Tips on Handling Your Spinnaker
By Brian Hancock
Knowing how to handle a sail well is a mark of good seamanship for cruisers and racers alike.

The following text is an excerpt from Maximum Sail Power: The Complete Guide to Sails, Sail Technology and Performance by Brian Hancock (Nomad Press, publication Oct. 2003).

Techniques for Managing the Unmanageable   Sails are unwieldy, and without modern mechanics they would be almost impossible to handle. Fortunately, we are well past the days of simple block and tackle, and with hydraulics, multiple-speed winches and low-stretch, high-strength lines, we can tame just about any sail on any size boat. Taming a sail and handling it well, however, are two different things, and we will focus on the latter. Both racing and cruising sailors will benefit from knowing how to set and douse a spinnaker, how to reef a mainsail, and how best to furl a headsail. First we will tackle the interesting subject of spinnaker handling, dividing it into two categories: cruising and racing techniques. Then we will delve into the realm of working sails—reefing and tacking, dousing and hoisting—since there are plenty of tricks to doing these things well, whether cruising or out on the racecourse.

Spinnaker Handling Techniques for Cruisers   Many cruising sailors view both symmetrical and asymmetrical spinnakers with trepidation. It’s not setting the sail that strikes fear into their hearts. It’s getting it down. Using spinnakers mirrors much of sailing—it’s all about technique and planning, about knowing the end result of all actions. For example, if you ease a spinnaker sheet it not only deepens the sail, it also destabilizes it, which is not a problem if you are expecting the result, but which can be more than a little alarming if it takes you by surprise. In order to make setting a spinnaker easier and safer, there are a number of devices you can use to tame the sail while it is being set. Bear in mind that it’s hard to be specific about different techniques for different size boats without making the whole issue too confusing, so the following sections are general. You need to decide, given your boat size and level of experience, which techniques will work best for you.

The crew seen here is about to take its spinnaker down to leeward and make the transition to upwind sailing as quickly as possible.

Stopping a Spinnaker   Unless you are setting the lightest of spinnakers or on a fairly small boat, the sail should be in stops or in a spinnaker sock. Stops are either elastic bands or light pieces of yarn that are used to lash the sail to keep it from catching wind and setting prematurely. Larger boats (or spinnakers that are going to be set in a lot of wind) should be stopped with yarn. The yarn is more time consuming, but definitely worth the effort. It is the only safe and secure way to ensure that the spinnaker does not open prematurely.

Using Bands as Stops   This is the easiest way of stopping a spinnaker. To band the sail use the following procedure:

  1. Buy a sturdy plastic bucket and cut the bottom off.

  2. Take regular household rubber bands and pull them over the open end of the bucket until you have a few dozen bands loaded.

  3. Starting at the head of the spinnaker, pull the sail through the bucket releasing a band every two feet or so. The bands will snap around the fabric keeping the sail from opening when you are setting it.

  4. Stop banding the sail six to eight feet from the clews to allow them to be spread when you are hoisting the sail.

  5. If the spinnaker is light you can leave the clews as they are, but if you anticipate wind, you might consider banding the clews as well as the rest of the sail. To do so pull each clew through the bucket releasing bands as you go.

Once you have finished banding the sail it should look well trussed. Your main objective is to ensure that the spinnaker can be hoisted all the way to the top of the mast and the sheets and guys set before the wind catches the sail and begins breaking bands.

Using Yarns as Stops   Larger spinnakers, or those that might be set in stronger winds, need to be tied with yarn and carefully hand-folded. When I raced the Whitbread in the days of IOR maxi-boats the spinnakers were over 5,000 square feet in area, and we set them in 30 to 40 knots of wind. We had to be sure that the spinnakers were packed with the same care a pilot would pack his parachute.

Before you stop a spinnaker with yarn, you need to first prepare it by making some marks on the sail.

  1. Ensure that the corners of your sail are properly labelled as head and clew.

  2. Along the leeches put small arrows pointing toward the head of the sail. This will help you untangle the spinnaker when it gets dumped below after a sail change.

  3. Measure the foot of the sail and divide it in half and make a mark

    4. "Before you stop a spinnaker with yarn, you need to first prepare it by making some marks on the sail."

  4. Using a waterproof marker, make a mark on the leech of the sail up from the clew. The distance will be the half foot length that you just calculated.

To stop the sail use the following procedure:

  1. Start by running the leeches. Begin at the head and work your way down the sail until you get to the clew, making sure that there are no twists in the spinnaker.

  2. Starting at the head again and keeping the leeches together, start folding the body of the sail in toward the leeches. Keep the fold as neat and tight as possible.

  3. Using household yarn, wrap it around the spinnaker and tie it off securely.

  4. Move down the sail three feet and tie a second stop and so on until you get to the pre-marked point on the leech. (The point that is half the foot length up the leech).

  5. Stop each “leg” beginning at the clew in the same way you stopped the leeches.

  6. Once you are done, the whole sail should be neatly tied with no loose piece of fabric dangling in search of an errant puff of wind.

  7. Stuff any loose piece of nylon into the folds, otherwise it will catch the wind and foil your plans if given half a chance.

The spinnaker sock on the author's boat stands ready for action.

If dealing with buckets, bands, and spools of yarn is not your idea of a good time consider a sock. There are two kinds of socks: one that is used for packing and setting a spinnaker, and another that functions as a dousing sock and is used for both setting and dousing a spinnaker. Racing sailors will be familiar with the former, cruisers the latter. While a dousing sock sounds like a better option for all types of sailors, it involves a fibreglass hoop and a bunch of control lines that make it too heavy and unsuitable for racers to consider. Let’s look at the racing option first.

The Spinnaker Sock Some spinnaker socks are full-length contraptions that are equal in length to the spinnaker leeches. Others are shortened versions with a diaper. The latter type is made from a light nylon and is closed by a zipper that runs its length starting at the head of the sail and working down toward the leech. Just as we ended the leech stops a half foot-length up from the clew when banding a spinnaker, the sock ends at the same place. This is because for spinnakers that will be used in stronger winds it’s desirable to be able to set the pole and sheet where you want them before the spinnaker fills with air, and the only way you can achieve this is if the clews can be pulled apart with the legs stopped separately with wool or bands, and the diaper there to hold the body of the spinnaker in the sock as you hoist the sail. After this has been done you pull on a trip line attached to the diaper, the body spills out, the zipper breaks open and the sail sets. For its part, the sock comes floating down to be retrieved and used again.

The only difference with the full-length version is that the sock runs all the way from the head to the clew and there is no need for a diaper. The obvious drawback is that the clews cannot be spread apart before the sail fills with air. This is fine for light spinnakers used in gentle breezes since you don’t have to worry about separating the sheet and guy set before the sail fills to avoid having it become a wildly gyrating, uncontrollable piece of nylon.

A dousing sock makes handling a spinaker much easier.

The Dousing Sock   This invention has done for the cruising spinnaker what roller-furling did for cruising headsails, i.e., made the sail more manageable and less intimidating. The dousing sock is similar to the spinnaker sock except that it does not have a zipper. Instead, the sock is pulled down over the sail with a rigid fiberglass hoop that collapses the spinnaker and feeds it into the sock. The hoop has flared edges, and when a takedown line is pulled it gathers the spinnaker fabric and the sock slides down the sail until the spinnaker is completely doused and ready to be lowered. Control lines run in a separate pocket from the spinnaker, and include lines that are used both to hoist the hoop when setting the sail and lower the hoop when the sail is doused.