Spinnaker gybing
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The following article describes a safe and fast way of gybing (jibing) a spinnaker on a 40 foot yacht. The key aim has been to reduce complexity so that no one in the crew is trying to do several things at once. E.g. it's quite a common technique, where the spinnaker trimmer tries to trim both sheets at the same time during the gybe, which on this size of boat becomes nearly impossible in a good breeze.
The method requires that you prepare by making a mark on each of the spinnaker sheets for a base trimming position where the spinnaker clews only just clears the forestay when sailing without a pole.
To break down the activities it's easier to look at the gybing maneuver as a three phase operation:
- Preparing for Gybe (Jibe)
- Gybing
- Post-Gybe
Phase 1: Preparing for Gybe
- Tactician: calls "Set up for a gybe!"
- Mast: Raises the pole on the mast to the dip mark. Calls "Pole ready!"
- Pit: Prepares the new sheet on the winch and throws it forward so that the spinn-trimmer can reach it later
- Main: Centers the Vang and starts bringing on the main sheet. Calls: "Main ready!"
Everyone else just keeps doing what they're doing, in particular Spinn-trimmer concentrates on trimming the kite, and the helmsman sails to optimal wind angle.
Spinnaker sailing - without the pole
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Many sailors, myself including, are so used to the "normal" way of working with the pole and spinnaker together that the thought of sometimes working the spinnaker without the pole hasn't really occurred to us. We keep doing the same setup; first putting the pole up before hoisting the spinnaker, foredeck working frantically on getting the pole reconnected after a gybe, and pole staying up until the spinnaker is safely stored under deck at a drop.
This article is challenging this routine and suggests that in some instances there are better and faster ways of working with the spinnaker.
Purpose of the pole
There are two key reasons we use a pole when sailing with a symmetrical spinnaker:
- Increasing the exposure of the spinnaker to the wind, pushing it out to windward and hence avoiding the disturbed wind behind the main sail.
- Controlling the trim of the spinnaker, being able to adjust the height of the clew with the lift (uphaul) and kicker (downhaul).
Situations when it may be better to get rid of the pole
Man over board!
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It's a great day for sailing, 25-30 knots of breeze, good surfs going downwind in the swell and a clear blue sky.
Suddenly disaster strucks, one of our crew is caught on the sheet and dragged over board. He's now in the water shouting and waving - what do we do?
This was the scenario for a practice drill a little while ago, and luckily the crew in the water was actually just a fender thrown in by the skipper.
Although we had discussed the drill about an hour earlier it turned out much more difficult to get hold of the lost fender than we could imagine and we had to make 5 or 6 rounds before we could actually get hold of it properly with the boat hook. The waves kept dragging it away from the boat just as we were approaching and although we were sailing only on the main the boat did pick up good speed.
Afterward we concluded this was a really well worth excercise, which we should have done earlier but we've never quite got around to doing. We also discussed ways it could be further improved e.g. using the "retriever float" rather than the boat hook.
So what can be done to minimise the risk of man over board situations?
Chinese Gybes - and how to avoid them
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A "Chinese Gybe" (jibe) also known as a "death roll" is feared by many and we need to know how best to avoid them.
The scenario:
You're sailing dead downwind in windy conditions, and suddenly the boat starts rolling back and forth with increasing amplitude to the point where the boat actually broaches to windward. As the boat is broaching to windward it is also turning sharply to leeward causing it to gybe uncontrolled - "crash gybe".
This is quite common on dinghies and also on larger keel boats, especially when using spinnaker. Personally I've experienced it numerous times sailing dinghies but only once so far in a big boat (40 feet).
Peel sail change - step by step
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Procedure for a peel head sail change, which would apply for a larger type of yacht (30-50 feet) but obviously can be modified for other types as well. By "peel" we mean hoisting a second head sail side by side with an existing one and then once the new sail is in operation we drop the old one. By doing this the impact to boat speed will be minimised.
What this article is also trying to emphasize is the importance of crew weight and working in a smart efficient way to avoid disturbances to the balance of the boat, keeping the crew on the rail as much as possible. It should be possible to change the head sail with only a maximum of two people being away from the rail at any one time.
Assumptions made for the step-by-step instructions below:
- The boat is on a starboard tack
- change from no 3 headsail (Genoa) up to a no 2
- The no 3 is in port track
- We'll be hoisting the no 2 on the inside of the no 3.
- This is a peel only change, ie we will not be tacking
- There is a spare "change sheet" available on the boat.