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How to Fly a Spinnaker on a Cruising Catamaran
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Wow! What a lot of technical stuff. Glad I don’t have to do it. Should be useful to many people. Nice photos.
LIke everything else, it is easy once you have practiced it a few times. Just the same as in dinghies, but bigger 🙂
Excellent article! My wife and I also own and cruise a Leopard 42 (hull #33) JAMU, and have been considering the addition of a cruising spinnaker. We’ve not used a spinnaker since our first sailboat, a monohull, many years ago when we had young sons to man the deck. Now as we cruise as a couple, our major concern is handling the deck operation by myself, as she has limited use of her arms and would remain at the helm. I’d appreciate (by email) if you have any additional rigging considerations or tips for shorthanded sailing.
Safe Sailing,
Joe Donnaway
s/v JAMU – Leopard 42
Hi Joe,
I guess the trick really would be to rig the boat for singlehanded sailing – which means having all the lines brought into the cockpit. Having said that, Ceu and I can manage all the deckwork with one person in the cockpit at the helm and the other on the deck. The only things we have to do forward are the reefing (we have slab reefing, and it is not brought back), and the spinnaker.
The problem with the spinnaker on the Leopard is that there is a shortage of winches in the cockpit, so we end up having to use one cockpit winch for the sheet, one for the lee guy, and then we take the windward guy to one of the winches on the mast. Not ideal. we have been debating putting a couple of extra winches next to the cockpit ones, sort of down the side of the coach roof, but haven’t done so yet.
Raising the spinnaker by yourself is doable. Pull the whole sock out onto the trampoline so it is all freed up, then hoist the sausage, then make sure your sheets and guys are set up. Then drop the sock, and go back to the cockpit to trim the sheets.
Dropping it would be a matter of letting the sheet or guy go and pulling down the sock. With no one to handle the sheet, it would involve a fair amount of sail flapping, but again is doable as one person. It is a light wind sail, so it should all be doable without too much drama. Just don’t go higher than maybe 12 kts.
Hope that helps. It certainly makes light wind sailing a lot more fun so I would recommend giving it a go!
Fair winds,
Noel
Thanks, Noel. The spinnaker is being built by Calvert Sails, and we’ll get good practice in Cancun Bay when we return to JAMU in January.
Hi Noel,
Now ordering my lines and hardware. With no toerail holes, where do you normally attach the block for the sheet?
Cheers,
Joe
Good question. Life Part 2 already had a pad eye on each bow for the guys and pretty far back on each hull for the sheets so that was pretty easy.
I guess the options are either to install pad eyes or else drill some holes in the toe rail, provided, of course, that the toe rail is through bolted and not just screwed on, as there can be some significant forces on it.
If you do drill through the deck to install new pad eyes, don’t forget that the correct way to do it is to drill a larger hole, then fill it with epoxy filler, and then drill a smaller hole in the epoxy. And of course use a backplate to spread the load. That way you don’t run the risk of water getting into your foam sandwich.
As a temporary measure I guess you could attach a block to the aft mooring cleat, as they are pretty strong!
Hmm, Cancun sounds nice. We are just about ready to leave the boat in Cartegena to go back to Canada for a winter of skiing. Have fun in the sun!
Noel
Noel and Ceu
Thanks for some interesting articles. Sounds like you have really taken up the challenge. Well done.
We are taking our R&C Leopard 4000 Catamaran off the Sunsail Fleet in BVI and sailing her to Cienfuego in Cuba this July/August 2012. Any general tips you can let us have on route, plans, obtaining charts, weather, hurricanes etc. etc. etc. would be appreciated.
We are sailing shorthanded also and need to complete in 3 weeks (but will leave her somewhere else if all goes wrong). We have just bought a good quality but second hand symetrical spinnaker. We plan to fly her during passage from the front of each pontoon controlled just by the sheets through winding blocks attached at the clews and running back into the cockpit (no guys or pole). We think the simplicity of this set up will work and as we will be going West with the Trades behind us it will mean long hours of running or broad reaching under light airs. Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks
Andrew and Jane
Hi Andrew and Jane,
Congrats on taking the plunge!
We never made it to Cuba, though thought about it and would like to do it in the future, so keep us informed on your adventures there!
July and August is indeed Hurricane season, so do keep a close watch on the weather and make sure you have a good understanding of which way you should head if there is news of a storm approaching. See our Weather page for some info on getting weather updates.
Assuming you don’t have any storms you should, as you say, have a quiet downwind sail which should be very pleasant. Our trip from USVI to the Turks and Caicos was very straightforward. A visit to Dominican Republic would probably also be very pleasant. USVI is quite cheap for getting provisions, especially compared with Tortola!
A symmetrical spinnaker would normally want a pole, but on a run or broad reach you can probably do it by taking the windward sheet down to the windward bow, but I would think you will still want to take the leeward sheet farther aft so that you have a bit more control over it. You will have to experiment with the best position fore and aft to place the block before going to the winch. Find a nice quite day with no more than 5 kts apparent and play around with it to see what works. And make sure you have a good system for getting it down in a hurry!
One thing I have heard about Cuba is to have a printed sheet pre-prepared that lists ALL the details of your boat and crew (and I mean eye color, hair color etc etc) so you can just hand the sheet to the countless officials that will come aboard at each port.
What is your plan after that? Keep going west to Central America? If you are planning to return East, make sure you read The Gentleman’s Guide to Passages South otherwise you will be thrashing and bashing to windward which will be no fun at all. And allow enough time for the passage too.
Fair winds!
Noel & Ceu
Hi Andrew and Jane
Just been speaking with Roger from Burned Out. He uses a symmetrical spinnaker on his cat. He does use a pole. But on a dead run, he also flies it without a pole.
He does this by attaching two lines to each corner. One from each corner goes down to its bow below. This stops the kite from ballooning up into the sky.
The other line from each corner goes aft as sheet.
With the four lines like that he is able to control its shape and set pretty well.
Hope that helps!
Noel
Noel,
Nice and complete description of spinnaker sailing. We do it exactly the same except with a bow sprit. Do you always haul your spin halyard all the way up? I usually have about 5′ of halyard out (haven’t tried it tight).
We will be in the Adriatic next year. Where are you sailing then?
Hi David
Yes, we hoist it to the top.
Next year: two possibilities, haven’t decided yet.
a) We might do the East Med Yacht Rally
b) We might do the Adriatic – Croatia and up to Venice
Or maybe we will do A) followed by b)
I expect after that we will head for the Canaries and then across the pond back to the Caribbean and Central America.
But who knows? We will find out next year. 🙂
Noel
Noel,
On your Leopard, you attach the guys to the clew of the sail, then through blocks on the bows back to the winches. I’m assuming you are leading these back to the jib/main sail winches on the cabin top? If so, which winch do you lead the sheet to? It seems like you are out of winches.
Thanks,
Eric
We are out of winches, almost. Which is why I just bought a couple more of the 40ST to put next to the big ones to make things easier.
What we do at present is to use the two big ones on the cabin roof, plus the little one that serves the traveller. That works if we don’t have the main up. If we do, then we use the winches on the mast.
Not ideal, which is why we are fitting some more winches.
Noel
Noel,
We ended up leading the guys from the blocks on the hulls back to the winches on the mast (Leopard 47). Works great!
Thanks,
Eric
Thanks for this primer- very helpful. Have you fitted your extra winches? If so, it would be great if you could share some pictures showing where you mounted them.
Thanks,
Steve
Just bought them. Planning to have them installed in the next month or two. Will indeed post pictures when we do.
Thank you so much for the detailed instruction on flying a spinnaker .. I’m a relatively new sailor and have a FP Belize 43 which I love sailing but am now in SE ASIA with relatively low winds .. After making the passage in SE TRADES from Cairns Australia to Bali , I am now planning a northerly voyage towards Thailand . I believe I will need these great sailing tips to enjoy the kite I have .. Am looking fwd to seeing my colourful kite up and Feeling confident with trimming after following advice and practice 🙂 I hope that you are finding favour with the seas and winds , cheers , Paul
It seems to me you can’t be that new of a sailor if you are making passages like those already! Enjoy the sailing and congrats on joining the lifestyle!
Noel
Thanks for the great article! Most of the stuff written on asymm spinnakers are for racing monohulls, not cruising catamarans, so this was appreciated! We are in a Leopard 48 in Gran Canaria at the moment, waiting for the trades to show up so we can do our crossing to Barbados. Maybe we’ll meet up sometime! We have a new asymmetrical spinny as well that we had designed to handle a near-run that we anticipate using a lot on the crossing. My husband likes to fly it without the main up when we broad reach. My question is: How do you manage nighttime squalls? Do you just take the asymm down every night, or do you keep it up with a plan to quickly release the guy (or sheets?)
Hi Melinda,
We are currently in Mindelo, planning to set off for Barbados in about a week, so we might well see you here, or there! The trades seem to be well established here at the moment.
With just two or three of us onboard we don’t fly the kite at night. It is too tricky going up to the foredeck in the dark, and especially if the reason from bringing it down is because the wind just got up! Since we are in cruising mode we are not in a rush and would rather be comfortable and safe than sailing flat out.
Without the main up, sailing broad or on a run is dead easy – and minimal worries about accidental gybes!
Fair winds for your crossing, and perhaps we shall meet soon!
Noel
Hi great article. I have always had faster performance cats now an ocean cat 49 I rely on the schreecher set on the bowsprit as we are able to push the wind forward in light airs. Looking at asyms for angles greater than say 100. in previous boats I flew the asym from bowsprit and occasionally tacked to windward bow for deeper angles. But for this boat I have been considering guys like you use. I am wondering how to measure for the asym. Since it is a faster boat I would normally think 1.03 or so of the hoist length to keep the luff flatter and maybe 180% of the 24 foot beam for the foot. Would this still apply to this set up i.e. 1.03 of the hoist measured from the bow tack to the hoist point Any guidance would be appreciated
Phil
HI Phil
Sorry, but I really don’t know anything about measuring sails up – I would just give your measurements to the sailmaker and seek their advice.
Noel
Thankyou for this article, i’m Surprised I haven’t stumbled upon this before. We’re on a Lagoon 421 and have a symmetric on order and am looking for rigging info like this. We’re also short on winches.
Enjoy your spinnaker when it arrives. It provides a nice boost in speed when the conditions are right
Thank you so much for this very informative post. This winter I sewed up an asymmetrical plus sock from SailRite kits for the James Wharram designed Mana 24 catamaran I built the previous winter. Rigging for the new sail has been on my mind all winter but with your instructions it now looks mike it will be much easier than I thought. The Mana is a cat ketch, so no forestay or job/genoa to worry about. I like the idea of two guys, one to each bow, and one sheet to be switched from one side to the other when gybing. Again, thank you very much.
Good luck, Rod, with your new boat and set up. Hope you get lots of sailing in.
Noel
Great information and excellent explanation! We keep our Gemini 105Mc in Deltaville, VA and sail her like a ‘beach cat’ with benefits. This season we fabricated/installed a simple Barber-Haul that really improved beam/broad reach with our Genoa. An asymmetrical spinnaker will truly enhance our experience on Chesapeake Bay. Thanks!! FJ Viola
Gday guys,remember us……Tony and Sally ex Ron Glas!
We are now back on two hulls…where we belong….cruising the east African coast having had amazing adventures getting Ron Glas to Kenya.
Obviously Covid is seriously restricting the cruising and we are currently anchored up in Tanzania waiting till some other country allows us to visit
Came upon you looking for info on setting up our spinnaker!
Do keep in touch ,love Tony and Sally s/v Twende
Thank you for a well-written, descriptive article.
We sailed an Outremer 55L for years but had to give it up as it became too much boat for us as we got older. However, we cannot stay off the water; so are buying a Gemini Legacy. We realize it is neither a real cat nor a speed demon. We are going to an asymmetrical to try to get some speed and your article was a very well written refresher.
Thank you.