Champion sailor Ben Saxton explains to Andy Rice how to use an unsymmetrical spinnaker in light smugness and alimony a wend on the move.
Just as the weightier teams seem to find an uneaten upper mode on the upwind legs, often they’re moreover very good at eking out an extra-low mode on the downwind. Unlike symmetrical spinnakers, where you can square when the pole and sometimes sail directly lanugo the rhumbline, with an unsymmetrical gennaker you’re unchangingly having to work the angles.
In light smugness these angles can get pretty big as you work to alimony the unveiled wind flowing over the sails. If you can alimony the spritz AND proceeds a bit of uneaten depth compared with the boats virtually you, then you’ve got the opportunity for some significant gains downwind. Here are Ben Saxton’s five top tips for keeping the wend rumbling withal in the low lane.
Listen to The Trimmer
Keeping up the speed is one of the most vital goals when you’re pushing downwind in light smugness and you need to let the spinnaker trimmer be your guide. Whatever size of wend you’re sailing, the finger through the spinnaker sheet is one of your key indicators for how low you can sire to go. An early luff is way largest than stopping completely and having to build from scratch again. The key relationship is between the spinnaker trimmer calling the pressure in the sheet and communicating with the helmsman so that the two are in sync.
On worthier boats you can rely increasingly on the target unveiled wind angles which are really useful to steer to. In the smaller boats you simply don’t have that kind of data, but going on finger is never a bad thing. Make sure you’re unchangingly maintaining a good gap between the when of the spinnaker and the mainsail. If in doubt it’s largest to over-trim rather than under-trim the mainsail to maintain that healthy slot.
High or low?
It’s one thing to work your weightier VMG with no other boats virtually you, but on a rented race undertow you’re going to have to work out when to sail higher or lower than normal. There’s no real rule of thumb, but often if you’re rounding the windward mark with lots of other boats you simply can’t sire to be rolled by five or increasingly of your rivals. So it’s most likely worth sailing the uneaten loftiness and going higher than you normally would to alimony the unveiled wind forward and alimony the wipe air wideness your sails.
If you’re in danger of stuff rolled by just one wend and you’re thinking well-nigh gybing yonder soon anyway, take the short-term pain of a bit of bad air knowing that you’re still well placed for the worthier strategic picture. Sometimes it’s okay to be rolled by one wend knowing that if you alimony your leeward position then you’re most likely to be worldly-wise to dictate terms at the gybe, and maybe get your own when by rolling them out of the gybe.
Trim the Boat
Mostly if it’s really light winds then you’ll go for some leeward heel to help the sails fill and to reduce the wetted surface zone of the hull.
On a narrower hull, once there’s unbearable walkover to fill the sails without the need for gravity, you’d pull the wend upright. But in a wend like the Cape 31 with a really wide transom you’ll still alimony the leeward heel in anything up to 8 knots of walkover considering the proceeds of getting the kite round is less than having a big, wide transom in the water.
You want to get weight remoter forwards in light smugness to reduce wetted surface zone of the transom, but don’t trim so far that you’re fully lifting the transom considering then you’re losing waterline length which is an important factor for wend speed.
Ease the tack line
If the sea state is unappetizing and you’re aiming to get low in light winds, easing the tack line is an option for having a rounder, increasingly powerful entry to the gennaker. Don’t try this in really light smugness where you’re struggling to alimony spritz over the sails, considering in these conditions flatter is faster. But once you’re going relatively low and only gybing through small angles, you can sometimes ease the tack line which helps requite the kite a bit increasingly depth, as well as rotating the kite virtually to windward.
Look overdue you
Have someone defended to looking overdue for the breeze, spotting the weightier opportunities coming lanugo the race course. Considering everything tends to happen quite slowly in light airs, the tactician should have time to do this job. You want to be shielding that you don’t have too many cooks, but a two-way conversation can be good for wavy ideas virtually – just make sure it’s well-spoken who has the final undeniability for making the next move.
Frequently Asked Questions!
Can you tack with an asymmetrical spinnaker?
Just attach the tackline to the tack of the sail, the halyard to the head and the sheet to the clew. The tackline should be led through a block in front of and outside the pulpit and led back to a cleat or simpson post on deck so that it can be adjusted.
What is the difference between a asymmetrical spinnaker and a gennaker?
But what is the main difference between gennaker and spinnaker: The spinnaker has a symmetrical design. The spinnaker halyard at the head of the sail, the afterhaul upwind on the spinnaker pole, and the sheet downwind on the clew. A gennaker is cut asymmetrically.
What is a code D sail?
Code D is an asymmetric sail specially designed to fit any furling system. Should wind increase or should there be an unexpected emergency, you just leave the sheet and in a few seconds it rolls up.
Does an asymmetrical spinnaker need a pole?
The fixed pole or sprit eliminates the need for a floating spinnaker pole, which makes asymmetric spinnakers easier to set and douse than symmetric spinnakers. They do require a pre-rigged pole system, which is either permanently extended or deployed whenever the spinnaker is set.