Spinnaker Pole

[Guest]

Racing rules determine that a penalty is applied to a spinnaker pole longer than the "J" measurement, which is the distance from the foot of the mast to the point at which the forestay meets the hull. This is the length that most racing boats use.

For cruising you can use whatever you want. Poling out a cruising chute requires a pole length of something like 1.3 x J for best efficiency, but this is inconvenient to stow. Some cruising boats carry a telescopic pole for this reason.

 

[Guest]

Most spinnakers will set best with a pole a bit longer than J but as said above if racing you will suffer a penalty for this. If you want to "dip pole gybe" then the 'J' length pole will allow the pole to drop inside the fore-stay while still attached to the mast. I prefer to end-for-end which means taking off the guy and the attaching the new guy on the new tack. In this case the pole length is not an issue.

 

[Guest]

How long should a Spinnaker pole be...???

I need a new one but think my current one is too long. Anybody got any ideas of how long they should be

 

[Guest]

I dip pole gybe, but end to end as you say is much easier its just not the done thing anymore cos with a dip pole gybe you only need one person whereas end to end should be done with two people, one each side of the mast..... its all about weight and weight placement, although it shouldnt make too much difference the second man can stay on the rail when doing a dip pole gybe thus causing the boat to gybe properly with the second bowman the boat may be tempted to gybe early.....