Spinnaker guys

[Joli]

Totem, I am very re-miss to ever let the kite away from the security of being shy to the rig and cannot recall ever shrimping when dousing as shown in pic 2. Working a takedown in the lee is easy on the sail and the crew. If you can't haul it in quick enough the guy on the halyard can slow a bit. Yea, belly patches are nice on the bigger kites.

Fair winds.

Joli

Last little bit from the North web site: The Perfect Drop

On the call of “drop”, the most important action is the halyard release. This type of drop is a halyard lead maneuver. I cannot stress enough how important it is too lead this drop with halyard release rather than any brace / aterguy movement. Enough must be smoked at high speed to fully depower the chute.

Anyway, like you say, lots of ways to skin a cat but this would be a good method for newbies to practice on a light air sunny day.

Cheers

S/V Joli

[svTOTEM]

Cheers to that.

[Weyalan]

The Bow Speech

Bowman (Jack N): You want answers?

Crew Boss (Tom C): I think I'm entitled to them.

Bowman: You want answers?

Crew Boss: I want the truth!

Bowman: You can't handle the truth! Son, we race on a boat that has head sails. And those head sails have to be set and doused by men with harnesses. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Mr. Trimmer? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for that spin halyard and you curse the foredeck. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that spin halyard’s death, while tragic, probably won the race. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, wins races...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at the beer tent, you want me on that bow. You need me on that bow.

We use words like “gybe-set”, “Mexican”, “floater”...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent achieving something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to an afterguard that race and win under the very mark roundings I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide them! I'd rather you just said "thank you" and got me a rum drink. Otherwise, I suggest you go down below and pack a ‘chute. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!

Crew Boss: Did you order the Samurai douse?

Bowman: (quietly) I did the job you sent me to do.

Crew Boss: Did you order the Samurai douse?

Bowman: YOU’RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DID!!!

[svTOTEM]

Excellent -SO funny!

[Weyalan]

Just to add my 2c worth to the argument on dousing:

Although there are plenty of ways to douse, the ideal one, for me, is running fairly square, easing the pole forward to the forestay (to put the bulk of the kite in the lee of the main), smoking the halyard and bringing in the kite by pulling in the lazy brace (lazy guy).

Obviously, in less than ideal situations, you can do all manner of different things to get the kite down, depending on the situation, but thats a discussion I'm not gonna buy into.

FWIW, for me, the requried length for the guy is determined not by the douse, but by a dip pole jibe from shy...

[svHyLyte]

Jeezus Christopher. What horse shoot. Good, but horse shoot none the less. The kid want's to know how long to make his guys, not a discourse on poor seamanship or an an effing instant replay of a not very good film.

Make the darned guy's 2x the LOA. 99.99% of the time that's too long. And, .01% of the time it ain't enough.

I've been sailing for 60+ years on boats from 24 feet to 3x that and if a yacht is properly managed, 1.5X the LOA is more than enough. If not, it isn't and BS won't make up the difference.

These daze we carry the kite up to about 15 knt apparent at 160, at which point we're doing a good 8-10 knts VMG. Beyond that, if necessary, we blow the guy and haul down the ATN chute-scoop. I guaranty you that with a free'd guy, and a downhaul passed through a snatchblock and wrapped around the capstan on a VC1200, the scoop is coming down and the chute snuffed, even if the crew is naught but a a 60's+ old fart and a late 50's something 5' woman. And we go merrily on our way, none the worse for where (so to speak)!

GordMay--Where are you when we really need you!

S/v HyLyte

[Joli]

Too funny, you guys are so old school. Nite nite

Nice JN Weyalan but you forgot the Kiwi LOL!

[Weyalan]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Jeezus Christopher. What horse shoot. Good, but horse shoot none the less. The kid want's to know how long to make his guys, not a discourse on poor seamanship or an an effing instant replay of a not very good film.

S/v HyLyte

The question was answered in the first response to his post. Ever since then we have merely been shooting the breeze.

[winethief]

To all my sailing friends from a relatively inexperienced sailor ( 5 years ). I have now two questions. What is the difference between a guy and the sheet. I thought they were one in the same. Also, I was also told by another cruiser that 2.5 to 3 times the length of the boat on the guys. I give up.

winethief

Passport 40 "Windthief"

[Weyalan]

If it is attached via the spinnaker pole, its a "guy" (a.k.a. "brace")
If it is on the other clew from the pole, its a sheet

If you are running a single line on each clew, then the guy becomes the sheet and the sheet becomes the guy each time you jibe. This system is typical on smaller boats were end-for-end jibing is practical. On larger boats, you tend to dip-pole jibe, and have 2 lines on each clew (1 sheet, 1 guy). The difference between the sheet and the guy is that the guy tends to have a plastic abll or donut stopper on it, when reduces the likelihood that the brace gets caught in the beak of the pole.

When running a guy and a sheet on each clew, it is usual to clip the brace into the bail of the clip on the sheet.