Gybing Symmetric spinnakers
It is believed that the first recorded use of the word spinnaker was in 1866, it was a reference to a downwind sail specially built for the yacht “Sphinx” in 1865. Being a very large lightweight sail it was referred to by the yachts owner Herbert Maudslay as “Sphinx’s half acre”; which soon became abbreviated to spinnaker. Other possible origins could be a derivative of the obsolete word spoon or speen which meant to run before the wind (as in spindrift). Also a small fore and aft sail on the mizzen mast of a tall ship was called a Spanker and could possibly be a source
Regardless of the starting point the word spinnaker has become a large part of the yachting vernacular and probably that one word is the cause of the most angst amongst club level and beginning sailors. We have all seen a myriad of pictures and videos of yachts wiping out in sensational style and the most common feature of these is they are nearly all under spinnaker when it happens. All yachties have a vast recollection of “spinnaker stories”.
The spinnaker has 2 traits that make it a handful, the first is the sheer sail area that this sail as an extra adds to a yacht sailplan, it is not unusual for a spinnaker to be up to twice the size of the combined total of the mainsail and headsail and so adds a great deal of horsepower. The second is the sail is free flying connected only to the boat via the spinnaker pole which is a temporary appendage to the rig. It is not tacked down to the boat as per all the other sails and so can have the ability to “get away” from the boat and stream a distance from the hull of the vessel making it hard to recover when things go wrong. So it is no wonder that the typical twilight beer can race is designated no extras! Working sails only is much more good-natured and user friendly. However conquering the spinnaker is a worthwhile exercise.
Tactical advantages- Using a symmetric spinnaker over an asymmetric one can have its advantages on the racetrack. In a lot of medium to small displacement style hulls it is definitely preferential. These types of boat have no one fixed mode to sail downwind, as the conditions vary so does the angle required to keep them sailing at their peak. In a high performance lightweight planing hull a breeze increase will see the apparent wind go forward as the boat speed increases and as a result they can sail lower. On a heavier more traditional hull that does not have such great velocity variations it is beneficial to be able to bring the pole back to go deeper in a gust or ease it forward to sail a little higher in a lull.
Another area where the symmetric spinnaker is a huge advantage is on the modern windward leeward course where the runs are dead square and particularly on a short leg the ability to sail low and cover less distance is a fortunate thing. Asymmetric boats have to set their downwind sails, sail a hot angle to build up their speed, then have to gybe to get down to the mark, often several times, thus collapsing their spinnaker and having to restart the speed build all over again each time, whilst a conventional spinnaker can simply run low, gybing without having to collapse their spinnaker and thus experiences no loss of momentum. Also on these courses, in particular those with a gate at the bottom, it can provide more tactical options. The top mark always allow for a quick gybe set as the boat can be squared up not letting competitors gain an inside overlap. It is very common in match racing to set the spinnaker without a pole initially to enable either gybe to be an immediate option. Approaching the bottom mark or gate in an assy boat can be tough trying to pick the best angle as it varies so much with breeze fluctuations and you are quite often constrained and forced to compromise your rounding, on a symmetric boat however anything is possible if you are a little overlaid on the mark then square pole back to run deep, remove the pole early and floating the spinnaker for the last 4-5 boat lengths means you can drop either side or round either side of the gate
Gybing the symmetric- the main point to remember is that when we gybe a spinnaker, the sails remains basically flying in the wind and we turn the boat underneath it. It is imperative to try and keep the spinnaker flying all the way through a gybe. This should be a job for your best trimmer. It is crucial to get the spinnaker out in front of the forestay so when the boat turns the forestay passes behind the spin and does not hook it up. I often find it is very hard to get people to ease out the sheets and fly the spinnaker out in front like this, as the pole is unhooked it is a natural tendency to want to pull the spinnaker in close to stop it getting away from you so be aware of the need to fly it out ahead of the boat.
As is always the case, sailing fast is a combination of sail trim and steering working in concert, the helmsman should watch the spinnaker as closely as possible helping the trimmer to keep it flying, slowing the turn a little if the sail luff is curling or heating up a little if the sail gets shivery can help the trimmer and enhance the gybe.
The most common way of gybing a small boat spinnaker is end for ending the pole, where the pole is unhooked off the mast and that end is transferred to the old sheet/ new brace and the other pole end on the old brace/new sheet is unhooked and then re hooked to the mast. It is a nice simple process that works well, I prefer to see the bowman unhook the whole spinnaker pole before I begin to reconnect to the spinnaker, on some boats I see the bowman unhook the pole off the mast and immediately connect it to the new brace without unhooking the pole off the other end, by having the pole connected to both sheets simultaneously retards the trimmers ability to fly the spinnaker out on front of the boat as previously mentioned. Most bowman will stand in front of the mast facing aft whilst end for ending the pole. But I know of several top one design bowmen that position themselves on the leeward side of the mast facing forward and prefer to gybe from that position for several reasons. Firstly they are closer to the new brace and can reach it easier to guide the pole end onto it, secondly they are able to see that spinnaker flying and that helps them appraise the speed of the gybe.
The crew members in the cockpit other than the trimmer also have a role to play, prior to the gybe ease a little topping lift or foreguy to gave a bit of slack so the pole end can be connected to the mast more easily as having both tight can make it a real struggle to snap home pushing against them. Pull on the windward tweaker as you gybe to bring it within arm’s reach of the bowman so he can hook up quicker without having to search or wait for it to come within arm’s length.
Larger boats require a dip pole gybe where the spinnaker pole is disconnected off the spinnaker and swung inboard where the bowman clips the new brace into the pole end and the pole is then swung outboard on the new gybe. To do a dip pole gybe is a lot more complicated and requires more crew working in cohesion, the spinnaker should be set up with a brace and sheet either side.
Coming up to the gybe point the tactician should call “ready to gybe”, the bowman should then take the new brace forward to the bow and the mastman raises the pole up the mast to a point marked where the pole will pass through the foretriangle without hitting the forestay. In the cockpit the pit man should get the topping lift ready to be eased whilst the trimmer’s takes up the weight on the new sheet making sure it is over the top of the pole, gybe with it underneath and the pole will drag the sheet into the bow as it is swung in and cause issues aplenty. The brace trimmer should take some turns on the winch making sure the bowman has enough slack to enable him to quickly snap in the new brace when the time comes.
The next call should be “pole back” by the tactician and the old brace should be winched or hauled back as the helmsman begins to turn into the gybe. As the boat turns downwind the tactician should watch the angle of the spinnaker luff as it projects up off the pole, once it increases beyond 90 degrees he should call “trip”. If the spinnaker is tripped earlier it will fall to leeward towards the forestay and become unstable, remember we are trying to fly the spinnaker in the same piece of air whilst turning the boat under it. On the “trip” call the mastman will fire the outboard end of the spinnaker pole and the pole will be swung in whilst the pitman eases the topping down to a marked point where it will be convenient for the bowman to hook in the brace. All this time the trimmer (or on larger boats trimmers) will be flying the kite on the two sheets. Once the bow has snapped home the new brace he will call “made” at which time the helmsman will continue his gybe making every effort to help the trimmers fly the sail, the brace trimmer will take up on the new brace and the topping lift will be rehoisted and the pole reset whereupon the trimmer can ease off the old sheet until the weight is all on the new brace.
To improve your spinnaker technique is one of practise, it is a bonus to have the same crew doing the same jobs on spinnaker gybes drops and hoists as they will soon become synchronised and efficient. Some drills you can do are repeated gybes with and without the pole, doing pole less gybes really helps the skipper and trimmers work together to fly the spinnaker. It is not a bad idea to have a video from the back of the boat as well as off the boat to help you with your gybing, this is invaluable in the timing and coordination aspect of gybing, someone might be struggling with their particular task whilst another has a free set of hands at that moment which could be well used.
It is very rewarding from the back of the boat to see a perfectly synchronised snap gybe done expediently. So get out there and work on your spinnaker gybes and make your spinnaker stories good ones.
Regardless of the starting point the word spinnaker has become a large part of the yachting vernacular and probably that one word is the cause of the most angst amongst club level and beginning sailors. We have all seen a myriad of pictures and videos of yachts wiping out in sensational style and the most common feature of these is they are nearly all under spinnaker when it happens. All yachties have a vast recollection of “spinnaker stories”.
The spinnaker has 2 traits that make it a handful, the first is the sheer sail area that this sail as an extra adds to a yacht sailplan, it is not unusual for a spinnaker to be up to twice the size of the combined total of the mainsail and headsail and so adds a great deal of horsepower. The second is the sail is free flying connected only to the boat via the spinnaker pole which is a temporary appendage to the rig. It is not tacked down to the boat as per all the other sails and so can have the ability to “get away” from the boat and stream a distance from the hull of the vessel making it hard to recover when things go wrong. So it is no wonder that the typical twilight beer can race is designated no extras! Working sails only is much more good-natured and user friendly. However conquering the spinnaker is a worthwhile exercise.
Tactical advantages- Using a symmetric spinnaker over an asymmetric one can have its advantages on the racetrack. In a lot of medium to small displacement style hulls it is definitely preferential. These types of boat have no one fixed mode to sail downwind, as the conditions vary so does the angle required to keep them sailing at their peak. In a high performance lightweight planing hull a breeze increase will see the apparent wind go forward as the boat speed increases and as a result they can sail lower. On a heavier more traditional hull that does not have such great velocity variations it is beneficial to be able to bring the pole back to go deeper in a gust or ease it forward to sail a little higher in a lull.
Another area where the symmetric spinnaker is a huge advantage is on the modern windward leeward course where the runs are dead square and particularly on a short leg the ability to sail low and cover less distance is a fortunate thing. Asymmetric boats have to set their downwind sails, sail a hot angle to build up their speed, then have to gybe to get down to the mark, often several times, thus collapsing their spinnaker and having to restart the speed build all over again each time, whilst a conventional spinnaker can simply run low, gybing without having to collapse their spinnaker and thus experiences no loss of momentum. Also on these courses, in particular those with a gate at the bottom, it can provide more tactical options. The top mark always allow for a quick gybe set as the boat can be squared up not letting competitors gain an inside overlap. It is very common in match racing to set the spinnaker without a pole initially to enable either gybe to be an immediate option. Approaching the bottom mark or gate in an assy boat can be tough trying to pick the best angle as it varies so much with breeze fluctuations and you are quite often constrained and forced to compromise your rounding, on a symmetric boat however anything is possible if you are a little overlaid on the mark then square pole back to run deep, remove the pole early and floating the spinnaker for the last 4-5 boat lengths means you can drop either side or round either side of the gate
Gybing the symmetric- the main point to remember is that when we gybe a spinnaker, the sails remains basically flying in the wind and we turn the boat underneath it. It is imperative to try and keep the spinnaker flying all the way through a gybe. This should be a job for your best trimmer. It is crucial to get the spinnaker out in front of the forestay so when the boat turns the forestay passes behind the spin and does not hook it up. I often find it is very hard to get people to ease out the sheets and fly the spinnaker out in front like this, as the pole is unhooked it is a natural tendency to want to pull the spinnaker in close to stop it getting away from you so be aware of the need to fly it out ahead of the boat.
As is always the case, sailing fast is a combination of sail trim and steering working in concert, the helmsman should watch the spinnaker as closely as possible helping the trimmer to keep it flying, slowing the turn a little if the sail luff is curling or heating up a little if the sail gets shivery can help the trimmer and enhance the gybe.
The most common way of gybing a small boat spinnaker is end for ending the pole, where the pole is unhooked off the mast and that end is transferred to the old sheet/ new brace and the other pole end on the old brace/new sheet is unhooked and then re hooked to the mast. It is a nice simple process that works well, I prefer to see the bowman unhook the whole spinnaker pole before I begin to reconnect to the spinnaker, on some boats I see the bowman unhook the pole off the mast and immediately connect it to the new brace without unhooking the pole off the other end, by having the pole connected to both sheets simultaneously retards the trimmers ability to fly the spinnaker out on front of the boat as previously mentioned. Most bowman will stand in front of the mast facing aft whilst end for ending the pole. But I know of several top one design bowmen that position themselves on the leeward side of the mast facing forward and prefer to gybe from that position for several reasons. Firstly they are closer to the new brace and can reach it easier to guide the pole end onto it, secondly they are able to see that spinnaker flying and that helps them appraise the speed of the gybe.
The crew members in the cockpit other than the trimmer also have a role to play, prior to the gybe ease a little topping lift or foreguy to gave a bit of slack so the pole end can be connected to the mast more easily as having both tight can make it a real struggle to snap home pushing against them. Pull on the windward tweaker as you gybe to bring it within arm’s reach of the bowman so he can hook up quicker without having to search or wait for it to come within arm’s length.
Larger boats require a dip pole gybe where the spinnaker pole is disconnected off the spinnaker and swung inboard where the bowman clips the new brace into the pole end and the pole is then swung outboard on the new gybe. To do a dip pole gybe is a lot more complicated and requires more crew working in cohesion, the spinnaker should be set up with a brace and sheet either side.
Coming up to the gybe point the tactician should call “ready to gybe”, the bowman should then take the new brace forward to the bow and the mastman raises the pole up the mast to a point marked where the pole will pass through the foretriangle without hitting the forestay. In the cockpit the pit man should get the topping lift ready to be eased whilst the trimmer’s takes up the weight on the new sheet making sure it is over the top of the pole, gybe with it underneath and the pole will drag the sheet into the bow as it is swung in and cause issues aplenty. The brace trimmer should take some turns on the winch making sure the bowman has enough slack to enable him to quickly snap in the new brace when the time comes.
The next call should be “pole back” by the tactician and the old brace should be winched or hauled back as the helmsman begins to turn into the gybe. As the boat turns downwind the tactician should watch the angle of the spinnaker luff as it projects up off the pole, once it increases beyond 90 degrees he should call “trip”. If the spinnaker is tripped earlier it will fall to leeward towards the forestay and become unstable, remember we are trying to fly the spinnaker in the same piece of air whilst turning the boat under it. On the “trip” call the mastman will fire the outboard end of the spinnaker pole and the pole will be swung in whilst the pitman eases the topping down to a marked point where it will be convenient for the bowman to hook in the brace. All this time the trimmer (or on larger boats trimmers) will be flying the kite on the two sheets. Once the bow has snapped home the new brace he will call “made” at which time the helmsman will continue his gybe making every effort to help the trimmers fly the sail, the brace trimmer will take up on the new brace and the topping lift will be rehoisted and the pole reset whereupon the trimmer can ease off the old sheet until the weight is all on the new brace.
To improve your spinnaker technique is one of practise, it is a bonus to have the same crew doing the same jobs on spinnaker gybes drops and hoists as they will soon become synchronised and efficient. Some drills you can do are repeated gybes with and without the pole, doing pole less gybes really helps the skipper and trimmers work together to fly the spinnaker. It is not a bad idea to have a video from the back of the boat as well as off the boat to help you with your gybing, this is invaluable in the timing and coordination aspect of gybing, someone might be struggling with their particular task whilst another has a free set of hands at that moment which could be well used.
It is very rewarding from the back of the boat to see a perfectly synchronised snap gybe done expediently. So get out there and work on your spinnaker gybes and make your spinnaker stories good ones.
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