Spinnaker snuffer

[silverseal]

I have sailed dingies and several keel boats, without snuffers, tho we used a bucket in the Cherubs in the 1960's.. Have just bought a boat with a Spinnaker snuffer, and wonder if it will be better than me, stuffing the sail down the forehatch when finished with? My spinnaker is about 280 sq ft.

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[Chris_Stannard]

Depends on the sort of sailing you do. My spinnaker is about 1000 square feet and as i sail two handed with SWMBO would be difficult to rset and recover without a snuffer. So it really depends on the size of the boat, but I would say once you get to about 30 feet you do need a snuffer if you are short handed, although obviously age, fitness and experience will all play their part in the decision.

<hr width=100% size=1>Chris Stannard

 

[bedouin]

My feeling is that the snuffer doesn't help much with the recovery - since they do have a tendency to jam you should never rely on one to recover the sail in conditions where you wouldn't be happy taking it down the old way.

The big benefit of the snuffer is that you don't need to repack the spinnaker, so it is ready to be re-hoist as soon as you've dropped it - which is a great boon when sailing single/short handed

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