Cruising spinnaker

[sailmed]

New to this message board.  I am in process of ordering a 34MkII with in mast furling.  Does anyone have experience with spinnakers offered as an option from Catalina?  Any others that you might suggest as superior?  Is there a favorite that most C34 owners prefer?  With a 135 genoa, how musch use are the cruising chutes getting?
Many thanks.

s/v LOON
Chesapeake Bay

[George Bean]

Barry,
Congratulations on your new 34!  It's a wonderful boat and great times are in store for you!  A-kite spinnaker questions:  Catalina has their own sail loft and unfortunately, I do not have the polars for their spinnaker.  I went with North's AP-2 as it seemed to have the best all-around polar (read-the ability to go "deeper") for me.  Even so, they really only go to about 150 degrees AWA, although I've been able to "rock it out" and still get some nice performance up to about 160-165 degrees.  Unfortunately, the deeper you go, the more dramatic the performance tail-off.  If you're contemplating PHRF racing, symmetrical is the only way to go for this mast head boat.   

We made some slight rigging adjustments for the a-kite.  First, we replaced the anchor roller bolt with a Wichard eye bolt so we can rig a tack line block down low to clear the bottom of the furler.  The tack line was then routed to the right coach roof clutch via some bullet fairleads and a block.  I have a pair of Schaefer T-Track sliders and blocks to provide a better fairlead to the winches for the sheets. I usually cross-sheet and use the windward winch to trim.  I have also attached the sheet blocks to my aft mooring cleats to get a flatter sail shape while reaching.  We also use a dousing sock when cruising. 

The A-kite is pretty easy to use but you do have to do some extra rigging before you leave the dock.  Our windy and choppy conditions on San Francisco Bay require that the sail be actively trimmed and boat actively steered.  The Catalina advertisement where the couple is kicking back and sipping chardonnay and watching the sail do it's thing doesn't reflect our real-life conditions at all.  With a sock, the sail is easily double handed.  On occasion, I've even single handed the sail.  It is a great sail when the wind is on your quarter and you have a lot of miles to cover.

As your boat is getting commissioned, you have a golden opportunity to install a spinnaker pole track on the mast while it is still horizontal.  This, and a whisker pole that can extend 15 to 17 feet are an excellent combination.  We use ours almost every time we sail whereas the A-kite gets used maybe once a month.  A light weight whisker pole is convenient and will dramatically improve down wind performance.

While I'm spending your money...  The single biggest performance improvement you can do is install a folding prop.  Three blade folders (and feather's) will match your fixed blade's performance under power.  And they will improve your sailing performance by about 15-20%.  The performance improvement is really noticeable at lower wind speeds.  Fleet 1 has lots of data from years of racing fixed and folding/feathering props and this performance improvement is real.

George Bean,
s/v Freya #1476

[Joe Kern]

George - If you ever have a chance to post some pictures of each of the various elements of your rig it would be great for those of us who are thinking of rigging for and buying a spinnaker.

Joe

[Jeff_McKinney]

Barry,

Welcome aboard. I have an in-mast furler and went with an asymmetric North G-3 & sock. Better for off the wind than a symmetrical, easy to handle, although our conditions are not aa challenging as SF Bay. I had the yard set up the mast with a crane to move the halyard block forward of the forestay & had the spinnaker halyard rigged internally. I attached the tack-downhaul block to the loop on the anchor roller and then lead it aft on the starboard side throught he fairlead roller & aft to the cockpit. No real chafing problems, so avoided addditional fairleads on the cabin top. Have not needed a wisker pole for downwind (yet).

Other than that I do mostly the same things as George. I found some nice Spectra 1 foot diameter webbing loops at a mountaineering store to attach the sheet line turning blocks to the cleats.. VERY strong, no knots to fight, easy to rig, and not very expensive. he mentioned pre-rigging some things: I usually pre-rig the sheet & tack lines if I think there is a reasonable chance the sail will get used on that trip. North has a decent CD that shows their approach to setting up & flying the sail. You might want to check with a local dealer for a copy.

I went with a Gori 3-blade folding prop this spring. (15 X 10 RH). Not too hard to install, and  a significant improvement over the stock 15 X 9 RH fixed prop. Better power output in both directions, almost NO prop-walk in reverse. 

Where are you located in the Chesapeake? I'm in Bodkin Creek.

[sailmed]

Thanks so much for the sage advice.  I'll check out the sources you suggested.  Have already called the supplier for a folding prop ...great suggestion! Happy to dispose of as much prop walk as I can.

LOON will be at Haven Harbour in Rock Hall, slip #1 white dock.  Hope to be there late May/early June if all goes as planned from the factory.

Looks like the Chesapeake fleet will be having a crab feast there in August...won't have far to go for that one.

Again, thanks for the welcome, and for the detailed information.

Barry Smoger
s/v LOON