"Edgar" wrote:
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.

I can't figure my wife out, with regards to the spinnaker. Sometimes
she really likes it, other times she does not.
Last weekend we went for a very nice evening sail with another couple.
The wind was light (about 6~7k) and as we headed back across the
river, we were on a slightly-below-beam reach and I said "Do you think
we can carry the spinnaker and still make it the right side of that
marker?" The other couple were sailors and were game to try, my wife
enjoyed getting the spinnaker rigged and when it was set, lay
comfortably on the foredeck looking up at it, calling back advice on
trim. It was a nice lazy sail and showed the boat's light air speed
(we were going over 6 the whole time). And yet when things are getting
really fun, she doesn't seem enthusiastic about flying it.


Wayne.B wrote:
My wife and I always flew the spinnaker with just the two of us and an
autopilot. * It was fairly easy as long as we were well organized.
For the douse we'd bear off dead down wind with the boom all the way
out and collapse the chute behind the main. *A good spinnaker sock can
be useful also. * We would sometimes jibe that way, dousing the chute
with the sock on the original tack, dipping the pole over, jibing the
main over and resetting on the new tack. *

Jibing in light air and flat water, we would bear away to DDW, center
the spinnaker, center the main, dip the pole over, then jibe and ease
the main.

Self-tailing winches are huge plus in situations like this. I'm
getting some soon!

Fresh Breezes- Doug King