On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 10:26:24 GMT, scudding along
wrote:

On a magnificent 23' sailing yacht,.. where do you store the pole?
I've never used one or sailed this boat but it came with a "cruising
chute" which doesn't look very big or like it would even need a pole.
More like a cheerful gib with a big belly. The pole is about 9 feet
long, I guess, doesn't telescope and had the fitting crushed on one
end. I expertly removed it and epoxied a wooden plug with a snap
thingy back on the end. It's almost half as long as the boat. Do you
really need it? Do you make brackets on the side of the mast and stow
it upright while trying not to get it tangled in the halyards? I'm
open to suggestion. Thank you and happy new year.

If you have a cruising chute, it does not use a pole.

A cruising chute is asymetrical, That is, the luff and leech are
different lengths. It has a head, tack and clew, just like a genoa,
but it is only attached by a tack strap around the head stay or
furled genoa. A tack line, attached as far forward as feasible is
used to conttrol luff tension. Both sheets are attached to the clew.
It is a reaching sail (close reach, beam reach, broad reach). They
can be used wing-on-wing on a run, but they tend to be finicky.

You might have a whisker pole which holds out the genoa on a run, but
it seems too long.

Spinnaker poles are stored in several places: on deck is the most
common. On smaller boats, they are offten left attcahed at the mast
and stwed by hardening the pole topping lift.

Jack

_________________________________________
Jack Dale
ISPA Yachtmaster Offshore Instructor
CYA Advanced Cruising Instructor
http://www.swiftsuresailing.com
_________________________________________

On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 10:55:16 GMT, scudding along
wrote:




I'd better look up the term "topping lift". There is and "extra" pully
on the fore of the masthead a few feet below the actual head I've been
puzzling over.


That pulley (sheave) is for the halyard for the cruising chute.

Kemp sails has good site that might help:

http://www.kempsails.com/sitedata/PD...sing-Chute.pdf

I use a different system for gybing the chute. My sheets run outside
of everything. Rather than bringing the sail through the fore
triangle, I let the sail go forward of the forestay. In their method
the halyard sheave is below the forestay.

This boat is so short and the gear so light I think it was someone's
idea to make it look like a real cruiser or something. The pole
weights about 8oz and the chute looks like it could be handled by a
child.

Two people can easily handle a cruising chute. A spinnaker is best
handled by at least 3, although some hotshots can single-hand one.

Jack

_________________________________________
Jack Dale
ISPA Yachtmaster Offshore Instructor
CYA Advanced Cruising Instructor
http://www.swiftsuresailing.com
_________________________________________