More Heavy Air Spin Tips - thx SA!

A couple of things that can help.

Pre Event (the way your boat is set up)
1) Chicken stays. These are stays that run from the track on the mast for the pole, roughly opposite to the gooseneck, down to the rail about 1/2 way between the shrouds and the bow. They keep the mast from being pushed aft as the pole jams into the water. They will allow you drag the pole through the water without dismasting - as often.
2) Fore guy that is actually a "fore" guy, as opposed to a spinnaker pole vang. My Moore-24 has a fore guy in the middle of the fore deck, it keeps the pole forward but loads the mast a LOT. See #1 above to fix that. A spinnaker pole vang, that goes to the base of the mast, is easier to use sometimes but way weaker in many ways.
3) Don't pull the pole so far aft in heavy conditions. Keep the pole about 1/2 way between the shrouds and the jib stay, right over the chicken stay.
4) Crank the sheet in a bunch on the chute in these conditions so the boat actually feels a bit pinned to leeward and choked - stable and over trimmed is faster than loose and on your side.
5) NEVER EVER EVER let the main vang off at all. Mainsails wrapping around the mast and pushing the mast head to windward are #1 cause of death rolls, IMHO.
6) Finally, set the pole up with the butt end BELOW the outboard tip and have the butt end track hoist line easy to blow. See what to do with this in the next section.

During the event (while things are going badly)
1) Pull the mainsheet in hard - really hard - and fast. Frequently you can do this faster than pulling in the chute sheet.
2) Pull the sheet in on the chute - really hard and fast.
3) If the crew can, pull hard on the vang.
4) If 1 through 3 aren't doing it, blow the butt-end hoist on the spin pole track. The pole will shoot down the mast (because of #6 above - remember you set it up with the tip high!) and the pole will look as though the fore guy has been blown. But, it's much safer and more in control. Now, the pole is pointed up at about 60 degrees and you won't have the chute up around the mast head - the chute can't go up any more because you didn't loosen the fore guy or after guy.

Blowing the butt end of the pole is my fav thing to do, but it can wreck everything if you don't have the butt below the tip prior to the "event" and if you don't have a good stopper knot or stop on the end of the track.

Enjoy, we all do it.

BV




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Find Member's Posts Today, 01:28 AM Post #33


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I think that most often a Chinese gybe will occur in the middle of a gybe in a big breeze. Up to that point, you might have had the pole forward, blanketing half of the kite behind the main, and all is "well". then it comes time to run deep, pull the pole aft, and gybe. That's when things tend to go pear shaped for most.

1) talk through the damn maneuver first. Make sure everyone knows EXACTLY what it is they're supposed to do.
2) make sure that everyone is ready to execute their tasks
3) do it and don't hesitate for god's sake. It's when you have to drive a rolly boat ddw for a LONG period of time that you get fucked in the ass. Trust me... I know and suspect that Peter Lyons has pics that he's too kind to publish.

Once you know FOR CERTAIN that you're screwed, you have a couple of choices...

1) trim the kite hard to round the boat up

if that doesn't work

2) sky the fucking pole to keep the mast in one piece.

You're not thinking about racing at this point, you're thinking about keeping everything in one piece so that you can race in 5 minutes.

Some of you guys need to start thinking about these events from the standpoint of the people paying the fucking bills. And please, don't give me some song and dance about "if you can't afford to lose a mast, you can't afford to race". If you think that way, please wear a sign on your chest so we can keep you off of our boats.



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