Spinnaker

 

I bought a used spinnaker from some kind soul on the net and I didn't want to spend a whole lot of effort getting it in use. As a matter of fact, the luff is about a foot too long for the Santana, but I use it anyway. I only wanted it for those absolutely DEAD days we have during the summer - so I wasn't overly concerned with sail shape.

 

I first had to add a halyard. The spinnaker halyard is the one in the picture which is exiting at the top of the mast on the "away" side from you, the picture viewer. Again, I just put a sheave in, then bent and drilled a shackle to keep it from jumping off. This has worked well for two years without a hitch. Again, the shackle is loose (I think this helps keep things from binding) but cannot move much because of the angles at that part of the mast.

 

I put a fairlead (the plastic really wide eyestrap kind) about a foot down the front of the mast so that, when up, the head of the spinnaker would not be yanking the halyard all around right where it exits the sheave. The halyard goes under this fairlead before being attached at the head of the sail.

 

For the spinnaker halyard, I added an exit hole and a small horn cleat on the mast, opposite the side where the main halyard and topping lift lines come out.

 

For the tack of the spinnaker, I just added a shackle to the tensioning arm that the Santana uses at the forestay. This puts the tack out (a little, anyway) in front of the bow pulput. Hey!, its a 4 inch bowsprit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BACK TO MAIN PAGE