Spinnaker packing (symmetric)

lpdsn

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Re-running the gear is not a massive chore.

It isn't, but it's still a chore. Any distraction of crew or weight on the bow has at least some negative impact in tight round the cans or W/L races, so if you can easily avoid it you may as well do so.
 

wotayottie

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Since most of my racing is in winter, I get a wet sail fairly often even if we dont drop it in the water, which we have been known to do. So most of the time it comes home to dry in the garage but packing it is the same as on board.

I like to have it in rubber bands so I have a plastic bucket with the bottom cut out and I load maybe 8 bands sround the outside of the bucket.

The head of the sail is attached to the bathroom door and I run both tapes out towards the kitchen. I feed the head through the bucket and re tie it then pull the bicket down the sail dropping off a rubber band every 5 feet or so. I end up with a sausage of spinny on the carpet. SWMBO holds the bag open and I packm the spinny from the middle . I can see to avoid twisting it because the tapes are left on the top of the sausage.

The head and the clews are tied to the turtle at 120 degree points.

As for packing during a race, its much the same procedure but as it happens most of our races are round the channel buoys so maybe just one longish spinny run, maybe two. And I have two spiunnakers so I avoid in race packing if I can.
 

savageseadog

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The most amusing spinnaker packing story I've heard is one where on an offshore race in heavy weather, the skipper wanted the "big" kite up for the run but the crew wanted the smaller 'chute. The skipper agreed, went below and transferred the "big" kite into the other bag and passed it up................
 

lpdsn

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I like to have it in rubber bands so I have a plastic bucket with the bottom cut out and I load maybe 8 bands sround the outside of the bucket.

Hmmm. What size boat do you have? Rubber bands were only needed for well over 50' anyway before they were outlawed.

Ok of course if you take the bands off before the hoist.

It's not just rule 55. You don't have to be an extremist tree hugger to think it's not a good idea to feed rubber bands to the fishes.
 

wotayottie

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Interesting lpdsn. I wasnt aware of that interpretation of the rules. I am not american but my guess as to what was their word trash means would be the sort of things you might put in a dustbin. Empty beer bottles and the like. Never thought of a few rubber bands in that way which I suppose is odd since I would never throw anything else in the water..

TBH its doesnt really achieve much, so since you have raised it I will probably stop doing it.

As for the fishes, I'm sure they prefer the sewage that is in our local waters, not to mention the radioactive waste.
 

lpdsn

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Never thought of a few rubber bands in that way which I suppose is odd since I would never throw anything else in the water.

There was confusion at first when it came out but then there was a specific ISAF Q&A which confirmed rubber bands were covered by Rule 55. Even bio-degradable substitutes would contravene it. Someone even quoted the Q&A recently on here - may even have been earlier in this thread.
 

bbg

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It isn't, but it's still a chore. Any distraction of crew or weight on the bow has at least some negative impact in tight round the cans or W/L races, so if you can easily avoid it you may as well do so.

Agreed.
 

flaming

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There was confusion at first when it came out but then there was a specific ISAF Q&A which confirmed rubber bands were covered by Rule 55. Even bio-degradable substitutes would contravene it. Someone even quoted the Q&A recently on here - may even have been earlier in this thread.

Yes... by me...

See posts 10 and 14
 

wotayottie

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Even bio-degradable substitutes would contravene it. .

Well that bit is PC bollox and I will ignore it - when no-one is looking of course. :D Mind you it gives rooom for a protest doesnt it? " We have been told that you used the sea toilet during that race" . Or "you were seen to throw a banana skin overboard".

Stand by for a new rule about sexual harrassment on board.

Meantime hat huge car transporter going up river - do they still use TBT?
 
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lpdsn

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Well that bit is PC bollox and I will ignore it - when no-one is looking of course. :D Mind you it gives rooom for a protest doesnt it? " We have been told that you used the sea toilet during that race" . Or "you were seen to throw a banana skin overboard".

Stand by for a new rule about sexual harrassment on board.

Meantime hat huge car transporter going up river - do they still use TBT?

Nothing in there about using the toilet and a ban on throwing over banana skins in inshore waters has been around for at least a couple of decades under MARPOL. And yes you could be protested, although I doubt anyone would in club racing, unless they have a particular focus on this in their day job.

And anyway, why do you need elastic bands to control a small spinnaker? IIRC, you have a boat in the mid thirty feet range. Is it a Starlight 35 or am I confusing you with another poster?
 

wotayottie

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No you arent. Necessary? No, I agree. Makes life a bit tidier maybe. Certainly a bit easier to handle. We arent all young whippersnappers you know!
 

lpdsn

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We arent all young whippersnappers you know!

Ah, but you can always recruit a couple of young whippersnappers for the foredeck. One of the great beauties of racing as a sport is that you can build a winning team by mixing age groups, and genders, certainly at anything below the real top levels.
 

chewi

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Meantime (t)hat huge car transporter going up river - do they still use TBT?

TBT is allowed on international shipping to reduce the risk of carrying aggressive alien species around the world.

There are reasons for rules. It doesn't take much thought to work them out.
Not being able to do that is not a valid reason to violate them.
 
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