[C320-list] asymetric spinnaker or genneker

[allan.field at comcast.net]

Irv - We bought an A-Sym with snuffer and ATN from Walter Burnett when he was selling Selkie.  This has been one of the greatest toys we have bought for Sea Shadow.  With all rigging and blocks, figure to spend between 2K and 2.5K.

First off, you really can't go dead down wind (DDW) with an A-Sym.  For DDW sailing, we have a pole mounted to the mast on a car that slides into position to pole out the genoa.  We also took a trick from Orlando and his new CM44 3 by rigging on both sides of the boat lines that attach to the boom about 2/3 of the way aft.  They go forward to blocks mounted on the forward cleats and lead back through blocks mounted to each stanchion to the cockpit through blocks with cam cleats for tying down the boom when sailing DDW.  Obviously, this is to prevent the accidental gybe.  We use these preventers for anytime the apparent wind is below about 120 degrees.

We use the A-Sym in apparent winds of less than 12 knots for sailing anywhere from 60 to about 160 degrees off the wind.  Up to 12 knots of wind, Sea Shadow generally sails about 1/2 the speed of the apparent wind but with the A-Sym up, she sails up to about 2/3 the speed of the apparent wind.  Rigging the A-Sym correctly so that you can gybe is tricky and quite frankly, we have only had one successful gybe in about 5 tries.  The problem is the way I have all the lines rigged; once I get them figured out correctly and know that I can do it right everytime, I'll post something if that would help.  For example, I have a nasty habit of leading the lazy sheet around the headstay but under the downhaul for the ATN tacker.  Gybing with this arrangement gets real ugly real fast!!!

A final thought: I have not done this yet but plan to reef the main when the A.W. gets around that magic 160 degrees to see if that makes a difference in the performance of the A-Sym.  Sea Shadow is rigged for 2 reefs on the main so it will be interesting to see the results of this.

Hope this helps.

Allan S. Field
Sea Shadow - #808
Columbia, MD

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Irv Grunes" <igrunes at comcast.net> 

> 
> List, 
> Last time we sailed the wind was dead douwn wind and our 135 Genoa would not 
> fill at anything better than 120 and it kept flopping when the wind dropped. 
> 
> Looking into an asymetric with a snuffer and a tacker. 
> 
> 1. What success has anyone had with this kind of system? 
> 
> 2. How close to dead downwind can you sail? 
> 
> 3. Is the system simple enough to deploy that you pull it out of the bag 
> often enough to make it worthwhile? 
> 
> 4. Looking for dimensions of the asymetric, source and about how much the 
> asymetric cost. 
> 
> Does anyone have one for sale?? 
> 
> Irv Grunes 
> Isle of Wight #851 
> 
> 
>