Raise Spinnaker

Raising the spinnaker

It’s important that the crew works together and everyone is watching each other so that all can keep up with each other. If one person goes to the next step before the others are ready, disaster will follow.

Try to run the tapes before raising the spinnaker, especially when you don’t know how it’s been packed.

The sequence of events in raising the spinnaker is:

  1. Spinnaker pole up
  2. Pre-feed – the trimmer pulls the guy until the clew of the spin is at the head stay
  3. hoist – bowman hoists spinnaker from the mast and when raised cleats the halyard off on the mast and shouts “made”.
  4. as the spinnaker begins to hoist, the other trimmer pulls in on the sheet to get the spinnaker stretched out quickly to avoid an hourglass
  5. as soon as the hoist is “made”, the trimmer with the guy lines the pole up to be perpendicular to the wind
  6. as the pole moves, the trimmer with the sheet eases it to match the movement of the pole.
  7. after the pole is in place the trimmer with the spin sheet trims the spin for the course, and the other trimmer with the guy will adjust the pole for changes in wind direction. Both trimmers should work in concert with each other, as one pulls, the other releases and vice versa

Spinnaker Tips

http://www.hmc.edu/org/sailing/sailing-spinnaker.htm

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