Spinnacker Sailing

Sunset Sailing

I had already snagged a spinnaker supposedly measuring 60 square meters on classifieds back in winter. Last week was finally the evening to try it out. Very little wind was forecast (2-4 knots, gusts max 6), the sea was calm, so it was ideal for doing something I had never done before. Markus was with me again, and together we went out. We could sail upwind perfectly with the genoa and mainsail, but when we reached the level of the Oberfeuer Poel, we turned downwind and unpacked the spinnaker.

Of course, I hadn't prepared anything, so first I had to attach the sheets and arrange a few things, but that was quickly done. The boat, with flapping sails, moved slowly downwind. I placed the bag with the spinnaker at the bow, attached the sheets, and passed them back to Markus. Then I attached the spinnaker halyard (I had already put a soft shackle on it beforehand). Next, I attached the spinnaker pole and raised it to the proper height, almost ready. Or should the spinnaker go up first? I'm still not sure about that. Anyway, at some point, the spinnaker was secured at all three points and the genoa was furled, and then the rather large sail filled out. With barely noticeable apparent wind, we moved forward at first one knot, then one and a half, and finally two knots towards the sunset. We did a bit of trimming back and forth to see at what angle the sail stood best (the upper half of the windward leech collapses relatively quickly, but this seems tolerable to a certain extent if it means better flow at the bottom).

Sunset Sailing

Later, we even sailed almost a beam reach (we had gybed in the meantime, which is really not a single-handed maneuver because the spinnaker pole has to be moved to the other side of the forestay). The spinnaker pole was now practically touching the forestay, the spinnaker was fully on the leeward side, and we reached three and a half knots.

What I will definitely purchase is a snuffer, which is pulled over the spinnaker like a sock and used to set the spinnaker. With an endless line, the snuffer can be pulled up so that the spinnaker opens, or pulled down when dousing the spinnaker. The only additional task is to attach the spinnaker pole. This should make the spinnaker manageable for single-handed sailing.