Twistle Rig vs Cruising Chute

[Tim Good]

With my boat came a big multi purpose spinnaker that can be used on a dead run through to a reach. Additionally, I have a twistle rig with a second yankee. My dilemma is that we're going away long term and space is at a premium so do I bother keeping the twistle rig aboard when I have the chute? I've never been on a long enough downwind passage to warrant getting it all setup so I have no idea how useful the twistle rig is in reality.

Has anyone used a Twistle setup and can you say if it is worth keeping in the arsenal of sails on board?

 

[LadyInBed]

Twin headsails are much easier to deploy, control and retrieve short handed and at night.

 

[ribrage]

With my boat came a big multi purpose spinnaker that can be used on a dead run through to a reach. Additionally, I have a twistle rig with a second yankee. My dilemma is that we're going away long term and space is at a premium so do I bother keeping the twistle rig aboard when I have the chute? I've never been on a long enough downwind passage to warrant getting it all setup so I have no idea how useful the twistle rig is in reality.

Has anyone used a Twistle setup and can you say if it is worth keeping in the arsenal of sails on board?

how many crew ? Lots of crew then cruising chute - you and one other - twistle rig.

II sold both my spinnakers and had a second hank on headsail made and haven't regretted it yet

 

[geem]

We wouldn't be without our spinnaker but I suspect we fly ours more than most. We had a twistle rig on the last boat. We didn't bother with the twin headsail it came with. We set twin poles but used the large Genoa on its furler and set a second smaller Genoa flying free with both sails poled out on the twistle. It worked well and in breezy conditions we would roll some Genoa away to balance the rig better. If wind picked up too much it was easy to drop the second Genoa and last it to the rail. It was an ice set up for crossing the pond downwind with just two of us onboard

 

[michael_w]

Try this trade wind rig:
Main and genoa set wing and wing as per normal.
On your removable inner forestay set your heavy weather jib and sheet it hard to leeward ie; the same side as the mainsail.

You'll find that the boat stops rolling her brains out, tracks straight and makes good speed. If the wind picks up it is a simple matter to roll the genoa a bit.

I'd take the spinnaker and leave the twistle rig stuff behind.

 

[macd]

It really depends on where your 'long term away' takes you. If it's the Trades I'd stick with the Twistle rig: it can be used in very strong winds, is easy to reef (hugely reassuring, esp if short-handd), gives good speed with little rolling. Yes, it's a faff to deploy initially, but if you're a week or two at sea that's of no consequence.

 

[Woodlouse]

Twin headsails are superb for dead down wind since they are stable with very little to go wrong. It's a remarkably stress free environment compared to having a kite up 24/7.

 

[geem]

Twin headsails are superb for dead down wind since they are stable with very little to go wrong. It's a remarkably stress free environment compared to having a kite up 24/7.

But if you have 10/15 knots of true wind you might wish for a spinnaker. We made great use of ours crossing last winter. For us it means circa 1000ft2 on twin headsail or 2100ft2 on main and spinnaker. Huge power/speed advantage for us.

 

[dylanwinter]

twistle rig

did not know what one was

I do now

 

[KellysEye]

Keep the Twistle rig. There are two serious benefits 1. You can reef it a spinnaker is either up or down subject to wind strength and all long distance boats I knew took it down at night. 2. A Twistle rig has free flyimg poles with a hinge in the middle which noticeably cuts down rolling down wind, a spinnaker is poled to the mast and pushes the mast and vice versa increasing the rolling. We carried both over the Atlantic but used the the Twistle for the reasons stated.

 

[Mrnotming]

What is the hinge for the poles made from these days?

 

[vyv_cox]

But a spinnaker is so much fun! Turns a dull downwind stroll into a passage with some life in it. If at all possible I would keep the spinnaker but if there really is no space for both I would unhappily leave it at home.

 

[Woodlouse]

But if you have 10/15 knots of true wind you might wish for a spinnaker. We made great use of ours crossing last winter. For us it means circa 1000ft2 on twin headsail or 2100ft2 on main and spinnaker. Huge power/speed advantage for us.

Believe me if probably carry a spinnaker too, but I'd struggle to sleep with it hoisted for fear of getting it wrapped around the head stay in the middle of the night. They're fun but they can't be ignored and it only takes a moment to all go horribly wrong.

Unlike twin headsails which will generally look after themselves, plus you can hook them up to the tiller for rudimentary self steering.

 

[geem]

Believe me if probably carry a spinnaker too, but I'd struggle to sleep with it hoisted for fear of getting it wrapped around the head stay in the middle of the night. They're fun but they can't be ignored and it only takes a moment to all go horribly wrong.

Unlike twin headsails which will generally look after themselves, plus you can hook them up to the tiller for rudimentary self steering.

I can see your view point and we have had some spinnaker designs in the past that would give me the same concerns. However, we have used a well designed asymmetric spinnaker on a pole with great results. It isn't a cruising Shute. It is a full size spinnaker but it's design and cut make it very stable. On long downwind passages we set the pole a little free so the Shute has less tendency to collapse. Very happy with it and in the right conditions we have flown it for up to 35 hrs non stop.

 

[Keen_Ed]

Spinnaker net avoids wraps

http://www.sailmagazine.com/cruising/cruising-tips/cruising-tips-spinnaker-net/

 

[KellysEye]

>What is the hinge for the poles made from these days

Stainless steel with a vertical bar and a ring top and bottom for the uphaul and downhaul, on each side is a hinged flange with two curved sides. In the old days they tied the poles together, heavan knows what the chafe musy have done to the poles.

 

[Tim Good]

Thanks All.

Looks like I'm keeping the Twistle then. The Spinnaker is coming regardless. As Vyv says it is a lot of fun, works well in light winds and easy to deploy.

The problem is that I have to take the 2nd Yankee for the Twistle setup. I also have a Genoa. Oh and the spare staysail and the storm jib. And there is a spare main ... ARGGGGH :disgust:

So maybe this I'll have to concede to this:

Main 1 - Take
Main 2 - Leave
Stay Sail - Take
Stay Sail 2 - Leave
Yankee 1 - Take
Yankee 2 - Take
Genoa - Leave
Storm Jib - Take
Multi P Spinnaker - Take

 

[Tim Good]

Stainless steel with a vertical bar and a ring top and bottom for the uphaul and downhaul, on each side is a hinged flange with two curved sides. In the old days they tied the poles together, heavan knows what the chafe musy have done to the poles.

Apparently it is not too bad. This chap says the forces on the poles are relatively light:

http://www.simetric.co.uk/twizzle_rig/setting.htm

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My rig is like this:

 

[KellysEye]

We had a spinnaker, twistle rig and genoa, a main sail and spare and a mizzen sail and spare. I would sugest you take a spare main, you only have fore and aft sails so a spare for both is needed. Also I would replace the spare yankee with the genoa, you will need it in lighter airs. We never carried any storm sails just reefed down, the worst we had was over Biscay we had gale fore winds gusting 50 knots. To put it into context a ketch ran off with drogues, a cat hove to using both engines and sadly a local fishing boat was lost with all hands, we kept sailing with reefed geona and reefed mizzen to balance boat.

As an aside I was sailing Velsheda when we had 50 knots gusting 80 knots, in an unforecast secondary low in the English Channel, it took 8 people to the lift the trisail out of the locker. In the spray you couln't see the bows or the top of the mast or the waves.

 

[geem]

We had a spinnaker, twistle rig and genoa, a main sail and spare and a mizzen sail and spare. I would sugest you take a spare main, you only have fore and aft sails so a spare for both is needed. Also I would replace the spare yankee with the genoa, you will need it in lighter airs. We never carried any storm sails just reefed down, the worst we had was over Biscay we had gale fore winds gusting 50 knots. To put it into context a ketch ran off with drogues, a cat hove to using both engines and sadly a local fishing boat was lost with all hands, we kept sailing with reefed geona and reefed mizzen to balance boat.

As an aside I was sailing Velsheda when we had 50 knots gusting 80 knots, in an unforecast secondary low in the English Channel, it took 8 people to the lift the trisail out of the locker. In the spray you couln't see the bows or the top of the mast or the waves.

At the risk of thread drift, we left our trisail at home and have never needed our storm jib. In F7 conditions in Bristol Channel and Biscay which is the worst we have seen in the current boat we use furled Genoa and mizzen with a reef and she sails well with good manners. She will sail on autopilot with ease. It would be difficult trying to remove our main to fit a tri sail so we had a third deep reef fitted. We have never needed it yet.