What is a 'Working Spinaker' ?

[chinita]

It's not a full size one off a dinghy is it?

No, the Gowen Sailbag says:

'Lysander of Conwy - Working Spinaker'

It was made for the boat.

Looks unused and it seems more likely to me that it is a form of blooper. Certainly of no use as a downwind sail in it's own right.

So.........back to the garage it goes!

 

[dt4134]

What weight of cloth is it? Usually measured in Oz per Sq Ft.

If the naming is analagous to working jib it'll be heavy cloth (heavy for a spinnaker that is).

 

[William_H]

"Working Spinnaker"

My little boat cam with a full sized (class limited) spinnaker which I battled with for many years when racing.
But I was frequently overpowered or chickened out on flying spin. (resulting in boats going past)
Then my crew gave me a spin off a 14ft skiff. Possibly was used as an asymetrical on the skiff although it is symetrical.
This little spin is really great when there is a fair bit of wind. The problem being my 21fter fractional rig needs a pretty small jib for a bit of wind (15kts+) so when running or even reaching this little spin actually about the size of no1 genoa does a good job of making up for the small jib. The pole holds it out to windward and the small jib stays set. I think a great little sail and i advocate something similar to my friends. good luck olewill

PS I realise many on this forum will not understand the madness of racing. Indeed after 30 years I wonder myself but at least it gets me out sailing.

 

[charles_reed]

No, the Gowen Sailbag says:

'Lysander of Conwy - Working Spinaker'

It was made for the boat.

Looks unused and it seems more likely to me that it is a form of blooper. Certainly of no use as a downwind sail in it's own right.

So.........back to the garage it goes!

It is probably the in-normal-use spinnaker.
On those masthead rig IOR II boats (only had that rig for Rule-cheating) the full size spinnaker was so enormous that flying it was the job for a very full crew and an occasion for whitened knuckles and raised adrenaline.
For that reason "working spinnaker" makes lots of sense i e the spinnaker tha a sane skipper would normally lift and retain control of the boat - it will probably be about 75-80% of the racing spinnaker and, guess what, the boat will probably go faster and with less fuss downwind.

In the OP's shoes I'd ceratinly keep it and fly it. Clothe weight will probably be tjhe same as the big spi, ie 0.75oz. Mind you Sobstad usually cut a better spinnaker than Gowens.

That IOR II rule really resulted in some abortions of designs more akin to the comparison of dragsters are to cars than they were to real boats.