instead of leading the spinnaker pole topping lift aft to the cockpit, has anyone relocated the cam cleat to the base of the mast?

I havent done this myself but I've seen it done on J24s and Thunderbirds. The idea is to put all that stuff at the hands of the foredeck crew so he/she doesnt have to rely on the pit crew to get their job done. Usually, these boats have a cleat on the mast for the spinnaker halyard also so the foredeck can raise the chute too. Another solution some people like is to move the foreguy/downhaul lead on the deck to the mast so it doesn't have to be released on a gybe. If you do this you pretty much have to have twings too 'cause you lose some leverage on the pole.

While your at it, try the trigger pole ends. That really makes things slick for the foredeck.

On the Chesapeake Bay, a lot of folks have two cleats for the topping lift. The "normal" one remains on the cabin top for the pit crew to work and another one is added on the mast just below the exit point. With the cleat on the mast, the bowman can cleat off the topping lift, and then release it him/herself when performing the douse. At that time, the pit person is usually active stuffing the chute down the companionway.

Do most boats on the Chesapeake (or elsewhere) douse into the companionway? We've been dousing down the forward hatch. Our theory has been that the J-30 has such a small cockpit, the last thing we need back there is a spinnaker to suck into a jib car. Not to mention the pit person is making sure the halyard runs clean which would be difficult to do with a handfull of spinnaker in your way. How does it work on your boat?

Ed Austin
Chinook

Most people, I believe, do a conventional leeward take-down into the companionway. There are a few trendsetters who are doing hatch take-downs. These folks are also doing windward take-downs, so that all the lines remain connected and ready for the next hoist. In conventional leeward douse, the pit-person's last action before the take-down is to clear the halyard so that it can run freely. With this done, the halyard isn't usually an issue. As the spinnaker comes down, the pit-person pulls it from the mast-person and stuffs it below. After we've rounded the mark, she goes below and packs the chute for the next downwind leg.

[This message has been edited by jmruzzi (edited 04-26-2000).]

For a typical windward/leeward course with port roundings, a weather takedown is ideal. As Joe stated, all the lines end up on the side you need them for the next hoist. Another good reason is that the foredeck crew can remove the pole early while the mast crew holds the spinnaker guy out to help fly the chute without a pole (the jib is up by now). This way the foredeck can stow the pole prior to the mark rounding and help with the takedown. The mast crew pulls the foot of the chute around to weather. Then the halyard is released. You can either drop down the hatch or into the companionway. This method does require a little more experienced/practiced crew. The nice thing is you get your crew on the rail for the weather leg sooner.

[This message has been edited by Alan Grim (edited 04-26-2000).]

Here in Chicago, there was one boat that would do a foreward hatch takedown. We on Planxty douse into a bag in the companionway, almost always on the port side of the boat. We've never had a problem with the chute getting caught in the jib track.

Much like the suggestion above about the topping lift cleat on the mast, we have one for the spin halyard just below the mast exit. Works great for both hoists and douses. On hoists, the mast person gets the chute up and cleated and the pit person catches up when they can. On douses, just before the chute is ready to come down, we release from the cockpit stopper (after checking to be sure it's in the mast cleat) and pull the halyard forward to the mast base. Then the mast person can feed out the halyard as the pit person collects the chute without any conflict.

Just wondering, those of you who douse through the front hatch and leave lines connected. Don't you have any waves and/or spray where you sail?

Kent - those are some serious waves if you get water on the foredeck going downwind. I like the idea of a bag to stuff the chute into hanging in the companionway. Is it the same turtle you use on the rail to launch the chute? I've seen those used on J24s. The pit person just chases the tapes in the bag and leaves the lines hooked up. Then they just throw the sail out the side of the boat and hoist the halyard and guy at the same time. Works nicely for a small spinnaker like that on the J24. Do you do the same or do you take the bag foreward to the rail for sets?

We launch from a bag hung in the pulpit, and douse to leeward into the companionway, and it can get real ugly. Most of our racing is around the cans, so we can have a stbd rounding at one mark and port rounding at the next - that complicates the issue a bit. Launching from the pulpit gives us a lot of flexibility.

We have a hot J/29 fleet here - they race windward/leeward, and the majority (maybe all of them?) launch & douse in the forward hatch.