img11020There is only one way to avoid all problems with the spinnaker: Don't set one. But if you don't, you will miss much of the pleasure and excitement of sailing a boat on a run.

One common mistake when setting the spinnaker is a fouled halyard. We've mentioned the necessity of checking to be sure it is clear all the way up when ready for the hoist. If you hoist and it's fouled, lower the sail, clear the halyard and start over. On a large boat, send a crew to the top of the mast with a clear halyard, snap it on, take a strain, and release the fouled one. Occasionally, both the guy and sheet get free during a jibe or a douse. When the sail suddenly fills, yanking the lines out of the trimmer's hands, the lines run out and the sail streams astern from the halyard. One solution here is to turn the boat dead downwind. In all but the heaviest winds, the sail will come within reach and may be gathered in. Another solution is to pull on just one line if you can reach it - either guy or sheet - and let the other trail. As the captured corner gets close, ease the halyard. If you ease the halyard prematurely, however, you run the risk of having the spinnaker fill way out beyond the boat. When this happens the problem becomes serious. It could endanger the rig, or a small boat may be pulled over so far that she fills with water and the heeling makes it impossible to turn the boat "into" the spinnaker to relieve the pressure; i.e., downwind. It may become necessary to free the halyard completely or cut it.

When a spinnaker is flying off from the masthead of a larger boat in heavy winds, attached only to the halyard, there's a safe, easy solution to a potentially dangerous situation. Send a crew member aloft in a bosun's chair with a long line leading from the deck. He or she attaches the line to the head of the spinnaker. On deck the line is lead through a block near the bow and aft to a winch. Simply ease the halyard slowly while winching the down haul. The boat should be sailed dead downwind so the spinnaker is blanketed by the main as it's lowered. When it's within reach, gather it in.

A spinnaker wrap. Probably the most common spinnaker problem for both large and small boats is a wrap. It happens when the spinnaker collapses for one reason or another and starts to rotate around itself. It can also occur during the hoist if the corners of the spinnaker are not pulled apart quickly enough, or if the bag or sleeve has been inadvertently rotated before the set. When the wrap is very low in the spinnaker, lower the sail and sort things out. Never pull the pole back or head the boat up on the assumption that the wrap will unwind when the spinnaker fills. Instead, get the spinnaker into dead air behind the main and jib to blanket it. Then shake it out or pull down on the leach to bring it down.

If the wrap is high on the sail, releasing the halyard a few feet should allow the swivel at the head of the sail, which may be jammed in the block, to rotate and unwind the wrap.

A particularly bad wrap is one that is around the jibstay. If it tightens, it can be next to impossible to avoid cutting the spinnaker away. The problem is that in a wire jibstay the strands twist around each other. As the sail is pulled down (assuming that's possible), it is rotated by the twist of the strands and tightens. (On a rod jibstay, the wrapped sail slides down easily.)

Once a jibstay wrap occurs, a couple of things may be tried: one is to send a man up in a bosun's chair to untangle it (in a larger boat); another solution is to jibe the main so the airflow off the mainsail is in the opposite direction and will start the spinnaker rotating in the opposite direction to unwrap itself. It's really quite remarkable how well this works. We worked on a spinnaker wrap for about a half-hour during one race. It was wrapped so tightly I doubted we'd ever get it out. Then, we jibed the mainsail over to the other side and within 15 seconds the spinnaker was free, clear, full, and flying.

Broaching, rolling, and oscillating. No matter what size boat you sail, when carrying the spinnaker you will probably broach, roll, or oscillate at one time or another. It's important to recognize these conditions for what they are, understand their causes, and to know almost instinctively what corrective steps to take when they occur.

Flying the spinnaker in high or gusty winds can cause broaching. Minimizing heeling to maintain rudder effectiveness is important. Quick and concise communication with the crewmember on the sheet is critical. But knowing when to call for the spinnaker to be eased is only a part of the exercise. Easing the main and the jib or changing course can help as well.

Giving the spinnaker too much freedom, allowing the spinnaker to move too far aft, forward, and back again can cause rolling and oscillating. Whatever the cause of the problem, keeping an eye on the weather and knowing your limits and those of your crew and boat is a decisive factor.

Crewing accidents. Because there is so much pressure involved in spinnaker handling and so many variables to consider at once, accidents do happen, even among experienced crew. It's helpful to review them and some of the reasons why they happen.

On most larger boats, one method of dousing the spinnaker is to let the pole forward to the headstay, where the foredeck crew pulls open the snapshackle holding the spinnaker at the pole. Although the down haul should be tightened as the pole goes forward, it cannot completely control the pole's lateral swing aft as the snapshackle opens and the stretched-out guy recoils when the spinnaker is released.

Not too long ago, during a race, I saw a classic example of this. The foredeck man was reaching over the pole to pull the snapshackle pin and the side of his head was even with the pole on the windward side. I only had time to yell, "Duck." (Luckily, he reacted quickly.) As he opened the shackle, the pole swung back viciously, narrowly missing his head.

Another near accident convinced me of the value of carrying a knife. It was in another race, as the spinnaker was being lowered and pulled aboard on the leeward side by two crewmen. Suddenly a wave grabbed it, pulling it through the lifelines and filling it with water. The sheet wrapped around a crewman's leg and a stanchion, pinning the crewman. Imagine the forces involved with a 50,000-lb. sailboat reaching at 9 knots being held back by a spinnaker full of water. Another crewmember grabbed his knife and hit the 3/4-inch Dacron sheet hard. It parted with one swipe, freeing the leg. I happen to know that it would take about two minutes to cut through a line that thick with a knife that dull under normal circumstances with no strain on the line. For that reason I had discounted the effectiveness of using a knife in an emergency. No longer. I'm a believer.

Many more minor accidents are caused by improper winch use - not putting the halyard on the winch quickly enough during a hoist as discussed previously, not having enough turns on a winch, permitting an override, or from an improperly seated winch handle flying out of a winch in a runaway situation. Statistically, standing under a spinnaker pole that gets out of hand when it's being lowered has caused more concussions than any other single factor in sailing. The inboard end goes out of control, the topping lift breaks or comes off the winch, or the pole falls out of the mast fitting, The latter happened to me when I was attaching a halyard to the base of a mast. I heard a "swish" and a "klunk" right next to my ear. The pole had come off the mast and landed on the top of a winch on the mast at shoulder height. If my head had been a few inches farther over I would have been knocked out cold, or if the winch hadn't been there, I'd have had a broken shoulder. The incident has made me very cautious around spinnaker poles.

Spinnaker horror stories abound, and the few mentioned here are only to encourage caution and awareness when handling a chute. The spinnaker is temperamental and demanding, but well worth the effort considering the increased speed and excitement it produces.

Reprinted from "Steve Colgate on Sailing."
By Steve Colgate, Published by W.W. Norton & Co.

Steve Colgate is the founder of Colgate Sailing Schools, with locations in Tortola BVI, Captiva Island FL, Duck Key FL, St. Petersburg FL, Chelsea Piers NY, Liberty Landing NJU and Newport RI.

Offshore Sailing Schools
16731 McGregor Blvd.
Fort Myers, Florida 33908
1-888-454-8002
239-454-1700
Fax: 239-454-1191
e-mail: sail@offshore-sailing.com

www.offshoresailing.com

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