known Member
How much would you spend on beer and pies (and boat-space, and air-freshener) for the crew required by pair of normal racing spinnys?
Not got a Parasail, but I'd like (a small[0]) one...
[0] Inverse square, natch ;->
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
>How many boats and where are their reports?
I can only suggest you trawl the ARC site, a number were reported in the logs.
We did the ARC finish line twice and they were a regular topic of conversation because they were fairly new, with complaints from those who had blow outs. Maybe they are better now but I still wouldn't buy one. We used a twin headsail twistle rig. Infinite choice of sail(s) size thus no need to keep putting things up and down.
I can only suggest you trawl the ARC site, a number were reported in the logs.
We did the ARC finish line twice and they were a regular topic of conversation because they were fairly new, with complaints from those who had blow outs. Maybe they are better now but I still wouldn't buy one. We used a twin headsail twistle rig. Infinite choice of sail(s) size thus no need to keep putting things up and down.
