Spinnaker size

[Dave_Rolfe]

I am looking for a fairly cheap, secondhand spinnaker and snuffer to use on my Legend 290 when running downwind. I do not race but am looking for a sail that will improve the performance a bit when on a run because with the swept back spreaders of the B & R rig this isn't the boats best point of sail.

Can anyone give me guidance of what size spinnaker I should be looking for. I have been told that my boats 'I' measurement is 9.8m and its 'J' measurement is 3.35m. I have seen spinnakers with a size of Xm by Ym but it is no good if you do not know the size that you need.

 

[alandee]

Try this web site: www.momentumsails.net as they have a chart which will show you what size the sail will be for given "I" and "J" measurements. No connection to the co. Just good information.

 

[Talbot]

If you are not racing, the implication is that you may be relatively short handed, therefore you would find a cruising chute rather more value, as they are much easier to handle (used to fly mine even when single handing)

 

[savageseadog]

If it's blowing a bit it's always too big. If it's very light winds it's never big enough.

 

[lw395]

D oyou have the pole already?
Pole wants to be a bit longer than forestay to mast along deck, 'J' measurement. foot of kite can be 1.5 to twice J roughly?
Pole fitting on mast probably about 1.5m up... is this fixed already on your boat?
Then halyard height above this gives height of kite, obviously the luff/leaches are curved, and a bit longer than the hypotenuse of triangle with the above 2 dimensions.
Big is good, but you want to see under it!
There is no right size, thats why racing boats carry more than one!
Try borrowing an old one from the racing boys?
I can see a lot of merit in a proper spinnaker if your crew handle it cruising, but personally we use a cruising chute when 2 up on a 39ft boat...
Have fun.

 

[Dave_Rolfe]

Thanks for your replies. I had a cruising chute on our previous boat (Hunter 272) and was quite disappointed with it. Although we did not have a pole fitted to the boat we tried to use it when sailing downwind. This boat had a self tacking jib which was quite small. When flying the chute we always had to be off the wind to keep it filled which was a real pain at times. When it collapsed and then refilled there was a loud bang/ crack from the sail, a bit like a whip which my wife hated, hence most of tyhe sails life in its bag.
What I am looking for is a sail that I can fly when running dead downwind but can easily keep filled when using a pole. I have a telescopic pole that was given to me but no fitting on the mast yet.

Cruising chute ? Spinnaker ? Which is recommended please

 

[bedouin]

Are you sure what you have got is a spinnaker pole? Spinnaker poles are rarely (if ever) telescopic because of the forces they are under.

You are right that without a pole a cruising chute is little use dead downwide. One good compromise is to go for an asymmetric (or cruising chute) with a pole. This gives you three different ways to use it. On a broad reach you can tack it down to the stemhead and fly it without a pole, as you normally would with a chute. Downwind you can either fly it with the tack poled out as you would a symmetric or you can pole out the clew, like poling out an oversize genoa (but a spinnaker pole is rarely long enough to do that effectively - but your telescopic pole may be).

 

[Dave_Rolfe]

I'm fairly sure it is a spinnaker pole. It's aluminium and approx. 3" diameter with a slightly smaller diameter section sliding in and locking with buttons a little like the sectional paddles that come with an inflatable except they are white and do not protrude. There is also two brackets for attachment of an uphaul and downhaul.

 

[AIDY]

Sounds like a whisper pole to me... Be careful with it if you use it to fly a kite, I know from experience they bend in light airs. A spi pole is one long extrusion, length of your J value for the boat and has the same diametre.

Whisper pole are only really used for poleing out your genoa.

 

[flaming]

I have seen (and used) extendable poles that match that description. In fact my old man had one on his old boat. You'll be fine with that in most conditions you want to fly a kite on a cruising boat. We once had a rather large broach with it in about 25 knots and it survived no problems.

Coincidently my old man's previous boat was a hunter legend, a 336 to be exact, and we had a cruising chute. However we almost never flew it as a cruising chute but used the pole to square back the tack and flew it as a spinaker. We just found that the window for its use was too narrow without the pole.

Hence when he changed boat he bit the bullet and put full kite gear on the new boat.

 

[Aeolus_IV]

For downwind sailing I have found that a symetric spinnaker is really the best tool for the job. If you get one with a snuffer then hoisting and dropping it is not difficult at all. Indeed with a careful process worked out raising and dropping a symetric spinnaker without a snuffer isn't a drama either. A thing to note is that a symetric spinnaker will be visibly bigger than a crusing chute (or asymetric spinnaker) for the same boat, and so more effective in lighter airs.

Regards, Jeff.

 

[chasroberts]

You could of course have the best of both worlds and get a Southerly. Draft varies from 2'8" with the keel up to over 7' with it down. Sits flat on the floor when dried out as well. Very versatile...

 

[moondancer]

Spinnakers are great but not really a short handed sail unless conditions are very calm. See if you can borrow one to see if you can get on with it.

 

[flaming]

The deamonisation of spinnakers by the cruising fraternity is amazing.
Flying a spinnaker on a long leg should be possible by the vast majority of short handed crusing boats until about the mid 20s of wind speed.
Gybing can take a little practice shorthanded, but is perfectly possible, and with a snuffer (however much I hate them I have to admit they do make sense for shorthanded crews) dropping ought to hold no fear.

One of the best kite runs I can remember was in big swells and a wind that rose to about 25 knots. Averaged about 9 knots in a heavily laden 34 footer!

If you're nervous of them, grab someone with some racing experience and go for a blast in some stronger wind.

 

[moondancer]

[ QUOTE ]
The deamonisation (sic) of spinnakers by the cruising fraternity is amazing.

[/ QUOTE ]

You presume too much implying I am from the cruising fraternity. (although we live in modern times and each to their own /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif )

Most of my sailing these days is racing and I would still stick to my advice to a couple to try it out first to see if they can get on with it.

 

[flaming]

fair point, though If a couple who have no previous experience of kites just try it to see if they like it, they'll probably just scare themselves.

Get someone on the boat who knows what they're doing and can teach you the little tricks that make flying a kite safe and problem free.