J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum Racing Tools and Techniques twings and sheets

I don't think I am running my spin gear the best way....
We have not been using our twings, and we are running our spin sheets straight back to the aft corner turning block. It essentially means we are running everything inside the stantions.
What is the right way to run the sheets and twings?
Thanks,
Chris

Prior threads seem to agree
1. you need guy twing when running beamish to keep guy off shroud and better control of pole off forestay. and the guy needs to be inside lifeline {because the boat is so wide}
2. you need to run out side lifeline dead down wind to keep guy from putting a lot of pressure on stanchions and lifelines.

other than that individual crews work out what to do to help eliminate rolling or control of the lines when jibing.

Agree with 1 (or use a snatch block) but not 2. Never had a problem inside with the guy even dead down. Search the site with keyword 'twing' and you will get plenty of opinions. Mine is twings are a needless complication for W-L in typical weather conditions. Great for reaching or in high winds for example they might've helped here.

I used to run spin sheets outside the lifeline but converted to inside a couple years ago. The twing coordination is much easier. Twings are run back on the cabin top so one person can both release and pull in opposite side twings from the center of the boat.

This summer I mounted padeyes about 3 inches behind and 1 inch outboard of the shrouds to put turning blocks for the twings, thus giving a better angle to pull the spinnaker pole down. They used to be attached to the stanchion base aft of that position. I have found that there is no need for a foreguy anymore unless the wind is really blowing. I wish I had done that years ago!

Likewise on running inside. A broken stanchion taught us that. Way less pressure on the lifelines from the guy running ddw from inside than trying to reach in even light winds with sheets outside.

Whatever we are doing works. In 5 knots or less, we can fly the spinnaker effectively up to 55 degrees apparent which gives a sizable advantage in a distance race to keep the boat moving.

I noticed on the video that Bob posted that the sheets and guys go to a turning block in the corner and then come forward to a block near the cabin top winches for trimming..
Do most of you do that?
We have just been taking the sheet and guys to the corner and forward to the trimmers.
That extra turn and block might make things a little cleaner.

The extra turning block near the winches is exactly for the reason you state - helps keep the cockpit cleaner without the extra lines. That's how we do it on Rhapsody. In recent years, we installed the automatic load sensing ratcheting blocks so the trimmer doesn't need a turn on the winch until the breeze is up.

Did you just mount the extra blocks to the rings in the stanchion base, or would this put excessive pressure on the stanchion?

How does the *sheet* work inside the lifeline? It sure seems like the lead from the block to the spinnaker clew would not be fair, going up over the lifelines.

The blocks forward for the spinnaker are attached to the aft ring on the stanchion base. We have not had any problems and as you can tell from the video we have tested it out pretty well. We have added plastic backing plates to all the stanchions so they don't rip out of the deck.

You can see the port spinnaker sheet lead at about 30-35 seconds on the video and again just touching the lifeline cushions from around 1 minute on, then the after guy on the port side at the very end of the video.

I had not watched that video for a while. Similar conditions this spring at the NOOD which I hople we handled better but no video. Watching today it seems like the knock down after the gybe lasted longer than the 30 seconds it did. I had the same helpless feeling as I did at the time. You see my good friend and long time shipmate Barry at the mast trying to release the vang within seconds of the boom hitting the water which is what finally allows the boat to pop back up and the rudder get back in the water. I will say he has more experience doing this than anyone I know.

I would have expected to have the pole further back than it was on starboard tack in those conditions. So being curious I looked up my wind records from nearby Thomas Point Light and our GPS track. Our course and the course to the turning the mark was 170. The wind was 20 knots at 320. That means we were sailing 30 degrees higher than dead down wind on starboard. After gybing at the mark our the course to the next mark was 10 degrees above DDW on port at 130 which explains why the pole is further back near the end of the video closer to where I would expect it to be in those conditions.

Bob:

I don't see a twing on the port side. You don't run them? Would get the twing on as soon as the pole was made have mitigated the kite getting away?

joe

Correct, no twings in that video. Those are the conditions where they would be most useful, reaching course for the sheet angle and heavy air to choke off the kite.

It doesn't really affect the sheet much except at the hottest of kite angles. Anywhere deeper than 120 apparent and the kite is far enough to windward, and the yacht wide enough that the sheet goes strait from the stern block to the clew.