What is the difference between a whisker pole and a spinnaker pole?

What is the difference between a whisker pole and a spinnaker pole?

Whisker poles are sized to match the size of the foot of the sail that they are working, while spinnaker poles are sized to match the distance from the mast to the bow, also known as the boats “J” dimension. Because of this, Whisker Poles tend to be signifficantly longer than spinnaker poles for the same boat.

Is a whisker pole necessary?

Without a whisker pole, the headsail will flop from side to side, limp and useless. The use of a whisker pole will allow “wing on wing” sailing dead downwind with surprising performance.

Can you use a spinnaker pole as a whisker pole?

A whisker pole is a pole used to wing out headsails only, and its length is limited to not more than 1.1 * ‘J’. A spinnaker pole with a declared length not longer than 1.1 * ‘J’ can be used as a whisker pole to trim headsails.

How long should a spinnaker pole be?

SPL (J): Maximum spinnaker pole length for your yacht. A whisker pole should be approxi- mately as long as the foot of the sail you intend to pole out. * Max available SPL with composite end fittings, attached to a fixed mast ring. If the pole is to be “Dip Gybe”, max available SPL is increased by 165 mm.

What size whisker pole do I need?

Re: Length of whisker pole Your pole should usually be adjusted so it is 100% of the length of the headsail being flown, measured from tack to clew.” Same length as tack to clew on your headsail is a common rule of thumb.

How do you store whisker poles?

Many firms make whisker poles. Forespar has been doing it for well over 30 years, and I’ve had good luck with them. A better solution to stowing a long one-piece spinnaker pole (or poles) is to stow it vertically on the forward face of the mast.

What does a spinnaker pole do?

A spinnaker pole is a spar used in sailboats (both dinghys and yachts) to help support and control a variety of headsails, particularly the spinnaker. However, it is also used with other sails, such as genoas and jibs, when sailing downwind with no spinnaker hoisted.

How do you fly a spinnaker without a pole?

If you want to use a spinnaker without a pole, I suggest to add “barber haulers” on the sheet and guy, to prevent the chute from swinging with the roll and causing the boat to yaw. When sailing downwind, the purpose of the pole is to keep the spinnaker away from the eddies detaching from the mainsail.

Why is it called a spinnaker?

A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind from a reaching course to a downwind, i.e. with the wind 90–180° off bow. A purported etymology has the first boat to carry this sail being a Cowes yacht named Sphinx, from which “Sphinx’s Acre” and eventually “Spinnaker”.

How do you attach a gennaker?

Attach the gennaker halyard to the head of the sail; 3. Run the dowsing line through the retrieval points on the sail; 4. Attach the gennaker sheets to the clew of the sail; 5. Run the sheets through the gennaker blocks and tie them off.

What is a spinnaker halyard?

Halyard is a command-line administration tool that manages the lifecycle of your Spinnaker deployment, including writing & validating your deployment’s configuration, deploying each of Spinnaker’s microservices, and updating the deployment.

What is a spinnaker guy?

The afterguy, working guy, or simply guy and sometimes known as a brace is attached to the windward clew of the spinnaker, and runs through the jaws on the outboard end of the pole and back to the cockpit. A foreguy may also be used to control the height of the spinnaker pole.

Why are spinnakers dangerous?

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.

What is a fore guy?

sailing. : a guy rope that is attached to the pole of a spinnaker and is chiefly used to keep the pole in place : a downhaul attached to a spinnaker Set the pole on the windward side, secure the pole lift and foreguy, and drop the afterguy through the jaws in the end of the pole.—

What is a code sail?

The term gennaker can cover a code zero, screecher, or reaching spinnaker. Gennaker is just a general term for a potential downwind sail, a cross between a Genoa and an asymmetrical spinnaker. It’s a marketing term.

What does code zero mean police?

Police Under Attack

What is a code 0 in sailing?

The Code Zero is a cross between a genoa and an asymmetrical spinnaker that is used for sailing close to the wind in light air. Code Zero was initially an attempt to circumvent a rating rule by making a large genoa for close reaching on boats that were measured with non-overlapping genaos.

What is the difference between a gennaker and a code 0?

A Code 0, for example, is a gennaker, but a Code 0 is a racing sail, while a gennaker is usually considered a cruising sail. Ultimately, there are four or five different types of asymmetrical spinnakers, with each sail designed for a specific wind angle range. As such it will also be similar to a reaching gennaker.

What is the purpose of a gennaker?

The gennaker is a specialty sail primarily used on racing boats to bridge the performance gap between a genoa and a spinnaker. It is sometimes the only downwind sail on board because it is easier to use and less expensive than a spinnaker. Due to its geometry, the sail is less prone to collapsing than a spinnaker.

How does a top down Furler work?

To furl, a deck-level sheave driven by a looped line spins the furling cable, winding the sail around the line starting at the head and working its way to the deck, giving it the name top-down furler.

What is a staysail used for?

The staysail plays three roles: It augments sail power. It helps break down total sail area into smaller working components for ease of handling. The smaller sail units allow for different combinations, giving sailors a variety of options for different conditions.

What is a Solent stay?

A solent stay is a moveable stay that is fixed to the top of the mast just below the forestay. When needed to hold the solent sail, the stay is attached to a point just behind the forestay, where it is tensioned with a tackle or a Highfield lever.

What does staysail mean?

A staysail (“stays’l”) is a fore-and-aft rigged sail whose luff can be affixed to a stay running forward (and most often but not always downwards) from a mast to the deck, the bowsprit, or to another mast (the mast is item 13 in the illustration right).

What is the difference between a jib and a genoa sail?

The definition of a foresail that does not overlap the mast is a “jib,” while the definition of a foresail that overlaps the mast is a “genoa.” Most people use these terms interchangeably.

What is a 100% jib?

Jibs and Genoas are triangular sails which are affixed to a stay in front of the mast. Jibs are typically 100% to 115% LP and are generally used in areas with heavier winds. The smaller area of a jib allows it to be able to perform more efficiently in greater wind speed without the need to furl away sail shape.

Can you sail without wind?

Sail boats of any kind do not move without wind unless they also have a motor (attached to a propeller) or oars. Square-rigged sail boats (like the kind you think of when you think of old-timey pirates) can only sail with the wind. However, boats with triangular sails can sail partially against the wind.

Can you sail with just the mainsail?

Can you sail with just the mainsail? Any sailboat can be sailed with the mainsail alone. Using only the mainsail will reduce your speed, but it can make your boat easier to handle, especially by yourself. Furthermore, using a mainsail alone is safer in some circumstances and can increase your visibility.