On a recent outing in the Apostle Islands with ideal conditions, we tried out setting the spinnaker and genoa wing and wing. It was a blast. After setting only the spinnaker, we were going 3.5kts in 7.5kts true (~4kts apparent). I rigged the downhaul/tack line without the connector wrap around the furled genoa. It ran from the cockpit to the stem piece as far forward as possible then straight up to the tack from there. We rolled out the genny to port and gained just over a half a knot.
Really fun and one finger was needed on the helm. The wind increased and we were making 5-5.5kts for a while. I felt like I could carry this rig safely up to a wind speed of about 12kts true, but we made our destination before the wind piped up that much. In that case it would have been a simple matter to either roll in the genny or douse the spinnaker with the sock. We held this course for over a couple hours with minimal fuss. If I were making a passage I would consider running out the boom with a preventer and run the sheet to whichever sail is collapsing through a snatch block at the end of it.
Note: I believe the spinnaker is not original to the boat but came with it when we got her. At some point I would love to sew up a proper gennaker based on its foretriangle for similar use. I'd have to lengthen the sock though as well.
I really prefer this set up to using the main if you are going well downwind. As you can see, the boom was used for other purposes that day.
Double Headsail Downwind Rig
Moderator: Jim Walsh
Double Headsail Downwind Rig
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Paul
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John Stone
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Re: Double Headsail Downwind Rig
Paul
Very nice picture. What a great day of sailing you must have had. That's a great light air sail combo. It makes downwind sailing in light air much more enjoyable. I do something similar. I use the whisker pole to hold the jib out on one side. Then I attach a snatch block to the end of the boom (the mainsail is dropped), run the asymmetric spinnaker or drifter sheet through the block to a deck winch and use a preventer to hold the boom out like a spinnaker pole on the other side. The whisker pole and boom greatly increase the range of downwind angles I can sail without the headsails collapsing.
Very nice picture. What a great day of sailing you must have had. That's a great light air sail combo. It makes downwind sailing in light air much more enjoyable. I do something similar. I use the whisker pole to hold the jib out on one side. Then I attach a snatch block to the end of the boom (the mainsail is dropped), run the asymmetric spinnaker or drifter sheet through the block to a deck winch and use a preventer to hold the boom out like a spinnaker pole on the other side. The whisker pole and boom greatly increase the range of downwind angles I can sail without the headsails collapsing.