Using Spinnaker Sheet Stopper Balls

Graham Alexander raised the question of using spinnaker sheet stopper balls or knots. This started an interesting discussion with 505 sailors from Australia, the US and the UK providing responses.
Graham's Question
I have seen stopper balls used on the guy so that when the twing is on the guy is correctly locked for a reach without cleating the guy. I believe a normal stopper ball is used and the guy built up so that it will pass through the blocks as needed but not pass through the hole in the stopper ball. Thus allowing the ball to float on the line and not restrict sheeting the sheet side on a tight reach. I believe this should work if the twings are long enough so that the chute can be stowed in the bag (bag boat).

The problem is, I have not figured out a way of building up the line so that it doesn't just pull through the hole in the stopper ball under the reaching load on the guy. When that happens it is very hard to pull it back through the hole on the opposite reach. I know it is done, but how???? Help

Peter Mignerey's Response
The stopper ball should be bought undersized and drilled out to just fit on the sheet.

Another idea I just discovered on my 470 is to use tapered sheets like those Ali uses (where I got the idea). These sheets have a spectra core with a dacron cover. The cover is cut off to form the taper. I made the taper cut at the twing block and fit the ball over the thinner spectra core. The dacron cover then helps block the ball and it all runs through the transom blocks with absolutely no hang up.

Ali discovered that the inner spectra core can break if repeatedly cleated in the guy cleat. I don't know whether the ball will eventually cause breakage. When set up as on my 470, the full sheet is in the cleat most of the time except for dead runs. But the load is light then.

Macy has a launcher boat. He puts the balls on both sides, and inside the boat where they stop on the ratchets. That avoids hangups and also pre-sheets the guy for sets.

Mark
Almost all the Australian boats use either stopper balls or just knots in their spinnaker sheets. The knots/balls are set so that the pole is just off the forestay when the kite is set. Saves a lot of time during sets.

Most Australian boats use chutes, I don't know how this would affect guys using bags.

The knots in the Kevlar/Spectra don't really seem to be a problem with breakage as you need to replace this stuff fairly regularly anyway.

Neil
Yes, but isn't the problem with this that the harder the wind blows the further forward the pole goes, so it is impossible to put a stopper in the correct place.
Dave
There is a lot of trial and error involved in getting this right. We tie the sheets to the spinnaker and make them slightly shorter on a windy day.

Using Kevlar/spectra sheets the only movement in the pole is related to tweaker stretch (use spectra), and mast bend.

The stopper is only meant to get the pole in approximately the right position on the start of the reach, so you don't have to fart around setting the brace. You can be sailing while others are still flogging their kite. The brace is cleated off once the crew is on the wire and the boat is moving fast.

Dave
Just tie a figure-8 knot in the line. Despite its reputation, even 1/4" kevlar" doesn't seem to mind.

Also, to avoid (1) the limitations on reach sheeting you mentioned and (2) a nasty surprise when Murphy uncleats the twing just as you're steaming over someone on a tight reach (thus letting the stopper-ball forward too far), just put the stoppers between the spinnaker cleating points inside the boat. That is: let the balls hit the spinnaker cleats or final turning blocks, NOT the twing.

This arrangement works like a champ. The only catch (with a launcher) is that you can't get the chute all the way into the launcher with the pole still up, so there's a little more coordination at the takedown.

When I set up a set of sheets, I tie a short bowline in the sheet (as on the chute), stick it in the pole and set the pole. With the twing down, I then cleat the guy and pull against it to load it, cleating it in until I have the loaded guy set so the pole is just short of the headstay. I then mark the chute end of the guy so I can get the knot to the same point every time and mark the guy just where it comes out of the cleat.

After setting up the other side the same way, I knot the guys and thread the balls on from the end, with the balls winding up at the mark next to the cleats. When I set up to sail, I just make sure the chute end knots end at the marks, and I use a little bit of jaundiced eyeball to compensate for expected wind velocity.

Obviously, this all works a lot better with Kevlar than with the rubber bands we used to use as spinnaker sheets.

Scott
I had the system down for launcher boats. The figure eight knots on the final turning block work the best; nothing gets hungup on the cleat or transom blocks. However, after just switching from a launcher to a bag boat, I haven't figured out how to run balls on both port and starboard. It appears easy to rig for a port reach, but with the kite in the port bag, there seems to be too much line that needs to run through the twing/block. Also, in the odd case you want to stow the kite in the starboard bag, what is the best method?
Ali
Graham, we use an ordinary stopper ball, on the port sheet/guy. Leave the twing loose to stow the spinnaker in the starboard bag. I make the stopper part by sewing a small piece of thin Kevlar (1/8" - the stuff we used to use for the 1:4" spinnaker halyards) in a loop around the spinnaker sheet, and then along it. This is usually small enough to run easily through all the blocks, but jams in the stopper ball. John Fry did the sheets on the boat we used in the Canadians and North Americans, and just sewed whipping twine on a 1/2" section" of the sheet. That jammed in the ball, but also had some friction going through the Harken bullet blocks. We position the ball so that the pole touches and slightly bends around the forestay. I find that as pole height, mast bend, and load on the guy change, you cannot always cleat the guy in exactly the same place. It is also easier to put the pole on the mast in heavy air if the ball is positioned a few inches "too loose". As long as the ball keeps you close, you can pull the guy back an inch or two as appropriate.
Scott
OK, I thought that was the case. Do you have a ball on the starboard sheet? I can't remember from looking at your boat. If not, how can one get the pole set quickly on the set other than practice?
Ali
Scott, we only have one ball, on the port sheet. It is there only for the reach to reach gybe at the gybe mark, where you gybe from starboard to port (in the event that someone chooses to run starboard courses, I reverse the spin sheet).

For run to run gybes, the skipper holds both sheet and guy, and neither sheet is eased enough for a ball to have any effect (some launcher boats have two knots or two balls, and gybe with both jammed, holding the sheets). An alternative to the skipper holding both sheet and guy during run to run gybes is pulling on both twings, and cleating the sheets in the guy cleats during the gybe.

At the hoist, we try to pull the guy out before bearing away, and pre-cleating it in the guy cleat. You basically drag the clew of the sail out of the bag and part way to the jib tack when you do this. The crew grabs the guy off the foredeck sticks it in the pole, and pushes the pole out as the skipper hoists the spinnaker. You can leave the sheet cleated in the tidy up cleat on the leeward side if it is light or medium. This can be a very fast hoist.

In the event that you are dousing into the starboard bag, you MUST keep the port twing loose, otherwise you will be unable to stow the port clew of the spinnaker. If you went with a two ball system on a bag boat, you would have the same problem dousing into the port bag.