"Dennis Pogson" wrote in message
...
Fly the kite with just 2-up? No thanks! The last spinnaker broach I
experienced sailing 2-up was the last time my wife sailed with me, she
gave up rather than subject herself to a cockpit full of cold sea water.

Dennis.

Well, you have been rather unlucky to have experienced a broach while she
was aboard.
When I had a 34 footer my wife was not all that keen on flying the kite with
just the two of us aboard but finally we reached a compromise which enabled
me to use the 'storm' spinnaker, and we used it for many miles although
sometimes when the wind increased when we had it flying the question of
getting it down without problems gave us some food for thought.
Initially we flew it with a single sheet and guy (dipping pole type
gybing). We even managed to gybe it but it was not easy as she was handling
sheet and guy on two winches while steering with the tiller between her legs
while I did the foredeck work. Then I installed two extra winches and added
a lazy sheet and lazy guy. Big mistake! There was just too much for her to
handle in the cockpit while steering as well.
Now we have moved up toexactly the same sort of boat but she is 38 feet
instead of 34. This makes a surprising difference to the size of the sails
and although she came with four spinnakers of differing weights my wife will
refuse to sail with me if I intend to try even the 'storm' one while there
are just two of us. I agreed that with a mast height just short of 60'even
the 'storm' spi looks pretty huge but pointed out that now we have an
autopilot she can concentrate on sail handling in the cockpit. No joy there
at all so spinnakers are out except when we have extra crew aboard.
But the main thing is that we are still sailing together and as we have a
very fast boat we are not actually loitering even when sailing downwind.
Hope you can persuade your wife to give it another try by reaching a similar
compromise.