Tips - Spinnaker Collapse and Wraps in Gybe!

irregular  tips will follow in this blogg sporadically and without warning nor reason:
Spinnaker collapses during gybing are caused by two flaws

1) it stopped "flying" and we come back to that

2) it was not round the forestay properly


They are often caused in themselves by flow over the spinnaker:

With a symmetrical you want to round the kite to the middle: the kite should follow the swing of the gybe and this is possible in light / medium airs by actually attaching the spinnie boom to both sheets and swinging it over OR by good crew work.

Now if you don't have it in the centre two things will happen:

a) too much to old windward (leaving now) side and the flow will not detach from that side, making the kite fly to that side

b) too much in the lee of the main, ie  too early on the new side and it will be masked, loose flow and collapse

On assymetrics there is a similar pattern which is exacerbated by the aerofoil shape of the sail: ie the "old" flow remains attached

This is solved by letting the clew as far forward as the forestay on the old gybe before DDW. This destroys the shape of the sail, rendering it a bag like a standard spinnie DDW with flow over both luffs.

The next issue is getting enough sail over to the new side. This means speed on the Assymetric and usually oversheeting- getting the clew way back in the boat so that the volume high up in the assy' is all dragged round the forestay.

On a traditional boat it means careful control of the sheets and getting the boom on and back on the guy, plus then getting the main over (or centre sheeting it in ligher airs or when you have a monster spinnie and a smallish main as in many mast head tonners and turboed cruising boats)

At the back end of the boat, the guy on the stick has got to wait for his crew and point the bow in the middle of the kite ( this applies to all seas states !) before he falls off too far or rounds up to the new tack.

On a traditional spinnie boat: Remember as foredeck crew as soon as the boat is low of 140' in light airs you can take the pole off early ( in fact we like to do this in big winds - we trust our cockpit to control the kite while we never trust the over ambitions of the helm in gybing and hardening up)  This helps the new clew fly forward and higher in light airs, and you can get it all ready on the new guy early so the disription of gybing the mainsail is compensated for by having a kite fully poled out on the new gybe angle. ( we also did this in heavy airs, but with the twinning lines (aka spin' barber haulers) hard down on both sides to tether the raging kite down  and make the new guy line easy to grab)

On an Assy: the helm should wait until the clew is at the forestay before driving DDW and drawing the main in. So the crew need to be early out, and also make damn sure no one is standing on the sheets ! In the blink of the eye that the boat is DDW then the kite should collapse in on itself aided by the new sheet coming on. Then you have to pull like crazy before any load comes on the sail other wise the volumous mid cord sections will bellow the wrong side of the forestay. Way back with the clew and then a big ease. You get used to how far is enough for this and can judge from the angles or stanchions against the clew when to pause and let out as the boat rounds up.

Since this is light to medium ( up to 9 knts) then we should mention that you need to darn well note the gybe angle to the wind which is paying best VMG and not try to gybe in a lull. Sail further until a litte gust comes in and follow it down  literally. You may find that you get a relative wind "knock back" on the kite as boat speed equals or even excels wind speed, but most boats won't have that problem, and it is an advantage with an Assy' to some extent.

If it is v. ligth and you know the kite collapses each gybe due to this ( you are sailing say 110' and therefore gybing through 140' degrees) then get a bag on the bow for any monster kite and drop the damn thing before DDW. Harden up to about 145' from the wind and back up with the thing. Better bagged than under the bow and burrying two foredeck crew.  ( This is also a heavy airs technique with the option of a letter box drop to control the kite - it then needs the genoa/jib up as a safety measure, which helps the drop leeward anyway by shadowing the kite )

In an assy' you can also play symmetrical kites and let the tack line out ( not the halyard) as you fall off. This is a bit risky: as the new sheet begins to be taken in you have to grab down the tackline hard so you don't get an hour glass or worse a multiple hour glass. This just keeps the boat speed up a little and lets the kite fly forward of the forestay a little too before it's corner and whole blouse go through the triangle there.

The same can be done with the assy' halyard, but with the same perils: it is much better to slip the sheets out or have cut to light sheets beofre the gybe (as the pole comes off, and can so early at say 140' TWA)  and let the kite fly high and forward while being tethered at the mast. In this case the twinning lines can be removed if they are snatch shackles. on light sheets or just let fully out if there is still enough wind for normal sheets.

Once you have mastered this, in either type of boat in light airs, you will be able to:

1) gybe at will, keeping VMG on vs rivals by having the kite flying as much as poss'
2) choose the best angles down a cone until you are near the layline at the lee mark
3) follow gusts down
4) gybe on lifts ( they should be gusts, most likely in the northern hemisphere while you are on STB gybe
6) improve your gybing in heavier winds too!