Spinnakers float!

[awol]

It was drubbed into me a long tim ago that I must never, never put stopper knots on spinnaker guys/sheets or halyards. The idea being that if somebody goes overboard or some other sh|t happens then the whole lot can just be let fly. On Sunday for the first time, I actually let the thing go - not for man overboard, but we were in a bit of a mess (yup, all the skipper's fault) with a bit of a squall, the main gybed and the shore approaching.

I am happy to report that a spinnaker with double sheets and guys plus a halyard actually floats long enough to be recovered. Now I better reeve a 2nd halyard in case I do it again.

... and while I'm here - Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day on the Forth with warm sunshine to the extent of a touch of sunburn. It was like that until about half past four when it started pouring. Guess who was up the mast re-reeving the halyard then?

 

[ytd]

in their bag they will float for quite a long time. years ago we were sailing across the Timor sea and been under spin for a couple of days. Wind came round to the beam so dropped the spin, put it in the bag and tied bag to the mast thinking the wind would soon return to the previous direction. An hour later looked up at the mast - no bag. Didn't hold much hope but we put the boat on a reciprocal course (pre GPS) and sailed back. 40 minutes later there was the spin floating in the water due to air trapped in the bag.