Single handed spinnaker gybing on an Elan 37

Racecruiser said:
Just seen this which makes it look a bit too easy really - pretty good as judging from the speed of the boat there is a bit of breeze. No doubt Flaming will appreciate it's an Elan 37 ......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt53cic5vOw
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Interesting video - pity the definition isnt better so you could clearly see the ropes. Does he have the normal guy and sheet on both sides? How does he drop the pole to start with - I cant see if its just hauling in on the lazy sheet / dropping the pole uphaul and slackening the guy or whether he has some sort of line to the oputer jaws of the pole. He certainly seems to be pulling on far more bits of string than we have.

I would like to have seen him fly and recover the spinny. Jibing always seems to me to be the easiest manoeuvre of the three.

Is the Elan factional and therefore with a smaller spinny?
 
birdseye said:
Interesting video - pity the definition isnt better so you could clearly see the ropes. Does he have the normal guy and sheet on both sides? How does he drop the pole to start with - I cant see if its just hauling in on the lazy sheet / dropping the pole uphaul and slackening the guy or whether he has some sort of line to the oputer jaws of the pole. He certainly seems to be pulling on far more bits of string than we have.

I would like to have seen him fly and recover the spinny. Jibing always seems to me to be the easiest manoeuvre of the three.

Is the Elan factional and therefore with a smaller spinny?
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It's fractional - but I don't know if the spinnaker is masthead or not.

Norwegian text here https://fjordsail.wordpress.com/shorthanded-tips/jibbing-symmetrisk-spinnaker/

Before the gybe the sail is flying on both sheets barber haulers tightened to stabilize the kite, so both guys are slack.
Dropping the pole is done with the pole topping lift

Hoist
Norwegian text https://fjordsail.wordpress.com/shorthanded-tips/heising-symmetrisk/

Recovery
Norwegian text https://fjordsail.wordpress.com/shorthanded-tips/berging-symmetrisk/
http://youtu.be/kT9KFPBgN5c
 
Nicely done - but give me an asymmetric on a 2 m articulating bowsprit any day!
 
knuterikt said:
It's fractional - but I don't know if the spinnaker is masthead or not.
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Fractional kite, standard is 80m2, but most have upped to 100 for the S2.

When we race doublehanded we leave one on the helm to gybe, and our sequence is similar, except we leave the old guy loaded and trip the pole away from it. Results in less time with the kite off the pole.
Either should work fine though.
 
birdseye said:
so barber haulers as well as sheets and guys. Why? What is to be gained by that that is worth all the extra string?
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In my opinion sheets and guys are very desirable for a spinny once you get to c35 ft and associated larger kites (and a must for dip pole gybes). The guys will be led down to somewhere by the stays and the sheets will have barber haulers probably just a bit further aft which can be very useful for keeping the centre of effort lower and kite more stable when it's blowing a bit on a deep angle. Also if things really go wrong in a broach some or all of the barber in will prevent the sheet going over the main boom end which is of course very undesirable. Despite the Elan 37 being a fractional rig as Flaming points out the kites are quite big at 80 m2 plus.

On our Elan 295 we are ok with single sheets/guys with barber haulers but our big kite is 52.7 m2.

Oh and if you want to barber haul out the jib to the rail on a reach to open the slot and keep the boat a bit more upright they come in handy too!
 
birdseye said:
so barber haulers as well as sheets and guys. Why? What is to be gained by that that is worth all the extra string?
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We call them tweakers. They are a trimming aid. When you're reaching with the pole on the forestay they are fully off, when running in medium winds they are about half on, and in heavy airs they are full on to strap it down.
 
On my Starlight we dip pole with a kite of about 90 sqm. We use both guys and sheets but have never tried barber haulers. Mind you we tend to drop the kite before 25kn true or if the wind is at all forward of the beam. And I guess by your standards its a bit of a heavy lumpy sort of boat so nothing really flighy hap[pens when kite flying. Never broached for example. So maybe they wouldnt be a great advantage for us. What do you think?
 
I am going to be flamed (literally :)) for this one. Has convinced me that single/ short handed I am happy with my snuffer.

Snuff the kite jybe the pole, release old guy from snatch block. Back to jybe the main (with running back stays). Put the new guy in snatch block and back to the front to release the kite.

A carbon pole and no runners might change my view. This way I have less ropes as only one sheet and guy...

Plus often playing in the Solent so ability to stuff kite to ease traffic is handy.
 
birdseye said:
On my Starlight we dip pole with a kite of about 90 sqm. We use both guys and sheets but have never tried barber haulers. Mind you we tend to drop the kite before 25kn true or if the wind is at all forward of the beam. And I guess by your standards its a bit of a heavy lumpy sort of boat so nothing really flighy hap[pens when kite flying. Never broached for example. So maybe they wouldnt be a great advantage for us. What do you think?
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It's a trimming thing really. If you are trying to get the last few percent of performance then yes, necessary. If you're not, and you're not going to hoist in 25 knots, then probably not. I don't, for example, use them on my Dad's Dufour.
 
We also use sheets and guys with barber haulers on the sheets. The barber haulers are used to stabilise the spinnaker when gybing: we strap both barber haulers right down while carrying out the gybe and release the leeward one as soon as the gybe is completed.
This is the method I was taught when racing and it works very well when cruising short handed; when you are sailing as a couple gybing takes longer so keeping the spinnaker stable is all the more important.
Another benefit of the system is that the barber hauler helps to keep the windward sheet out of the water.
 
But does it help keep the kite out of the water? 8 races so far in this series and 7 times we have got at least one bit of the kite wet on recovery. :disgust: SWMBO is fed up of sails drying in the utility room.
 
There appear to be a variety of 'snatch block' options fvor barber haulers - blocks, soft shackles, stainless shackles. Are there any advantages in moving away from the traditional block type?
 
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