UK Sailmakers' Tips to Setting Up & Handing the Cruising

The UK Sailmakers cruising spinnaker SHEETS: The sheets should be about bottom of the sock down until the is adds great versatility to your sail inven- twice the length of the boat. Any diam- encased. tory to say nothing of making your hours eter line will be strong enough, so choose The diagram to the right shows the on the water much more enjoyable. This one that is wide enough to be comfort- cruising spinnaker installed and ready brochure will cover setting up your able to handle, yet light enough for good for use. Be careful not to twist the sail as Flasher, raising and dousing the chute, light air performance. If you are going you pull it through the sleeve. and trimming your sail. to be trimming the sail with a self-tailing Once the cruising spinnaker has , make sure that the line is wide been installed in the dousing sock, stuff THE EQUIPMENT LIST enough for the self-tailer. the package into the sail bag. To facilitate The UK cruising spinnaker requires TWO BLOCKS: These blocks can raising the sail, pack the bag as follows: much less equipment to fly than a stan- be snatch blocks, fiddle blocks, or any Grab the sock four feet from the bottom dard symmetrical racing spinnaker. other type of . Attach them to the aft and put it into the bottom of the bag. corners of the boat. Working your way up, stuff the rest of the SPINNAKER : This halyard is sail/sock combo into the bag. When you different than a halyard since it either A STASHER: The optional Stasher (dous- are finished the and the clew of the exits the above the , or it ing sock) allows you to raise and lower sail as well as the head of the Stasher leads to a block outside the forestay (See the sail in complete control. The Stasher should be at the top of the bag. Diagram Below). is a sleeve that contains the sail as it is With the three corners accessable A TACK PENDANT: The tack pendant hoisted, sets it free when you’re ready, you will have an easy time hooking up length can vary. The simplest set up is to and encases the chute when it’s time to and hoisting the sail. tie the pendant to the stem fitting so that douse. the tack of the chute is about four feet INSTALLING THE off the deck. For those who like to tweak STASHER their sail trim, the pendant must be long Spinnaker halyard enough to reach a winch in the cockpit. Your cruising spinnaker only has attaches to upper eye to be installed in the Stasher once. After of wire pendant A TACK HOOK OR COLLAR: Either of that the sail/sock combo together, these helps stablize the sail, while letting whether in use or in the bag. To install the the sail rotate from side to side. If you cruising spinnaker in the sock, lay it out in have a wire headstay, just connect the a clean open space with the head at one tack hook to the headstay. A Dacron col- end and the tack and clew at the other. lar is necessary if you are using a roller Reach through the top of the Stasher Sail’s head shackled furling or have a grooved head- and pull the rest of the sock around your to lower eye of wire stay system. The collar reduces chafe by arm. Connect the head of the sail to the pendant distributing the sideways load (See photo at the bottom of the wire pen- below). dant. Next, have a second person pull the

External sleeve for dousing sock halyard prevents spinnaker from tangling with the halyard.

Dousing Sock halyard. Use either end of the continuous line. Tack Collar and tack line (green) Optional Collar Webbed to Tack Tack Clew

Optional Tack Pendant Tack Hook Spliced to Tack Sheet SET UP AND HOIST Jibing the luff of the sail. Then adjust the tack First things first. Clip the spinnaker bag to pendant so that the clew is a little higher the deck or lifelines on the side of the boat Tricks than the tack. The top horizontal panel from which the sail will be flying. Many should be parallel to the horizon. sail bags have been lost overboard by not As the wind moves aft, the sheet and taking this first step! tack pendant are eased to keep maximum s or tie the tack pendant so that the sail area projected to the wind and to keep tack will be about four feet off the deck the sail in the most efficient shape. when the halyard is raised. RUNNING: To sail dead downwind you'll s Pass the tack collar around your head- need to set the sail with a pole so that you stay and clip the hook to the O-ring. can sail wing-and-wing. Either a whisker (Note: Your genoa must be lowered or pole or will work. The easiest way to set up your chute wing-and- roller-furled at this point.) The collar Fig. 1 holds the tack of the sail forward while Photo 1 wing is to attach the outboard the pendant hold the tack down. end of the pole to the clew of s Run the leeward sheet from the block the sail while it is still on the on leeward corner of the boat, out- same side as the , then side of everything (the lifelines and jibe the main. shrouds) and attach it to the clew of the In winds under 15 knots, sail. Make sure the sheet is never led sailing dead downwind is slower under the lifelines. Lead the windward than sailing at broad reaching sheet the same way, but be sure to Fig. 2 angles — regardless if sailing Wind with a cruising spinnaker or a pass it in front of your headstay and Direction over the pulpit before attaching it normal spinnaker. You will sail to the sail. more comfortably, have better control, and get to your desti- s Finally, attach the halyard to the top of nation sooner if you jibe from the Stasher pendant or directly to the broad reach to broad reach head of the sail if you are not using a Photo 2 downwind. Plus, you won't have dousing sock. to hassle with the pole. To keep your cruising spinnaker under control when you hoist it, make Fig. 3 JIBING sure your boat is headed on a very broad reach. The wind should be over your aft Jibing is easy when you follow quarter and the mainsail should be out al- a few tips. Start the process by most all the way to the shrouds. This way steering so that the wind is ap- you will be able to hoist in the mainsail’s proximately 150 degrees over wind shadow . the windward quarter. Trim The final step before raising the sail the mainsail tight so that the is to trim the sheet so that the clew is one is over the boat (Fig.1 & to two feet aft of the shrouds, but do not Photo 1). Ease the spin sheet cleat the sheet prior to hoisting. The trick Fig. 4 until the entire sail is streaming out in front of the boat (Fig.2 & in hoisting is to make sure the sail does not Photo 3 fill until the halyard is up and cleated. Photo 2). Turn the stern of the If you are using a Stasher, raise the boat through the eye of the wind to jibe sail in the sock before pre-trimming the the boat. As you turn, the clew of the sail sheet. Once the sail/sock combo is up will cross to the other side of the headstay and the halyard is cleated, stand near the (Fig.3 & Photo 3). Trim the spinnaker and bow, pull on the dousing sock halyard to then finally ease the mainsheet (Fig.4 & raise the sleeve so that it is completely Photo 4). above the chute. At this point trim the sheet until the spinnaker stops luffing. THE TAKEDOWN Once the Stasher is above the sail, secure The key to a controlled dousing of the its halyard.. Be sure to secure the Stasher Photo 4 chute is to completely blanket the sail halyard. behind the mainsail. With the sail hanging almost limp in the main’s wind shadow it TRIMMING GUIDE is simple to pull the Stasher down over the Trimming a cruising spinnaker is simplic- sail. Once the sleeve is pulled down, your ity itself. The tack pendant controls the ter the sail’s shape will be for sailing at chute is totally under control. Now you can sail’s shape, and the sheet controls the broader angles. The tack should always lower the sail/sock combo and stuff it into sail's angle to the wind. The sail can be be set somewhat lower than the clew. the bag as described in the final two para- flown just as you would a spinnaker, with The sheet should be eased as much graphs on the front page of this brochure. the wind anywhere from about 75 degrees as possible without letting the sail col- If you are not using a Stasher, blanket off the bow to dead on the stern. lapse. This will insure that the sail is at the chute by falling off to a run and easing REACHING: To sail on a beam reach, the optimum angle to the wind, and that out the mainsail. Next, trim the sheet so tighten the tack pendant to lower the sail's the sail is as free as possible from the that foot of the sail is over the boat.. Next tack. This pulls the of the sail forward, mainsail’s wind shadow. release the halyard and stuff the sail down which allows you to sail closer to the wind. After setting the boat on , the forward hatch. . Conversely, the higher the tack, the bet- ease the sheet until a curl appears along www.uksailmakers.com