Video of Rudderless Spinnaker
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| Sailing a Cape Cod Mercury with no Jib and No Rudder: Video of Rudderless Spinnaker |
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| Flying The Spinnaker, Rudderless | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preparing the Spinnaker | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 fixing the spinnaker, which has been haphazardly put away by the last user. 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. Now the spinnaker is untwisted and the sheets and head are properly oriented to minimize fouling when the spinnaker is hoisted. 2:58 stuff rest of spinnaker into box. 3:06 show each sheet on either side of box and where head emerges from forward hole in box. 3:10 store spinnaker box against centerboard. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Running the Port Spinnaker Sheet Under Sail | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 on port side of fore stay. 0:38 stuff any stray spinnaker sail into spinnaker box to prevent premature uncontrolled launch of spinnaker by wind gusts. 0:50 prepare spinnaker pole to attach sheet through pole clasp. 0:51 sheet is successfully attached to spinnaker pole clasp. 0:52 boat gets hit by strong gust and heals, throwing things off balance, including camera. 1:15 cleat sheet off: the port sheet will be short and the starboard sheet will be long so if sheets are let go the spinnaker will be depowered and minimize chances of a boat capsize. 1:35 check boat course and for other traffic. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Installing the Spinnaker Pole Under Sail | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other Rudderless Videos Back to rudderless sailing homepage |
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| Copyright Phil Rossoni 6/30/2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||