Conference unifix::sailing

    How about using no spinnaker pole at all. The time you save away
    from the helm may compensate for the decreased efficiency.
    
    At crowded gybe marks, it's tough to get the pole over fast 
    and maintain the inside lane. One tactic is to just let the new
    guy wrap around the headstay with no pole, reach up sharp to
    defend the inside, and then head off and put on the pole. Many
    boats can reach up pretty good w/o a pole.
    
    Paul 

re .0:

Depending on the length of the race and the weather and sea conditions 
sailing without self-steering may be impractical. Self-steering will be 
necessary if you must change or reef sails, visit the head, make a
sandwich, etc. I would suggest that a single-handed race should not be
your first single-handed sail. I have found that sailing alone is much
different than sailing with even just one additional crew. What works
well with a crew may not work well or even at all when alone. Based on 
my experience, self-steering is essential when single-handing anything 
bigger than a dinghy. 

More specifically, I have very limited experience with a spinnaker 
(virtually none), but I can't imagine that your boat would stay on 
course well enough without self-steering to make gybing a spinnaker 
safely possible. I would be very reluctant to even try it. 

    The Marblehead Etchells fleet holds a single handed race each year. 
    Unless it's howling out we use spinnakers.  Most of us use a bungy cord
    to center the tiller in the boat when we gibe the pole.  This is the
    same bungy cord that stabilizes the tiller when the boat is tied up at
    the mooring.  
    
    Three other things that simplifiy single handed spinnaler flying are:
    
    1.  A tiller that's long enough to allow steering with your knees while
    holding the spinnaker sheet and guy in each hand.  
    
    2.  Twings or chokers on the sheet and guy.  These are blocks or rings
    lead to the rail at the widest point of the boat through which the
    sheet and guy pass.  By pulling an cleating the attached control line
    it's possible to pull the sheet and/or guy down to deck level to bring
    the line within reach.  
    
    3.  Calm weather.
    
    All important control lines should be lead to the cockpit.  Assuming
    you have all these good things the sequence of events goes like this:
    
    1.  After the last tack to the windward mark, attach the bungy cord to
    the tiller and adjust the main and jib so that the helm is balanced
    while still goint to weather.  For an Etchells, easing the main an inch
    and tightening the jib an equal amount will do this.
    
    2.  Get out on the foredeck and attach the spinnaker pole.
    
    3.  The chute should have been packed and all hooked up before the race
    and be ready to launch.  Attach all the lines before the race as soon
    as the course is announced and you know what side you will launch on.
    Have the chute stowed near the forward edge of the cockpit.
    
    4.  Ease the main but not the jib as you bear off around the weather
    mark.  Raise the spinnaker halyard while steering with your knees. 
    Pull back on the guy until the pole is in position, then play the sheet
    to get air into the chute.  Point the boat in the direction you want,
    cleat the sheet and guy, and let out the jib.  I don't play the sheet
    much single handing.  I just cleat everything and leave it unless I
    change direction or the wind shifts.
    
    5.  At the gibe mark, start early and go slow.  The bungy cord should
    still be on the tiller.  Fall off dead downwind, let out the main and
    jib, and pull in both twings.  Leave lots of room between yourself and
    the mark.  Go up on the foredeck facing FORWARD with your back pressed
    against the front of the mast and disconnect the pole from the mast. 
    Grab the new guy, clip it into the jaws, release the old guy and
    re-connect the pole to the mast.
    
    6.  If the boom hasn't gibed itself, push it over from the front
    side and jump back into the cockpit as it swings across.
    
    7.  Release the leeward twing and adjust all sails for your desired
    course.
    
    8.  For the takedown, anticipate which side you'll need the chute to be
    on for the next spinnaker leg and take it down to that side.  If it's
    to weather, take the pole down first, then release the sheet, and pull
    it in with the guy.  Before doing this, fall off enough to get the wind
    behind you.  If you want to drop to leeward, release the guy first,
    gather in the chute, then drop the pole.  In either case, leave the
    chute all hooked up where it lies.  If it came down straight, it'll go
    up straight (sometimes).
    
    Wear a life jacket and make sure there's a crash boat trailing the
    fleet.  If you fall over, it's hard to get back on.
    
    - gene

    Set up control lines  for the tiller that go right forward, so that
    you can steer from the front of the boat....
           __________________________   
          /                          \
         /                            \
        /                              \
    }------=                        O mast
        \                              /
         \                            /
          \--------------------------/
      Tiller   control line out to the edge, and back to the mast

    I sail single handed most of the time, & like Alan, I warmly recommend 
    a small Autohelm type of device. The bungy method is fine if the water
    is dead calm, but the least wave & you go start going off course, &
    there is a lot of deck to travel to rejoin the tiller, as your trying
    to cope with your chute at the sharp end.
    
    I would also recommend strongly the use of a sock to be able to snuff 
    your chute safely & quickly, especially in high wind. That too is worth
    its weight in gold, & makes spinnacker handling a piece of (single
    handling) cake.
    
    I sail on a big lake where the weather can change instantly & being
    to trust the autohelm to steer & have one to two hands to control all 
    the sails is a great advantage & no mean safety feature.
    
                                         Nick
    a great safety advantage. 

John Letcher (now best known for his computer-aided yacht design programs 
and work on the America's Cup effort) once wrote an interesting little 
book on self-steering systems.  As is his style, it pretty much says 
everything there is to say, and includes many (dozens?) of systems, many 
of which he tried on his own little boat, Island Girl.  I have no doubt 
that if a self-steering system can control your boat in a jibe, John has 
it in his book!

J.

Letcher's book began my education in self-steering systems. The simple 
systems described are not very powerful, but they work for small boats 
in reasonable conditions. They also take considerable experimentation to 
get working properly (I got a C&C to self-steer upwind quite nicely for 
an investment of maybe $10) and require different configurations for 
beating, reaching, and running. Given the wide availability and low cost 
of Autohelm and other autopilots, I would today use Letcher's techniques 
only if all else failed (and everything else does have the tendency to 
fail, of course).

Alan

    The USYRU International Yacht Racing Rule #57 states "A yacht's
    standing rigging, running rigging, spars, and movable hull appendages
    (rudder?) shall be adjusted and operated by manual power only, and no
    device (Autohelm?) shall be used for these operations that derives 
    assistance from stored energy (battery?) for doing work."
    
    This rule seems to make illegal the use of any Autohelm like steering
    device, as well as powered sheet winches, etc.  
    
    Has anyone ever seen an interpretation of this rule?

    Individual classes can write exceptions to IYRU rules. For this rule,
    the J/24 class is going to allow bungy cords (stored energy) as
    backstay retractors. Good thing, because everybody's doing it now.
    
    I believe the intent of the rule is to prohibit stored energy when
    used to propel the boat. 

re .8:

Unless this rule is waived, racing a large boat singlehanded is neither 
safe nor practical (unless one has a windvane self-steering system).

    Short-handed races specify explicitly what's permitted.  I'd expect that
    you could be protested for using autohelms in other races, such as the 
    ordinary Bermuda race (manual steering all the way is one reason you need
    larger crews!).
    
    /don

re .11:

As I recall, windvanes ARE allowed in the Marion-to-Bermuda Race when 
there are only four crew. Having done the Bermuda passage with and 
without self-steering, I find that I am a basically lazy sailor who 
prefers self-steering to self steering.