C&C 27 Association Forum

Brent

Member

Tactical question

Greetings and happy holidays to all.

   I have a question that the experienced racers might care to answer. Last summer was my first season of campaigning my boat around the cans at the local marina. We had a hell of a great season, learned a lot, destroyed one genoa, all those good things.
   What I want to know is the best way to transition from downwind to upwind. In my scenario imagine the primary winch is loaded with the spinnaker sheet and now the jib is on its way up the stick for a run upwind. What do you guys do with that jib sheet that is about to be under load? What I've been doing is taking the spin sheet off the winch and gripping it tight with the help of the ratchet blocks they run through while the crew trims and cleats the jib sheet. Once trimmed we drop or peel the spinnaker but during that in between time both sheets are loaded. This works under light winds but its a little much when the wind is honking and we are short handed. I was thinking of installing a second set of small winches just aft of the primaries to do he job and leave the biggies for the jib sheets only.
This thought came to light during one race when I fouled both spinnaker and jib sheets on the same winch and after the rounding we tacked and ended up stalling as the jib could not cross the deck. As a result we nearly hit the mark. Call it a lesson in an impromptu hove-to.
Brent Driedger

S/V Wild Rover

C&C 27 MkV #15

---

Brent Driedger
S/V Wild Rover
C&C 27 MkV #15
;

JWente

Member

Re: Tactical question

Hi
First, we run rachet blocks on the spin sheets.  Second, if it's light then the winch is not needed. Third, if it's really honking we transfer the spin sheet to a cabin top winch prior to reaching the mark, then trim the jenny on the primary.  Going dead down wind into the mark the load on the jenny is light, since it is blanketed by the main. Last - we almost always do winward takedowns - keeps the spinnaker away from the genny and the genny trimmer, and leaves it on the port side ready for the next hoist.
Jim
Distant Thunder

Jim
Distant Thunder