Making the plunge from JAM to Spin doesn't need to be terrifying or expensive (unless you want it to.) You can find a used chute for a couple hundred bucks online and as others mentioned a few blocks and line and you're going. Once you've learned to tame the pole and kite then go and spend the money on those fancy black sails and a new properly cut colorful one... or dont. Iv'e found that we loose more often not becasue we have older sails but because we blow a tack or spinnaker douse. All of the money in the world won't make up the 2 minutes you spend trying to get that hourglass out of the kite.
That said, Chicago has a pretty robust racing scene on weekends with 5 major clubs working together to provide lots of events and variety. In order to help develop those white sail JAM guys and get them out on weekends where things are more competitive we started what is referred to as our Casual series of races. The idea is to remove as many of the barriers as possible; it's like a drug once you've gotten a taste you're hooked. Basically the RC assigns a phrf rating to boats without a certificate and then the start is a 15 minute rolling start. That way folks that are intimidated by jockeying around can hang back and not be penalized. The course are usually around 8-10 miles long so plenty of time to make maneuvers etc. We've typically seen 10-20 boats out on a given saturday and after a few seasons we're starting to see some of them come out into the racing fleet. Cheers, Luke 1985 35-3 Zella
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