Whisker pole recommendations?

[Noah]

Adding a whisker pole set-up to my boat has moved-up to high on my to-do list. Any comments on good ones/or bad ones to avoid, would be greatly appreciated. I am starting from scratch, so far it's blank slate with no hardware mounted either on mast or deck. Any experience with the newer (expensive) carbon or half carbon poles?

[Jon W]

Hi Noah, I just added a whisker pole as part of my rig upgrade. Not a brand name, the rigger made it. He recommended a fixed pole not a telescoping type. When I asked him why he recommended the fixed pole he said the telescoping poles can bend/fail if extended too far out and you don't really need the complexity. I'm sure you'll get others thoughts on this. The pole is a 16 foot 3" anodized aluminum with 350 ultra EF and 350 ultra UTS end fittings. It is mounted to the mast on a 1.25" track with a Forespar T125 pole car, a holder at the base of the mast (don't know the brand/model but can find out if you're interested), and he created an up/down control system. Being always mounted to the mast it's easy to operate and safe, ie no lugging a pole around and trying to connect to a ring/track on a pitching deck.

[Noah]

Thx Jon. Looks like a lot of cool new stuff I'd like to come by and see. I envy your retirement and your energy!!  Hopefully, I am not far behind on retirement, but my propencity for spending money seems to always give me pause when it comes to pulling the retirement trigger! I'll text you to workout a good time (for you) when I can swing by for a tour and chat. BTW-which rigger are/were you using?  Butler, Fritz or...?

[Jon W]

I requested estimates from 4 different riggers and settled on CC Rigging. Chris Catterton is the owner. He isn't cheap, but not the highest either. He does very good work, knows what he's talking about, and I thought was a good guy. Definitely worth a look. You're always welcome to come by.

[DaveBMusik]

Hi Noah, I just added a whisker pole as part of my rig upgrade. Not a brand name, the rigger made it. He recommended a fixed pole not a telescoping type. When I asked him why he recommended the fixed pole he said the telescoping poles can bend/fail if extended too far out and you don't really need the complexity. I'm sure you'll get others thoughts on this. The pole is a 16 foot 3" anodized aluminum with 350 ultra EF and 350 ultra UTS end fittings. It is mounted to the mast on a 1.25" track with a Forespar T125 pole car, a holder at the base of the mast (don't know the brand/model but can find out if you're interested), and he created an up/down control system. Being always mounted to the mast it's easy to operate and safe, ie no lugging a pole around and trying to connect to a ring/track on a pitching deck.

Hi Jon,

I'm also thinking of one. How much did the rigger end up charging.

[Jon W]

The pole car, both end fittings, 16ft 3" aluminum tube, 20ft of 1 1/4" t-track, and up/down control system (includes eye straps,blocks, jam cleats, and line) was $2,400 for parts. Labor was total hours so not sure how much was related to only the whisker pole system.

[Noah]

Question: with a non-telescoping pole, what happens if you want to change sails or partially furl the one you have? Also, with a telescoping pole, I would think you would need less track length when storing pole on the mast? Jon- are you using a spare halyard as a topping lift or did you install a dedicated one for the pole?

[Jon W]

I asked the same question. The answer was furl the headsail as needed. The sheet runs from the sail through the end of the pole back to the winch. The pole does not need to be right at the sail. To change the headsail I would disconnect it from the sail and store the pole on the mast, then redeploy after the sail change.

I would think a telescoping pole would have less track on the mast for storage.

There is a dedicated topping lift with a clutch mounted on the side of the mast. It's part of the up/down system.

FWIW I'm setting the boat up for cruising not racing. My goal when using the pole downwind is to set it and be on that sail plan for a while.

[mark_53]

Noah, as a point of information, I have a pole that came with my boat. It is 13 ft long and fixed length. Can't tell you much on how it works since I've never used it. 

[Analgesic]

I'll put in a plug for the Forespar extending pole.  I have used this for 4-5 years now and have accumulated a lot of experience.  It mounts on a sliding track on front of the mast and deploys pretty easily.  Damage to the pole is easily avoided by being careful-don't let your crew trim the  genny until the pole starts torqueing around the shroud.  I use various lengths depending on conditions-essentially can reef the genny running down wind and with pole way out I get significant speed increase reaching at 120 degrees off the wind  with main and genny set on opposite sides, main trimmed back and genny eased until partly forward of the forestay,  " like a square rigger."  At this point I think I would find a fixed length pole limiting.