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Sailing a Cape Cod Mercury with no Jib and No Rudder:
Single Handed Spinnaker |
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| Flying The Spinnaker, Rudderless |
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Spinnaker and Mainsail against the sky, pan to rudderless stern back across horizon to spinnaker which needs adjustment (0:20). As apinnaker fills (0:24), pan back to spinnaker and main sail against sky. |
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| Installing the Spinnaker Pole Under Sail |
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The mainsail is tied off to allow hands free sailing while minimizing possibility of jibing. The weather is cool, with lots of thermal activity and gusts coming from random directions but predominantly North West wind. The boom angle is trimmed for a beam reach and weight is to windward. A gust from behind will cause the boat to head upwind. A gust which makes the sail luff will cause the boat to head down wind. Note the way this trim allows the boat to steer itself while attention is diverted mostly to Installing the spinnaker pole. 0:29 attach clasp on combined toppin and bottom loft lines to top spinnaker support ring. 0:33 extend spinnaker pole to starboard to check if there is enough line on the top and bottom lofts (they must both be adjusted). 0:40 stow spinnaker pole to adjust spinnaker pole top and bottom loft lines. 0:44 pause to check on boat course and other traffic. 0:50 losen top and bottom loft lines from their jam cleats. 1:00 extend spinnaker pole again: still not lose enough, readjust top and bottom loft lines. 1:08 insert spinnaker hook into mast ring. 1:10 pull top loft tight. 1:19 losen bottom loft. 1:25 tighten top loft. |
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| Preparing the Spinnaker |
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At 0:04 seconds into the video the head of the spinnaker is found. First order of business is to properly coil the spinnaker sheets. 0:20 glancing at the progress of the boat and checking for traffic. At 0:24 where a sheet meets the spinnaker is found. 0:35 find the end of the sheet. 0:37, coil the sheet. 0:44, wrap remaining sheet around coil. 0:55 tie cow hitch through top loop of coil. 0:58 sound of helicopter flying overhead. 1:10 put coiled sheet on one side of bottom of spinnaker box. 1:13 coil second spinnaker sheet. 1:45 put 2nd sheet in spinnaker box. 1:49 check on course of boat and for traffic again. 2:00 untangle spinnaker. 2:16 insert where sheet meets spinnaker into hole in box. 2:17 wave to another boat. 2:23 follow edge of spinnaker towards next vertex (could go either to spinnaker head or other sheet). 2:35 edge ends at spinnaker head, insert head into top hole in spinnaker box. 2:38 follow next edge down from head to where 2nd sheet meets spinnaker. 2:56 find where spinnaker edge meets 2nd sheet, insert attachment through left hole in spinnaker box. |
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Running the Port Spinnaker Sheet Under Sail |
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0:30 remove port spinnaker sheet from spinnaker box. 0:33 uncoil port spinnaker sheet. 0:37 pass coil to front of fore stay (spinnaker lines must be outside of all stays). Spinnaker will fly to starboard with the boat on a port tack. Spinnaker pole is |
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It is possible to sail with no jib and no rudder with spinnaker.
The set up of the spinnaker can be done while under sail, steering by keeping weight to windward. The painter can be used to tie down the spinnaker box and also to wrap around the doused spinnaker to keep the wind from catching it while sailing on close reaches. To deploy the spinnaker, sheet out the boom as far as possible with weight to windward. Once a run is established, continue the turn until the boat is sailing by the lee (almost at a North River jibe). The boat tends to turn away from the mainsail (upwind) and deploying the spinnaker requires a central weight as it must be deployed in the lee of the main sail. Sailing by the lee gives more leeway to deploy the spinnaker and still be on a downwind tack when weight can be shifted back opposite the boom side to arrest the upwind turn.
If the wind is heavy the centerboard should be raised at least half way up.
Dousing begins by applying weight to the boom side to round up and place the spinnaker in the lee of the main sail. Release the spinnaker sheet to depower and gather the spinnaker from the guy end.Risk of capsize in heavy wind while dousing the spinnaker was reduced by lowering the haliard so most of the weight of the luffing spin is held by the guy attached to the spin pole (the pole is closer to the center of gravity of the boat than the top of the spinaker haliard).
Back to Home Page Copyright Phil Rossoni 7/13/2006 |
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