In the Odnoklassniki social network, the game "Choose" is popular. It has a question with answer options: “Where is the spinnaker installed: a yacht, an ice hole?” Question level 345 indicates the belief of the authors of the game that rarely anyone knows the correct answer to it. Let's try to understand the essence of this term and related concepts.
Basic concepts
Before figuring out what a spinnaker is, where it is installed and why it is needed, we turn to the definitions. From the free Wikipedia encyclopedia, we find out that a spinnaker is an additional sail for a yacht or other sailing craft, which is made of light and durable fabric, has a convex shape and is applied by the principle of a parachute.
Many yachts are equipped with spinnakers, especially racing cruisers. Their use in sailing regattas adorns the competitions and gives them entertainment, because it is a beautiful, large and eye-catching sail. No wonder it is on it that advertising materials are usually placed.
Where is the spinnaker installed?
This light sail gives a good effect on full courses from fordewind to gulfwind. When leaving the parking lot, usually only the main sails are used - mainsail and staysail. In most cases, the spinnaker is put on the yacht to achieve maximum speed when switching from acute to full course or already following the full course. The area of this sail is comparable or exceeds the measured area of the regular sails of the yacht. Therefore, and thanks to the harsh conditions for setting it up in full swing, setting a spinnaker is risky. No wonder the sailor involved in this process should be dressed in a life jacket and tied with a safety end.
Preparing a spinnaker for staging
For successful staging of a spinnaker, it is necessary to carefully prepare it by laying in a special way in a pre-prepared hard bag made of waterproof fabric, an adapted bag-box or a plastic bucket. There are two main styling methods.
In the first method, it starts from the middle of the lower part of the sail in such a way that its lower corners stick out from the package, and its talle corner on top. The sailor setting the spinnaker should not be mistaken when disassembling the corners and correctly lay the halyard and braces. A correctly set spinnaker sail is easily and without delay.
In the second method, the decomposed spinnaker is gradually collected to the central seam by neat vertical folds into a long sausage, which is then placed in a bag by the size of the package with the snake. This package is placed in a bag, leaving two lower corners sticking out and one upper corner on top. It is better to bandage the bag with a thin but strong thread, under which the tench is laid. After lifting the spinnaker in a folded form, the pull line is pulled by a tench, it breaks the thread - and the sail opens, filling up with the wind.
The first way to set the spinnaker
So, where is the spinnaker installed? The first way is from the headquarters. First they take out the bag with the folded sail on the tank in front of the headquarters and fix it on the deck. Then they attach the halyard, brass and sheet for the corresponding sail angles sticking out of the bag. Make sure that these fasteners are not confused with other gear. One of the spinnaker-geek knocks is fastened to the yoke on the mast by means of the “beak” and is fired from the windward side in front of the guy. A brace or krengels of the tack corner of a sail with a brace fixed in its beak is attached to another geek's nock. If there is a guy and topenant, then they are also attached to the spinnaker boom. After this training, on the command "Set spinnaker!" one sailor quickly selects and fastens the spinnaker halyard, the other sailor, while on the tank, holds the sail while lifting, preventing its premature opening and discharge to the water. At the same time, it spreads side elevators. After the spinnaker-halyard is fully extended, the spinnaker-boom is installed horizontally, using a guy line and topenant. At the same time, they choose brass and sheet, helping the sail to fill with the wind.
Another way
There is a more convenient way to install a spinnaker. Where to install it in this option? Answer: from guys. For keel yachts, a spinnaker is placed in the leeward shrouds, for sailing dinghies - in the space between the windward shafts and the mast. At the same time, the presence of a sailor on the tank is required only for installing a spinnaker boom. Yes, and this operation can often be performed in advance. Convenience with this method lies in the fact that the early covering of the additional sail is prevented by the mainsail covering it.
Walking under a spinnaker
It is impossible to fully clarify the question of what a spinnaker is on a yacht, without figuring out how to wear it. And this is a rather difficult task. It is necessary to constantly regulate the sheet and brace of this sail, either choosing or etching them so that it is filled with wind. Following the course of the forwind, it is necessary to etch the sheet as much as possible and choose a brass so that the spinnaker boom is directed in almost the same line with the direction of the grotto boom. In this position, the spinnaker leaves the grotto and works better. A sign of good sail performance is that it goes far ahead and becomes pot-bellied. In this position, the yacht is gaining good speed. A sign that you can no longer choose brass is the filling up of the spinnaker's windward knocker and the deterioration of his paunch. On the other hand, if the sheet is moved, the leeward edge of the sail comes too close to the mainsail, the air flowing from it interferes with the work of the mainsail, which is rinsed, which forces picking up a boom-sheet. As a result, the speed of the yacht is reduced.
Tack change
When the wind is weak, the spinnaker in the course of the forwind may not be filled with wind and not stand. In these cases, it is desirable to change the tack. If this does not make the sail work, then the backstage course should be taken. The yacht’s path lengthens, but the gain is possible by increasing the speed of the yacht, since in this course the spinnaker is less blocked by the mainsail and works even in light winds. On the backstage course, adjusting the belt and the sheet set the spinnaker boom to a position intermediate between the windward guy and the headquarters.
Tack change while carrying a spinnaker is carried out by the fordewind method. In this case, clear, coordinated actions of almost the entire team are needed - the helmsman and sailors, who control the spinnaker and the mainsail. In this case, it is possible to change the tack without jerking, without losing fullness with the spinnaker wind and, therefore, without losing speed. But such a result is achievable only by repeated training of team members under the guidance of an experienced skipper.
The change of tack overshoot when carrying a spinnaker do not produce.
Spinnaker removal
If necessary, change the course steeper than the Bakstag, and this is often the case during competitions, you have to remove the spinnaker. This is a difficult operation, especially in strong winds. The sail is pulled straight into the cockpit, quickly etching the spinnaker halyard, while one sailor with insurance must remove the flesh of the sail, preventing it from filling again with the wind. If the sailor does not keep up with the speed of etching the halyard, then the sail will fall into the water. In this case, his impulse is possible, or he will drown. Raising the sail to the deck must be done only at one corner and quickly. Otherwise, it will act as a floating anchor and the speed of the yacht will drop.
Varieties of Spinnakers
In yachting practice there are many different types of this sail, differing in shape, cut, area and other features. For the same yacht, different spinnakers are used with different wind strengths. In light winds, the most pot-bellied sail with a large area is used. In stormy weather, you can use a special storm spinnaker, the flattest and smallest in area. Also, a flatter and smaller sail is used at gulfwind courses, since in this case the usual spinnaker interferes with the work of the grotto and slows down, clinging to the lower crib for waves.
Similar sail
Along with what is indicated on yachts, other additional sails are also used. Similar in purpose are gennaker and spinnaker. A gennaker is an asymmetrical sail, medium in size between the sails of Genoa and the spinnaker. By the way, the name "gennaker" came from a combination of these two words.
Compared to spinnaker, gennaker has several advantages. Firstly, it leads to a smaller roll of the yacht with the same thrust (except for the forwind course). Secondly, when carrying a gennaker it is much easier and safer to control a yacht in critical situations and on turns. Thirdly, this sail can be used in a wider range of courses than a spinnaker.
The disadvantage is that when using a gennaker in light winds, the forewind boat goes worse than under a spinnaker.
Untangle spinnaker
The photos here and at the beginning of the article show that when carrying a spinnaker, especially during competitions, with insufficient experience of the teams, often there are curious cases of sail tangling. This situation arises when, due to an error in the team’s actions, the spinnaker (or gennaker) overlaps in the central part during a turn, sags, sticks to the headquarters and cannot fill itself with the wind. As a result, the sail takes on a look similar to a known part of lingerie. It requires the intervention of two or three team members and considerable effort to make the wave, holding the sail at the bottom of the spinnaker halyard, make it unravel and open under the influence of the wind.
After reading this article, we hope that no one will doubt how to answer the question: “Where is the spinnaker installed: a yacht, an ice hole?” Naturally, the first option.