This was posted on the FF website some months ago, and just came to light. The bit that follows is all about spinnakers.
We ran a small item a few days ago about the ten boat FF
Classic/Silver Fleet at Ullapool. By the way, google says the
population of Ullapool is 1,300 people, so 10 FF’s makes them one of the
densest concentrations of 2 person keelboat racing than anywhere in the
UK, including Shetlands!!
Adrian Morgan there asked recently how best to rig up a
spinnaker up/down haul system and asked the question of Graham Lamond –
Graham’s answer is below. It would be great though if someone in the
National Fleet could send us explanatory photos, or a hand drawn diagram
in jpeg of pdf format…. Can anyone help??
Adrian – you should also check out this very good FF 2663 Resoration Project
I use a standard double ended pole, rather than a single end and
launch roller on the mast. The pole uphaul downhaul has a loop through
which the pole passes and there is a standard ‘ramp’ with a notch in the
middle of the pole to hold the uphaul/downhaul in place.
The uphaul is rope, which goes up through a sheave below the
spreaders and exits from the base of the mast on one of the sheaves in
the mast base plug. The tail then goes on to a block through which a
rope passes, going via turning blocks to the side deck cleats fitted
midships between the helm and crew, so we can both make the adjustment
on pole height. The length of the uphaul rope is set so that when
released from either side deck cleat, the pole lies level when stowed
along the boom. When the crew puts the pole on the mast ring prior to
launching the kite, the pole will sit below the horizontal with the
uphaul in the uncleated position and just resting on the rope end ball
stops. The purpose of this is that when approaching the windward mark
ready to bear onto the reach, the pole can be set ready (as long as you
know you won’t have to tack again). Once round the mark, the helm hoists
the kite, while all the crew has to do is ease the jib and raise the
pole as the kite comes out of the chute/bags, then trim the sail. When
dropping the spinnaker, the reverse is true. Releasing the pole uphaul
allows the pole to drop to sufficient height to let the spinnaker be
‘flown’ into the chute, thus minimising the chances of it going under
the boat. The pole can be stowed as soon as the sail is far enough in
the chute to be under control. So you can see it is worth spending some
time to get the length of the pole uphaul correct.
The downhaul is also a rope which passes through a small block on
the front of the mast just above deck level and then to a double block
mounted on the keel in front of the mast. The rope then goes forward
round a turning block and back to the second sheave of the double block
before coming up to a turning block and cleat on the vertical aft face
of the foredeck. The turning block forward is anchored to a strong
elastic which itself goes to a turning block on the forward deck beam
and then aft to a convenient anchor point under the side deck. This way,
the down haul is given tension to hold the pole down and also to take
up the tension when the pole is stowed, but the length of travel is
limited by the rope being adjusted by the cleat on the fordeck. I
usually set this length so that the pole cannot rise by more than about
10 degrees above the horizontal, but the cleat allows adjustments if
necessary. In truth, I rarely touch it once set. This system was copied
from a GP 14, except that the elastic take up on the downhaul went
sideways instead of forwards because of the bulkhead and I think they
had to double the purchase because of the lack of length.