Randy, I found it to be very important to have a clutch for the tack line. When the tack line is pulled to set the chute,it needs to be deployed with the clutch closed. The only time you release the tack line is when the sail is almost all the way down, just enough to get the sail below deck. As previously mentioned, you'll need to play with how much tack line is right for sailing angle and wind conditions. For a boat designed primarily for a symmetric spinnaker, anything deeper than 150 degrees and the Asym will really struggle even with the tack line eased a few feet. On the boat I race on, we put our turning blocks for spin sheets about 1/2 way back in the cockpit and lead to the opposite side coach roof winch so we can sheet from the windward side of the boat, giving the trimmer the best view of the sail. With all the lines (tack line, spin sheets, outhaul, twings, furling line, main halyard) collecting at the coachroof/companionway and the spin sheets crossing each other, it’s a full time job for the pit person to keep lines untangled and makes for lots of flying elbows during a gybe. But in truth, by losing a pole up and pole down control line, there's actually a bit less clutter and the trimmer only needs to really pay attention to the one sheet rather than both a sheet and guy. You're going to love it, especially in shifty Chatfield conditions. Chuck Gilchrest
-----Original Message----- From: CHARLES SCHEAFFER via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Sent: Monday, July 11, 2022 1:04 PM To: Stus-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: CHARLES SCHEAFFER <cscheaf...@comcast.net> Subject: Stus-List Re: Asym Rigging and Trim Hey Randy, Great questions regarding sail trim. Can't wait to see some pictures of your assym setup. I still haven't gotten the A sail up but I put up some pictures of the sprit on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/chuck.scheaffer Chuck S > On 07/10/2022 9:45 PM Randy Stafford via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > wrote: > > > Listers I am appealing to your collective wisdom on rigging and trimming an > asymmetrical spinnaker. > > For Grenadine’s 50th birthday this year, I added a new furling genoa on a new > Selden 204S furler, a retractable Selden 75 bowsprit, and an A2 asymmetrical > spinnaker on a Selden GX10 top-down furler. I’m installing the latter two > birthday presents on Tuesday. > > This is all to improve my downwind performance, and facilitate fast upwind / > downwind sail plan changes at the marks and on the course, in my club’s races. > > I guess my specific questions are as follows, but I would appreciate any > additional tips you old salts might offer. > > 1. Leading the tack line - I’m repurposing the foredeck padeye and block, > side-deck fairleads, and cabin-side cam cleat for my former pole down line to > run the asym tack line, which of course goes through the bowsprit lengthwise. > My pole down line is too short to be the asym tack line, so I’ve repurposed > a little-used genoa sheet. I figure if the deck hardware was sufficient for > a symmetrical pole down line, it ought to suffice for an asym tack line. Am > I wrong? > > 2. Where to put the turning blocks for the asym sheets: same place as for the > symmetrical, or farther forward? For the symmetrical turning blocks I use > snatch blocks at the stern pulpit braces. > > 3. What winch to lead to / where to trim from? My main competitor leads his > asym sheets to cabintop winches, and trims from the windward side deck so the > trimmer can see the whole sail. > > 4. When and how much to ease the tack line? By default I assume it’s > tensioned so that the aysm’s tack is at the bowsprit and the luff is taut, > but it can be eased - how much, and under what conditions? > > Thanks in advance for any wisdom you mmight share. > > Fun fact: the sail is black, with a logo of an M67 grenade on both sides, > because of the etymology of my boat’s name, and because of her color scheme > (red topsides, white deck and cabintop, black canvas. > > Cheers, > Randy Stafford > SV Grenadine > C&C 30 MK I #79 > Ken Caryl, CO
