I recently bought a 1980 J-30. would anyone tell me how to rig the spinnaker on a J-30 ?
thanks
beppe

Short answer--attach topping lift and foreguy to spinnaker pole bridle with the jaws up. Attach sheets and halyard to spinnaker, with the bag on the leeward side forward of the mast and clipped to a stanchion or the lifelines. Clip the afterguy into the outboard end of the pole to windward of the headstay. If you have twings you can run the sheets through them inisde or outside the lifelines. If no twings run sheets inside. In either case they go aft through blocks at the base of the pushpit, then forward to the secondary cabin top winches. Clip inboard end of pole to the ring on the mast, raise it, and snug the foreguy. Pre-feed the spinnaker to the end of the pole with the afterguy to about 6 feet aft of the headstay. Bare away, hoist, trim and Bob's your uncle.

For more details there are a series of Articles of Interest and more specifically several Tuning Guides that will you details on how to set the boat up. (This post probably belongs in Racing Tools and Techniques since it may be of interest to all.)

On Foot Loose, we have an additional block at the base of the stanchion abeam of the secondary winch. If your stern block is a ratchet one, it forces a near 180 degree of the sheet providing a good grip (but seemde to have been a stretch for the life of the ratchet...).
So the order is:
1) Spinnaker clew, 2) stern ratchet block, 3) forward block abeam the winch and either directly to the hand or through the secondary winch....

I do not have twings but I rig a snatch block on the base of the stanchion closest to the shrouds for the guy when needed.

I also use a turning block abeam of the secondary. This keeps the lines from getting in the way of cockpit movement. I have run them without and found it awkward by comparison.

A photo showing how this is rigged is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66402598@N00/3484776571/

thanks Georges, is a ratchet block necessary ? would you have pictures of how this all works ?
also, how do you set up the downhaul ?
beppe

I you go to my blog thebreakawayteam.shutterfly.com you can see a diagram of the set up as taught at Jworld .... see the PDF Jworld notes

I started doing that after racing on your boat, and Caitlin HATES it. I think it is safer, she hates the extra drag on the sheets (less feel).

To each their own. I like it because I can move around the cockpit without having to do the limbo. I also agree with you that it is safer... especially in the wild Squamish winds. If the air is light I turn off the ratchet on the turning blocks and I get better feel. Frankly I let the crew determine a lot of the rigging configuration as they are the ones who have to live with it.