Where to tie the spinaker halyard?

[Kian]

I'm rather new to sailing, so there are a lot of "common sense" issues that I'm still learning. I went through the RYA Day Skipper course, so I know the theory and have some practice, but there are lots of tiny details that will seem obvious to anyone with any experience that you can't cover in a generalist, introductory course. And because they're so obvious, it's hard to find information about it because no one even thinks to mention it.

One such issue is, where do I tie my spinaker halyard so it's out of the way when not using a spinaker? The boats I sailed in before were masthead sloops, so while sailing you'd tie the spinaker halyard at the bottom of the mast (and keep it away from it in the marina to avoid banging), and that would keep it out of the way.

My boat now is a fractional sloop, with the spinaker halyard at the masthead. While in the marina, the spinaker halyard is tied to the guardrail to avoid banging, and I'm wondering where to tie it while sailing so it won't get in the way. My first thought was to tie it at the foot of the mast as before, but that would mean the halyard has to go around the headsail halyard, which comes out of the mast below it. Which means rubbing and chafing, which would be bad for both. Also while tacking, it's one more thing along the mast for the sheets to tangle with.

I'm instead thinking of tieing it forward at the bowsprit, since that way it will not tangle with anything and the headsail can do its thing beneath it. I don't see anything obviously wrong with this arrangement, and I was wondering if that's how it's usually done with this kind of rig.

Again, I know this probably seems obvious to most, but I find that the "obvious" things are usually the hardest to learn about on your own.

[StuM]

Frequently clipped to the pulpit.

[psk125]

Clipping to the pulpit certainly gets it out of the way. If you set your spinnaker from a bag or turtle in the pulpit it will be there ready to use too. In your situation it should work pretty well.

We keep our two fractional spinnaker halyards against the mast and haven't found that they chafe, wear, or get very tangled over the past twenty years, so that may in reality be a non-issue for you as well. We keep them by the mast because they also serve as secondary jib halyards if we want to switch headsails. Having one on each side of the center jib halyard enables us to hoist the new jib inside of the old one on either tack. (No bald-headed foresail changes on OUR boat!) In our situation, with the halyards all exiting the mast at the hounds, leaving a halyard attached to the bow pulpit might end up with it getting wrapped around the headstay if people weren't careful - especially at night. With your spinnaker halyard exiting at the masthead this would be less likely to happen on your boat.

[Tomodore]

We keep ours to the pulpit, the only time it was a problem was one night while beating into an increasingly strong headwind. The spinnaker halyard was not tight enough and when we tried to pull in the roller furling genoa to switch to our staysail the spinnaker halyard got caught and wrapped in the genoa. Of course this is at night as we were heading into a fishing fleet. After several head scratches we did find out why our roller furling stuck with most of the sail still out and it was an easy fix. Now we do check tension and more important we have an idea what’s going on if it happens again. Enjoy your new sailing adventure there is no end to the learning and satisfaction.

[stormalong]

You don't say anything about the size of your boat. That would be helpful.

I have a custom made radar guard. On that guard I have four hooks that are open forward. The guard is 3/8 inch ss rod. the hooks are 1/4 inch rod with the open ends bent into a tight loop to prevent sail damage. On deck I have a line organizer made of ss angle iron with a few holes of about 3/4 inch drilled for shackles to attach. The spinnaker halyards, spare jib halyard, detachable inner forestay and spinnaker pole topping lift are placed in those hooks and then tensioned. That keeps them from slapping on the mast and completely out of the way.

The design evolved over a period of several years and has now been in use for about a dozen years.

One issue was chafe on the spinnaker halyards. I sewed some sacrificial sail cloth over the area on the halyards that rub on the hooks and it solved the problem.

[FabioC]

While sailing, we keep our two spin halyard tied to the bottom of the mast (we have a fractional rig).
There is no noticeable chafing on the jib halyard.
It is best that the halyard is tied close to where the spinnaker bag is, so the person setting the spinnaker can reach it without moving around. It is much faster and safer than having it tied to the pulpit. This is a consideration on a take down as well. The halyard has to be disconnected before closing the bag, so there has to be a spot nearby to tie it. In general, you do not want to have a crew make two avoidable trips to the pulpit every time you use the spinnaker.
Alternatively, one can tie it to the lifelines next to the shrouds, which can work as well without getting in the way that much, but bottom of the mast is preferable.

[Kian]

Originally Posted by stormalong

You don't say anything about the size of your boat. That would be helpful.

Added my boat to my profile, she's 43 ft 9 in (13.34 m).

[JPA Cate]

We put a "saddle" or pad eye, just the eye part, onto the mast and snap the spinny halyard to the mast under sail. No worries. It doesn't foul anything there. 7/8 fractional rig, 65 ft. off the deck.

Ann

[bailsout]

I run my spinnaker halyard from shroud base to shroud base. Each has a bronze ring to secure to.

[mlydon]

Like bailsout, I clip to stanchion bases just in front of the forward shrouds - keeps the halyard clear of the mast, and doesn’t interfere with tacking - the jib has to go around the shrouds there anyway.....

Matt