Long Luff Spinnaker Trials
Northern Chesapeake Bay
June 25th

8734 and the long luff trial spinnaker, taken several days after the breezy sail, in lighter breezes. Photo from the Annapolis newspaper website

We had the pole just off the forestay and were blasting along comfortably, though it seems like it only took a few second to get all the way North to the Bay Bridge. The boat feels quite different with this spinnaker on it (though part of this difference may be the high aspect ratio CB I have recently fitted). The most noticeable difference is that you only slow momentarily when you hit a wave; instead of you looking for a way to get over the wave and down the far slope, the boat hesitates for at most a moment or two, and then finds the power to simply climb the wave and launch you down the other side. Jesse and I felt fast, but did not have a boat to pace ourselves against.

Jesse had to be off the water by 5:30, and SESOD (Sunday Evening Summer One Design) was scheduled to start at 6:00, so we sailed in. Mike Albert/John Hauser and Steve Cherry/Ali Meller launched for SESOD. The breeze had picked up (Thomas Point showed 19-21 knots with puffs to 24 during this time). The 505s chose to "blow off" the SESOD racing and headed out into the Bay for more (and steadier) breeze, more waves, more fun and much longer reaches.....

Somewhere near Thomas Point Light, the two teams turned around and hoisted their kites. I don't know if Mike/John had a chicken or a medium (I would guess the chicken).

With 8734 sailing as high as they could without straining, and 7346 sailing a little higher to keep enough pressure on, The Whomper simply pulled 8734 away, up and over the waves. When 8734 bore off, they were able to stay on the plane, still going over waves, even when born off quite far, though once near running, the boat would fall off a plane occasionally, or be held up by a wave for awhile. 7346 could not match 8734 at all, when they bore off slightly; they had to stay high to keep the boat planing at all. In their words, they wallowed when they bore off to match 8734.

By the time 8734 was at the shoal pole in the mouth of the Severn they may have been 1/2 a mile or more ahead.

8734 could not have sailed a reach angle as tight as 7346, so it would have been a different story if we had been trying to get to a high gybe mark.

-Ali

2) Pole height was not affected, therefore visibility was the same.

3) When sucked into the boat, the spinnaker came back to approx. 1 foot forward of the aft end of the CB trunk. This is a few inches further back than the standard spinnaker I think.

4) The spinnaker was very powerful, seemingly pulling us over the waves with less loss of speed.

5) Trimming the spinnaker required a little more effort in these conditions, as there was definitely more pressure on the sheet. It also took a little more trimming to keep the spinnaker from luffing, and much more ease to get it flying right again.

6) I would estimate that in these conditions, we were sailing about 5-10 degrees lower than we would have been with a standard chicken, but at the same speed. Heating up the 5-10 degrees to match a standard chute reach would have been difficult in these conditions, and speed would be about the same due to increased drag and heeling moment.

7) Douses obviously take another second or two because you have more spinnaker to pull in.

8) The top of the mast was somewhat straighter due to the load, but the mast never inverted.

It is obvious to me that the larger spinnaker will require better crew work to handle, but offers an interesting new speed dimension on the reaches, and tactics on the runs. I think it will be a plus for most active 505 teams, but a negative for many club level sailors on the race course. I think this maximum size spinnaker may also pose structural problems for the mast in a big blow, although I'm not really qualified to say so definitively.

My feeling is that this particular spinnaker may be a bit too big for the boat. Perhaps more narrow shoulders would decrease the power slightly while increasing the efficiency (higher aspect), making for a spinnaker that is both easy to handle but faster on all points of sail.

In any case, I think everyone should reserve judgement until they have tried it. If you want your voice to be heard AND counted, sailors should show up to the Worlds in Durban and their respective national championships (Santa Cruz, CA for the NAs for all North America sailors).

Respectfully submitted,

Jesse Falsone
Team SPOT (the front half)
USA 505 8643