Poled out Jib

[reeac]

I guess most of us have done this and I can think of only two disadvantages.

When hooking the pole on or removing it, you have to balance the whole weight of it in your arms whilst the jib jerks it around. It has been known for it to jump out of my arms and give the foredeck a good whack.

When rigged, the weight fo the pole pulls down on the clew limiting the twist, particularly in light airs. This will reduce the effectiveness of the sailmore and more as you go downwind, but often on a short leg it is still worthwhile if only to stop the sail collapsing and keeping you awake!

Rob.

I made a whisker pole for my wooden dayboat by planing down a quite hefty old spinnaker pole to an octagonal cross-section tapered from inner to outer end in order to minimise weight on the jib. Retained the bronze inner end fitting and fixed a plastic boat hook end at the oute end. Works well - I wonder why they aren't more frequently tapered - maybe difficult to do in aluminium.

 

[Stemar]

... My wife gets an 'interested' look when Im standing on the ppushpit tying it up!

Mentally checking through your life insurance?