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Finally flew the Asymmetric!

rwthomas1

Sustaining Partner
An Ulman "Flasher" asymmetric spinnaker came with our E38. Having no experience with spinnakers, and new to a "big" E38, we didn't try the thing last season. To be honest, even though I had replaced the spinnaker halyards, etc. in preparation I was quite intimidated and the wife was downright freaked. Well, we got to try it on Monday night. Quite simply, its a blast! There wasn't much wind, maybe 10kts, so it seemed like a good time to give it a whirl. Its in a sock/snuffer so it is really very simple to deploy/retrieve/handle. I now understand why they are used. The power supplied off the wind in lighter air is quite impressive. It looks really cool too! So if you haven't tried an asymmetric and are thinking about it, go for it! Its worth it. RT
 

Kolika

New Member
How did you rig your tack line? I have a 1989 38-200 with an A sail and sock, but have not rigged the tack line yet.

Larry Koch
Kolika
 

Chris Miller

Sustaining Member
Larry- lots of good discussion on this in an older thread, I'll try to look it up later today. Or we can chat about it again:egrin:
We run ours as an adjustable through a block on the anchor pin, back through the deck organizer, and to the cockpit through a clutch (although a cam cleat or a self tailing winch would work too...). I like having the adjustable for running deep.
 

John Butler

Member II
Larry,

A good thread on this is:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=2729

I also wanted to have an adjustable tack line (the PO tied off the tack line onto one of the bow cleats, using a block on the anchor). However, I haven't invested the time and money for rigging anything new on my boat. What I do is run the tack line down the 2 blocks on the toerail opposite the side of the boat with the spinnaker sheet. Doing this makes jibing more difficult. Since I use the asym for cruising and not racing, I figure adjustment of the tack is more important to me than being able to jibe the spinnaker. For jibing, we'll pull down the sock, move lines and reset (have yet to do this).

Rob, yes, flying the asym with a sock/snuffer sure is easy and fun! Glad you got past your initial fears and got it flying.

John
 

Mark F

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
Flying the asymmetric with a sock is pretty easy but even easier is a furling system like this <http://www.rollgen.com/pdf/rollgen_e.pdf>. I made a blatant but somewhat modified version of the Roll-Gen for my E23. What's nice about the furling system is that you keep the spinnaker up even after you douse it. The spinnaker is then ready to deploy at any time without having to hoist it and the furler line is run to the cockpit so you can "hoist and douse" from the cockpit. I single-handed often on my E23 and once was able to use the asymmetrical in close to 20knt winds (I was trying to catch a friend in a Santa Cruz 27)! I also made a removable sprit that made it so the spinnaker could be tacked or jibed on the inside of the furler's "forestay" (shortens the spinnaker sheets). I have since gotten an E27 that I will make another spinnaker furling system for as soon as I find a bargain asymmetric:).

All that said, if you have capable crew the sock works great!
 

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Mike.Gritten

Member III
Assymetrical Measurements

Sort of on topic, but sort of ....not! Anyway, I have never owned or flown an A-sail on a boat I own and have an opportunity to purchase one used, but, I have no idea of the correct dimensions for the appropriate sail. My boat is a 1975 E35 mkII. The luff on my genoa is 42 ft (approx). The sail that is available has a luff of 44 feet and the foot measures 21 feet tack to clew. Does anyone know if this will fit my boat?
 

rwthomas1

Sustaining Partner
The tack is held to the RF genoa with an ATN tacker and the tack line is simply tied off to a bow cleat. While I understand the people that have every possible adjustable line led back to the cockpit I am not that serious about this sort of thing. There is already plenty of lines, clutches, winches, etc. on my cabintop. I don't want any more! :egrin: RT
 

dc27

have boat, need time
must be something in the air -- we flew our new asymmetric for the first time tonight too on my E27. i rigged a Garhauer snatch block on a pin at the bow and used an old halyard with a snap shackle for a tack line, and cleated it off at the bow. (not sure this setup will work when i get the roller furling on, as i think the tack line will conflict with the furling drum; but we'll burn that bridge when we come to it...) my girlfriend took the tiller and sheet to start out, and i worked the foredeck for the big hoist. gorgeous evening and a fresh breeze across Puget Sound, and we set out around 18:30.

anyway, we hoisted as soon as we left Eagle Harbor, and off we went! it seemed like about five minutes later we were already past Restoration Point and halfway to Alki. we took turns on the sheet and played it from different positions on the boat, pinching to reaches and seeing how close we could get to a run without collapsing the sail. mostly we just stared up in awe at something that was big and blue and beautiful, and laughed at how fast we were going. and dodged a ferry.

i've been crewing on a Viking 33 for about four years, and we fly spinnakers pretty regularly on that boat and i always enjoy it. doing it tonight, though, on my own boat for the first time, that was...cool.
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
Sounds good, Mike!

Mike,

Given that your I is 43 and J is 14, this is about perfect for a cruising spinnaker. The real size to nail would be the girth, or SMG/SMW, but this is close enough to a perfect fit for a second hand sail. If the price is right, go for it!
 

Mike.Gritten

Member III
Seth,

well we went ahead and bought the chute! It appears to be in excellent condition (no rips, holes, tears, repairs, etc) and comes with a chute scoop and associated blocks and lines. We are going to go out and try it out this weekend. Wish me luck! :egrin:
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
Well, good luck then!!!

Have a ball-
Be sure and lead the sheet to the stern quarter if possible. If the aft most place you can lead the sail is the aft end of the outboard track, you will find this is too far forward when close reaching-it will close the leech and cause too much heel in any breeze. When broad reaching/running this lead is OK, but try for a more aft location for an all around lead.

Ease the tack line as you sail deeper angles; on a close reach keep the tack line snug, on a very broad reach it should be eased 3-5'.

Now.....Good luck!

S
 

Mike.Gritten

Member III
Woo Hoo!

To all the writers above who said that this was gonna' be fun, let me just say that you were sooooooo right!! Flying the Assymetric on your own boat ROCKS!!! I rigged a roller bearing block to the anchor roller loop and led the tack line back to the cockpit. BTW, I spliced on a snap shackle to this line - my first splice made in anything but a practice scrap of rope. It worked great. I led the sheets back to new Harken turning blocks on cars at the extreme aft end of my genoa tracks. BTW, Seth, these tracks end about 6 inches from the stern on our boat so I thought we'd be ok going from there. Anyway, we were coming back from a weekend at Gibson's Landing in Howe Sound and had light winds from just aft of the beam (one of the few times it seems I ever have wind from aft of the beam up there!). We rigged it all up, hoisted the sail in its snuffer, and then raised the "hoop" allowing the spinnaker to inflate. Everyone on the boat was dumbfounded - it looked spectacular! We flew along for about 40 minutes, taking pics and video of our first voyage with the new sail before having to drop all the sails and head for the slip. Anyway, I have attached a couple of photos to try and share the joy. I will have to get someone not on the boat to take some pictures next time - it's just too big to get it all in one picture from the cockpit! Enjoy.
 

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