Spinnaker or cruising Chute

[Sailfree]

When I bought the boat I specified spinnaker fittings as I know they reinforce where they fit but never bought the sail.

10 yrs later wondering whether two handed a cruising chut would not be better.

Bought a spinnaker for the 36' and frightened myself with its power as wind slowly got up.

Know the principles of a spinnaker as we always fly one when racing our Wayfarer but they are easier to handle!

Any advise on choice and are they available secondhand?

 

[wully1]

Unless I was racing I wouldn't bother with a spinnaker.

A cruising chute with a snuffer or one of them fancy top down furlers is a simple way to get downwind.

Cruising chutes are as rare as rocking horse 5hit second hand but they do come up, some sailmakers have them on their second hand sections...

 

[Seajet]

If having a chute made, specify a tri-radial cut; it's a fraction more expensive but will allow setting a lot closer to the wind in light airs, I can carry mine on fine reach.

I have a conventional spinnaker too but never use it, as I'm usually singlehanded or with novice crew; I am used to dinghy spinnakers, but even on my 22' a 290 sq ft kite soon becomes a serious handful, while the chute is a doddle to handle, at least as effective except dead downwind so I just tack downwind.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Cruising chute anytime; much easier to handle for all points especially when using a snuffe/sock, however, for dead downwind the spinnaker performs best.

 

[johnalison]

I don't think there will ever be a single answer to this question. I am agile enough to pole out our jib but probably no longer quite strong enough to cope with a spinnaker in all conditions. Nevertheless, on my slightly fractional rig, a spinnaker would be scarcely bigger on our 34 than the previous one on our Sadler 29, which was easy to handle. For me, the wider angle of use of a spinnaker would always make it my choice, but a chute is an attractive proposition for te relative lack of complication.

 

[flaming]

Spinnaker.

Problem with cruising chutes is that they're not actually very good when you want to go downwind. They like broad reaching. You can pole the tack out but then you might as well have a proper kite in the first place.

My dad had cruising chutes on 2 boats but we almost never flew the thing without poling out the tack, so for his current boat he bought a proper spinnaker and it's far more useful for light wind sailing deep downwind.

Yes they aren't quite as easy as a cruising chute, but they're not really all that hard.

 

[Lucky Duck]

Last season the Spinnaker came out of the bag more often than the asymetric/cruising chute.

It takes a bit more effort to set up and take down but works on a wider range of wind directions.

 

[RupertW]

Asymmetric with snuffer for me - I want to be able to go upwind (close reach at least) in very light winds and am happy with any old bag as long as its big enough downwind. Bought one last year and am very pleased with it so far as an alternative to engine when the wind is 5-10 knots (and a bit above if I'm feeling sporty)

 

[Koeketiene]

Yes they aren't quite as easy as a cruising chute, but they're not really all that hard.

That's assuming you have a full crew.
To rig our spinnaker safely we need four crew - these days this rarely happens.
As a result our kite saw daylight only rarely (once a season - if that).
Sold it and bought a cruising chute.
Gets a lot more use, even if it's just me and one crew.

 

[flaming]

That's assuming you have a full crew.
To rig our spinnaker safely we need four crew - these days this rarely happens.
As a result our kite saw daylight only rarely (once a season - if that).
Sold it and bought a cruising chute.
Gets a lot more use, even if it's just me and one crew.

Disagree. Routinely fly the kite on my dad's boat (which is a Dufour 40) 2 up. It's no harder than a chute, it just takes an extra minute or so to rig the pole.

Did Dartmouth to the Solent last year, held the kite until the needles when I decided that in 20 knots discretion was the better part of valour rather than gybe the thing twice in the needles channel. As the course was within 10 degrees of DDW all the way from Dartmouth this would have actually been a right pain with a cruising chute.

 

[r_h]

In an ideal world you'd have both - a spinnaker for running and a cruising chute for reaching.

 

[TimBennet]

Spinnaker.

Problem with cruising chutes is that they're not actually very good when you want to go downwind. They like broad reaching. You can pole the tack out but then you might as well have a proper kite in the first place.

My dad had cruising chutes on 2 boats but we almost never flew the thing without poling out the tack, so for his current boat he bought a proper spinnaker and it's far more useful for light wind sailing deep downwind.

Yes they aren't quite as easy as a cruising chute, but they're not really all that hard.

Spot on. Even when you're on your own.

The only time you really need a spinnaker is when well off the wind in light winds. A lightweight, proper spinnaker will always pay dividends.
If you want to add a smaller, heavier, asymmetric cruising chute when heading up a bit, then that's geat.

But the real need is for a lightweight spinnaker for sailing deep in light airs when the only alternative is the engine.

 

[TimBennet]

In an ideal world you'd have both - a spinnaker for running and a cruising chute for reaching.

Absolutely.

 

[doris]

In an ideal world you'd have both - a spinnaker for running and a cruising chute for reaching.

A downwind sail will be cut fuller than a reacher. A downwind Asymetric can be poled out on its clew but there is no reason why you shouldn't put the pole on the tack. You are not racing so there are no rules to worry about and you get the best of both worlds.

A flat cut reacher will be a pain running as it will not be stable enough.

Asymetric spinnakers are just better cut/thought out cruising chutes, just tell that to the J boat owners!

 

[dom]

10 yrs later wondering whether two handed a cruising chut would not be better.

Bought a spinnaker for the 36' and frightened myself with its power as wind slowly got up.

Me, I use both:

Chutes are great for reaching but hopeless dead downwind with the tack attached to the bow. You can, however, attach it to your pole as you've specced spinnaker fittings for your boat. IMO chute snuffers are great, but only if you religiously pack and rig the things.

A spinnaker will be better dead downwind in light airs - no question about it, and would be manageable on a 40' boat. But big spinnakers can turn nasty as the wind rises above 18-20kts true -- trouble is you only find that out when you slow down / come up on the wind! That's no prob if you always drop downwind behind the main. It is however why things start to go wrong if you are forced to come-up/slow for any reason. Over 20 kts true (which can happen in a heartbeat underneath a cloud or something) you need a few more bodies, and you only have two.

I personally love spinnakers and have not had too much trouble flying big kites two up (150m^2 +). But I once got into a total mess between Alderney and Cherbourg (me and g/f now missus) in 10kts that rose suddenly to 22-25 kts true, blowy but nothing more. Cock-up after cock-up ensued, a sheet got stuck around the prop and to cut a long story short we limped into Chbg and a rib from Chentereyne Marina helped us on to a berth -- v. embarrassing as I know the guys well! Spinnaker was a write-off and we sailed next day.

Here's a useful link: file:///C:/Users/mark.page/Downloads/kemp-using-downwind-sail.pdf

 

[doug748]

I think most of the points have been covered.

If I was in your place I would look for a tatty, small, cheap, spinnaker ( which may be easier to find than a cruising chute secondhand) and see how it went. You need a different philosophy maybe. Just think of it as very much a light weather sail for longer legs, as soon as the wind goes over 10kts ish, over your shoulder, take it down. That's what I do singlehanded, leave the heroics to fully crewed racers.

For total ease, if you did decide you had to buy new, I will contradict myself by saying that a furling sail has it attractions (apart from cost of course). This bloke gives a few things to think about, c19 minutes in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjJzNf4sioA

I have both sails albeit on a much smaller boat. They get about equal use ie, being lazy, not as much as they should. They both had snuffers but I sold them

 

[Sandy]

Have you considered a Parasail?

http://www.seateach.com/Parasail.htm

They look an intersting soloution and I'll like to try one out.

 

[Danbury]

Have you considered a Parasail?

http://www.seateach.com/Parasail.htm

They look an intersting soloution and I'll like to try one out.

I was told once that there are lots of them in the Caribbean... due to people buying one before they cross the atlantic, then ditching them as soon as they can... but that is only hearsay...

 

[Pinnacle]

Roger

It's not often I disagree with Flaming, but in this case and bearing in mind you said it would only be the two of you, I would go for a cruising chute. Good for reaching and as has been said, you can fix the tack to the spi pole end so you can use it as a spinnaker when you are running deep. Once you get the knack of them, a snuffer is good news.

 

[geem]

A downwind sail will be cut fuller than a reacher. A downwind Asymetric can be poled out on its clew but there is no reason why you shouldn't put the pole on the tack. You are not racing so there are no rules to worry about and you get the best of both worlds.

A flat cut reacher will be a pain running as it will not be stable enough.

Asymetric spinnakers are just better cut/thought out cruising chutes, just tell that to the J boat owners!

We use a large asymmetric spinnaker on our 44ft ketch with just the wife and I.
On my last boat, which came with both a chute and spinnaker, we found little benefit of the chute over the large genoa. Downwind the asymmetric spinnaker was a huge improvement on the chute. We sold the chute.
On the current boat the old symmetrical spinnaker was a pig to fly. It jammed in the snuffer and set poorly. The new asymmetric spinnaker and snuffer is a pleasure and can be set with the apparent wind just forward of the beam to dead run even though it is 1700ft2.