Spinnaker dropping
January’s YM included a spinnaker masterclass feature, which covered most aspects of this super sail in some detail. In common with most similar articles over the years, the description of the drop recommended freeing the sheet or guy and hauling the spinnaker down the main hatch. This is all very well if there is a spare hand or two to repack the spinnaker down below but for a husband-and-wife crew like us there is just nobody available and the (possibly wet) sail fills the saloon until we have finished sailing. In our method the spinnaker is stuffed into the turtle on the foredeck, where it stays until it’s fully ready for its next use.
This is how we do it: I release the guy from the winch, letting the pole fly forward. I walk forward to just ahead of the boom and grab either the lazy guy or the sheet and begin to haul in the foot of the sail.
Jill releases the spinnaker halyard clutch and, with one turn around its winch, lowers as required. Meanwhile I stuff the quiet sail, completely blanketed by the mainsail, back into the bag. Only when it is back in the launching bag, with the clews attached to their Velcro loops, are the sheets and guys detached. The pole can then be lowered and stowed away, sheets and guys hauled back to the cockpit and coiled. The whole process usually takes us something like half a mile to complete.
The photo shows us under spinnaker sailing along the east coast of Leros in light wind. The launching bag can be seen attached to the starboard guard wires. There are two bungees on its inboard corners that I clip to the handrail on the coachroof to hold the turtle wide open, assisting the stuffing process.