Flying a Spinnaker
with the Washington Yacht Club
Second Edition
August 9th, 1997

Acknowledgements
Many thanks are due to Bob Vanderpol and Aaron Koopman for their significant and essential contribution to this manual. They provided much of the content that is included here.

Several books were also invaluable resources: Sail Power by Wallace Ross, The Art and Science of Sails by Tom Whidden and Michael Levitt, and Spinnaker Handling, Second Edition by Bent Aaree.

Marlan Crosier
August 9th, 1997

Foreword
The purpose of this manual is to provide a brief and inexpensive guide to competently and safely use a spinnaker on club boats. It is assumed that the reader already knows how to sail and is familiar with the club and it's rules and procedures.

The primary audience of the manual are those club members who sail keelboats. Most of the material in the manual, however, also applies to dinghies.

The manual is divided into three chapters:
Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Spinnaker
Chapter 2 - Basic Spinnaker Handling
Chapter 3 - Advanced Spinnaker Techniques

Chapter 1 introduces the spinnaker, briefly describes it's history, and covers rules governing it's use at the WYC.

Chapter 2 presents basic spinnaker handling terminology, brief and to-the-point instructions for the four basic spinnaker handling procedures: raising, trimming, jibing, and dropping, and tips for troubleshooting common problems. This chapter includes everything you need to know to fly a spinnaker in light to moderate winds.

Chapter 3 covers the additional techniques and problem solving required to fly a spinnaker safely in heavier winds.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION TO THE SPINNAKER

Description and Purpose
A Brief History
WYC Information and Rules

CHAPTER 2 - BASIC SPINNAKER HANDLING

Spinnaker Terminology
Raising the Spinnaker
Trimming the Spinnaker
Jibing the Spinnaker
Dropping the Spinnaker
Spinnaker Handling Checklist
Solving Problems

• Man overboard when flying a spinnaker
• Difficulty raising Spinnaker
• Twist (Hourglass)
• Spinnaker is collapsing
• Spinnaker wrapped around forestay
• Difficulty getting Spinnaker down

CHAPTER 3 - ADVANCED SPINNAKER TECHNIQUES

Broaching: What it is and What to do about it
Rolling: What it is and What to do about it

Chapter 1 - Introduction to the Spinnaker

Description and Purpose
A spinnaker is a large parachute-shaped sail, usually made of nylon, which is used when sailing downwind. Sailing downwind with a spinnaker is usually much faster than sailing under main and genoa alone. Once you have experienced the speed and exhilaration flying a spinnaker can produce, you will feel at a loss if you aren't sailing downwind under spinnaker.

Other names for a spinnaker you may hear include "chute" (as in parachute) and "kite".

A Brief History
The spinnaker was invented around 1866 and thus is relatively new in the history of sailing. It is believed that the name came from one of the first boats to fly a spinnaker, Spinx. Since the sail was quite large, it was called Spinx's "acre", which eventually evolved into the modern term.

WYC Information and Rules
Club boats that are rigged for spinnaker use include two of the keelboats (Excalibur and Caravel) and some of the dinghies (the Laser IIs, the 505s, the Flying Scot, and the Catalina). According to the Club's Daysailing book, members with Novice and higher ratings can, after "asking for assistance", use a spinnaker. In other words, there is no formal rating required to use a spinnaker.

Chapter 2 - Basic Spinnaker Handling

Chapter 2 covers everything you need to know to fly a spinnaker in light to moderate winds. This includes basic terminology, instructions for the four basic spinnaker handling procedures: raising, trimming, jibing, and dropping, and tips for solving problems you may run into. Chapter 3 covers heavy weather spinnaker handling. The manual has been divided in this way because the nature of the spinnaker changes as the wind increases. In heavier winds, the spinnaker becomes harder to handle and even dangerous if handled incorrectly. In contrast, one is very unlikely to get into serious trouble when flying a spinnaker in light to moderate winds. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you initially limit use of the spinnaker to light to moderate winds. In fact, it would be best to begin practicing spinnaker use in lighter winds and wait until you feel comfortable with the basic procedures before taking on moderate winds. Don't fly a spinnaker in heavy winds until you have a good base of experience in moderate winds and you have read Chapter 3.

Spinnaker Terminology

Each of the terms noted on this diagram are described in the table below.

Term	Purpose/Description
Sheet	Trims sail (just like a jib sheet).
Guy	Controls pole position. When reaching hard, has the most force on it of any line on boat.
Pole	In a effect a boom, usually used to keep sail as far from boat as possible.
Topping lift	Adjusts height of pole; helps keep pole under control.
Downhaul	Keep poles from rising too high ("skying"). If the pole rises too high, the spinnaker ring may break.
Bridle	Wire rigging with a ring in the middle which is permanently attached to the ends of the pole. The topping lift and downhaul each attach to a bridle.
Track & Slide	Adjusts height of inboard end of pole. Some boats (e.g., J/24s) use rings fixed at different levels rather than track and slide.
Bag (Turtle)	A wide-mouthed bag with a wire rim designed to facilitate raising the spinnaker. (Not shown in the diagram.)

Raising the Spinnaker
The very first thing that should be done is to decide if the spinnaker should be raised at all. The conditions (wind and waves), crew experience, and equipment should be considered. If, for example, the crew is inexperienced and/or are unfamiliar with the boat, raising the spinnaker in winds heavier than 15 knots would not be a good idea.

The process of raising the spinnaker can be divided into two stages: getting everything ready for the raise and the actual raise. These are described separately below. The number of steps needed to get ready to raise the spinnaker may seem overwhelming at first. It is true that there are quite a number of steps but you will find as you work through them that for the most part they are logical and obvious. Also, there is no need to be in a hurry while you are getting ready to raise the spinnaker; you have plenty of time to think through and then check your preparations.

Getting Ready to Raise the Spinnaker
First, check that the spinnaker is packed into it's bag correctly. A correctly packed spinnaker will have no twists. Hoisting a spinnaker that has twists in it (which will probably be the case if it is simply stuffed into it's bag) will usually result in a problem called an "hourglass". The name comes from what the spinnaker will look like: a twist part way up the sail will separate it into top and bottom segments both of which will have filled with wind. How to untwist an "hourglassed" spinnaker is covered later in this section.

If you can't tell for sure whether it has been packed correctly, repack it. Here's how:

1. Find a corner.
2. Follow edges of the sail to the other two corners. As you do this, gather the edges in one hand (one hand will be holding the edges while the other is used to pull the edge to you). This process will remove any twists in the spinnaker.
3. Stuff the foot and the "body" into the bag first. Then put the edges in your hand in. This will appear to be somewhat of a messy operation; this is fine since any twists that do occur will be near one of the corners and aren't likely to cause a problem. Put the cover on the bag so that the three corners of the sail stick out.

Second, rig the spinnaker sheets and check that the spinnaker halyard, topping lift, and downhaul are rigged correctly (e.g., the spinnaker halyard is not tangled up with the jib halyard). When rigging the spinnaker sheets, do not tie stopper (figure eight) knots at the ends of the sheets. Since it is common practice to put stopper knots in jib sheets, you naturally would expect do the same thing with spinnaker sheets. However, stopper knots at the end of spinnaker sheets can be dangerous given that they can result in the spinnaker pulling the boat over at an extreme angle and causing crew to fall overboard or possibly even sinking the boat. This is important enough to state again:

Third, assign jobs to crew. Crew should be assigned to the following positions:

Position	Duties and Selection Criteria
Foredeck Person	One person should be assigned to handle foredeck tasks (e.g., handling the pole, attaching lines to the spinnaker, raising and lowering halyards, etc.). If there are extra people, a second person can be assigned to foredeck as this will make it easier to raise, jibe, and drop the spinnaker. The foredeck position would typically be assigned to one of the most experienced of the crew.
Sail Trimmers	At least two people should be assigned to sail trimming duties. They will trim the jib going upwind and the spinnaker downwind. They may also control pole height and help gather the spinnaker during a drop.
Driver	Obviously somebody needs to drive the boat. But keep in mind that this doesn't always have to be the skipper; having another fairly experienced person drive will free the skipper up to deal with any problems that may arise.

In general, a crew of four is a reasonable minimum size for flying a spinnaker on the club's keelboats. Five or six crew would be somewhat better, especially in heavy wind or if racing. On the other hand, two people can certainly fly a spinnaker on our keelboats especially if both are experienced. However, this is not advisable in heavy wind.

Fourth, prepare spinnaker and associated rigging for the raise as follows:

1. Attach the spinnaker bag to the bowsprit.
2. Attach the halyard, sheet, and guy to the appropriate corners. To avoid the embarrassment of raising the spinnaker sideways, make sure the halyard is attached to the head of the spinnaker (the corner that is red and green and/or labeled head). The halyard, sheet, and guy should go outside of everything else on the boat (getting the sheet or guy tangled in the bowsprit or lifelines is a common mishap).
3. Attach the pole to the mast so that the jaws of the pole are facing up and the outboard end of the pole is on the windward side of the boat.
4. Put the guy into the outboard end jaws.
5. Raise the pole to a level position using the topping lift and then snug the downhaul so pole can't "sky" (rise up).
6. Prepare the sheet and guy for trimming. Both should be wrapped around winches; the sheet once or twice and the guy two or three times (there is more force on the guy than on the sheet).
7. Talk through the steps with the crew so that everyone is clear on what they will do when. This is a critical step that even experienced crews do.

Everything should now be ready for the spinnaker raise. Read on to find out how to do the actual raise.

Raising the Spinnaker
The following actions should happen close to simultaneously:

1. Driver steers to a broad reach (so the spinnaker is in the "wind shadow" of the the main and jib sails).
2. Foredeck person opens top of bag, hoists the spinnaker all of the way up, and then drops the jib.
3. Sheet trimmer pulls in several feet as spinnaker is raised and then begins trimming once the sail is fully hoisted.
4. Once the spinnaker is fully hoisted, the guy trimmer brings the pole back to approximately a 45 degree angle.

Trimming the Spinnaker
The following instructions cover the basics of trimming the spinnaker. If you are not worried about going as fast as possible (i.e., you aren't racing), this may be all you'll ever need to know.

Trimming the spinnaker primarily involves only three adjustments: (1) raising or lowering the pole, (2) moving the outboard end of the pole forward or aft, and (3) pulling in or easing the sheet. Fortunately, there are good indicators of what to do in each of these three areas. The following table describes how and when to make each of these adjustments.

Adjustment	How to Adjust
Height	The pole height should be set so that the tack and the clew are at the same height. So, for example, if the tack (the pole corner) is lower than the clew then you will raise the pole. When changing pole height be sure to adjust the inboard end of the pole so that it stays level (i.e. perpendicular to the mast). Keeping the pole level assures that the spinnaker is "catching" the most wind possible. It is also safer since the pole's rigging becomes less effective as the pole tilts up or down.
Angle	The pole should be set so that it is perpendicular to the apparent wind direction. (Apparent wind is the wind you experience on the boat which is combination of the actual wind and the wind created by your movement through the water.) This is easiest to do when the boat has a wind vane on top of the mast. If the boat doesn't have a wind vane, you can make do by attaching lengths of yarn to the middle of the pole, to the shrouds, or to the backstay.
Sheet	The sheet should be eased until the luff just begins to curl. The trimmer should be continually easing and sheeting in (it is easy to over trim and thus stall the spinnaker).

Jibing the Spinnaker
Jibing the spinnaker is a fairly straightforward process in light and moderate winds. While the foredeck person and sail trimmers do most of the work, the driver is really the key to a good jibe. As long as the driver steers the correct course, the jibe will be easy.

Before beginning the jibe, the crew should review the steps involved.

following jibing instructions are given by position since jibing process involves roughly simultaneous action on the parts of all the crew.

Driver
The driver calls out "Jibing" and heads directly downwind. The driver keeps the boat heading dead downwind until the spinnaker has been jibed. Turning to a broad reach too soon will make the jibe more difficult; don't steer to the new course until the jibe is complete.

The spinnaker may move from side to side during the jibe. When this happens, the driver should try to keep the chute centered over the boat. To do this, turn the boat so that it "follows" the spinnaker (if the spinnaker moves to the left, then turn to the left). Often, the course steered will form an "S". The boat is first turned to a broad reach on the other side of the wind to jibe the main and then turned back to a run to keep the boat under the spinnaker.

Once the boat is heading dead down, the mainsail can be jibed. The driver or another crew member can do this.

Sail Trimmers
As the driver turns to a dead downwind, the sail trimmers trim the spinnaker for a run: the pole is brought back and the sheet eased. Then during the jibe, they trim the spinnaker so that it continues to fly. For example, if the starboard edge of the spinnaker starts curling, the person controlling the port line (it may be a sheet or a guy) trims the line in a bit.

Foredeck Person
The foredeck person does the following:

1. Moves to a position in front of the mast and faces aft. (Some people find it works better to face forward; experiment and do what works best for you.)
2. Takes inboard end of pole off mast and attaches it to the new guy. Don't worry if the outboard end of the pole comes off the old guy at the same time. This can actually make the jibe easier.
3. Takes other end of pole off old guy and attaches it to mast. To be able to do this, the outboard end of the pole may need to be pushed forward and the new guy may need to be eased.
4. Calls out "Made" when done.

Once the jibe is complete, the driver steers to the new desired course and the trimmers adjust sail trim to the proper settings.

Dropping the Spinnaker
Dropping the spinnaker involves the following steps:

1. Crew reviews the steps prior to beginning.
2. Foredeck person raises the jib.
3. Driver steers to a broad reach to put the spinnaker in the main and jib "wind shadow".
4. Trimmers ease pole forward and lower it so the foredeck person can reach quick release at the tack of the spinnaker.
5. Foredeck person releases tack (the result will be that the guy is no longer attached to the spinnaker) and prepares to lower spinnaker. Some boats, such as Caravel, are rigged with sheets that don't have quick releases. On these boats, the guy trimmer simply lets the guy run out through the pole (i.e., lets go of the guy).
6. Person who will be gathering spinnaker grabs sheet just behind shrouds (and over the lifelines) and begins gathering the foot of the spinnaker.
7. Once the foot of the spinnaker is gathered (and only then!), the foredeck person begins lowering the spinnaker. The spinnaker should be lowered no faster than the it can be gathered (person gathering should communicate with foredeck person to accomplish this).
8. As the spinnaker is lowered, the gatherer stuffs it into cabin. It helps to have a second person stuffing the spinnaker into the cabin. NOTE: If the spinnaker gets wet during the drop, you should hang it out to dry in the sail locker before putting it away. Nylon itself is not particularly susceptible to mildewing but any dirt on the sail can easily start to mildew. Furthermore, nylon loses some of it's strength when wet and therefore is more likely to rip or otherwise fail when next used if it is not dry.
9. De-rig all of the spinnaker gear.

Spinnaker Handling Checklist
The following checklist summarizes the key steps in the raising, trimming, jibing, and dropping the spinnaker.

Raising

• Decide if crew and equipment are up to conditions.
• Make sure the spinnaker is packed correctly.
• Rig sheets and check halyards, topping lift, and downhaul. Remember: no stopper knots in the sheets.
• Assign crew to positions.
• Bag attached to bowsprit.
• Halyard attached to head, sheet and guy attached to spinnaker clews, and all lines outside everything.
• Pole attached to mast on windward side, raised with topping lift, and secured with downhaul.
• Guy through end of pole.
• Sheet and guy around winches and crew ready.
• Steps reviewed with crew.
• Steer to broad reach.
• Hoist spinnaker (then drop jib).
• Trim sheet several sheet.
• Bring pole back to 45 degrees.

Trimming

• Pole height set so even with clew.
• Pole angle set so perpendicular to (apparent) wind.
• Sheet eased until luff is just curling.

Jibing

• Crew reviews steps before beginning.
• Driver turns to dead downwind course and jibes main.
• Trimmers ease sheet and bring pole back (trim sail to dead downwind course).
• Foredeck removes pole and re-attaches it to the new guy and the mast and calls "made".

Dropping

• Crew reviews steps before beginning.
• Foredeck raises jib.
• Driver turns to broad reach.
• Trimmers adjust pole so foredeck person can reach the tack.
• Foredeck person releases tack (or trimmer releases guy).
• Gatherer gathers foot first then gathers and stuffs spinnaker into the cabin as foredeck person lowers it.

Solving Problems
This section covers problems that may arise while flying a spinnaker in light or moderate winds and what to do about them.

Man overboard when flying a spinnaker
Solutions:
The person who went overboard will be upwind of you since you were flying the spinnaker and thus were heading downwind. So to return to the person you'll need to go upwind, and unless the wind is fairly light, you can't do this with a spinnaker up.

How fast you need to take down or get rid of the spinnaker depends on seriousness of the situation. Factors that increase the seriousness of a situation include:
- the person who fell overboard isn't wearing a life jacket
- the water is cold
- there are large waves
- the wind is heavy
- visibility is low (e.g., at night)

If you judge the situation to be serious, get rid of the spinnaker as quickly as possible. Let the sheets run all the way out and cut the halyard.

In a less serious situation, such was when the person is wearing a life jacket, the water is warm, visibility is good, and the winds are moderate, you may choose to lower the spinnaker before returning to pick the person up. Or you may still let the sheets run and cut the halyard but take a moment to tie a life jacket to one of the sheets so you can retrieve the spinnaker later. If the wind is light, you may be able to simply leave the spinnaker up or at least lower it as you return to get the person in the water.

Obviously, what's by far the most important is recovering the person safely. Do whatever you think is necessary to accomplish this in the situation that you are in.

Difficulty raising Spinnaker
Description:
The spinnaker fills before it is fully raised. The force on the halyard increases to the extent that it may be impossible to continue raising the spinnaker.

Solutions:

• East the sheet to luff the spinnaker.
• Blanket the chute behind the main by steering to a broad reach and easing the pole forward. This should allow you to finish raising the spinnaker.
• Drop the chute as you normally would and try raising it again.

Twist (Hourglass)
Description:
A twist in the spinnaker in which the parts above and below the twist fill with wind and thus keep the sail from untwisting. The result is shaped like an hourglass, which explains the commonly used name for this problem.

Prevention:

• Make sure the spinnaker is packed without twists.
• Quickly trim the guy and sheet (thus separating the tack and clew) when hoisting the spinnaker. When doing this, be careful not to trim too far as doing so could damage the foot of the sail.

Solutions:

• Pull down hard on the center of the foot. The goal is to create a vertical column around which the spinnaker can untwist.
• Lower the halyard a foot or two and then strongly jerk the halyard several times. This is called "jumping" the chute. It is only feasible on small boats as there is too much force on the halyard on larger boats.
• If the previous solutions don't work in a few seconds, taking the spinnaker down and then untwisting it will be the fastest and safest approach. In light or moderate winds, you'll probably be able to untwist the spinnaker on the deck. However, this will work only if the helmsman steers to a broad reach to blanket the spinnaker behind the main. In heavier winds, take the chute completely down and repack it below decks.

Spinnaker is collapsing
Solutions:
There are three basic reasons a spinnaker collapses (or doesn't ever fill): the sheet is not trimmed correctly, the forward and aft position of the pole (i.e., it's angle) is incorrect, or the wind is too light.

The solutions are simple in the first two cases: trim the sheet correctly and reset the pole. For the sheet to be trimmed correctly, the pole angle has to be correct. So you should check the pole angle first. As indicated earlier, the pole should be perpendicular to the apparent wind. However, in light air it is sometimes hard to determine the direction of the apparent wind. It is usually easier to figure out that the pole is too far back than if it is too far forward as the wind will back the spinnaker (blow it against the forestay and mast) if it is. Thus the general rule for pole position in light air: if in doubt, bring the pole back.

As with other sails, the need to trim the sheet is indicated by the luff of the spinnaker. If the luff of the sail collapses first, then the sheet needs to be trimmed. If the collapse doesn't start at the luff, then the spinnaker is either overtrimmed and is stalling or being blanketed by the main. It is easy to overtrim in light air so constantly try easing the sheet to make sure you are not overtrimmed. If easing the sheet doesn't help, the pole is probably too far foward so that the chute is getting blanketed by the main.

If the wind is too light, you are stuck, right? Not necessarily. There are some things you can try that may enable you to fill the spinnaker in light wind:

• Turn upwind slightly. This may increase the strength of the apparent wind sufficiently to fill the chute.
• Lower the pole. This straightens the luff and flattens the sail which reduces the force needed to fill the sail. It also makes the luff less likely to collapse (i.e., more "forgiving").
• Make sure the spinnaker is raised all of the way up. This keeps the head of the spinnaker in the best shape and also keeps the sail as high as possible (wind strength increases with altitude).
• Use a lighter spinnaker and sheets if available.

Spinnaker wrapped around forestay
This almost always happens when jibing. During the jibe, the spinnaker collapses, due either to improper trim and/or turning up toward a beam too fast, and somehow gets wrapped around the forestay. Fortunately, this problem is fairly rare.

Prevention:

• Keep the spinnaker flying during the jibe. As the boat turns up after the jibe, the new guy needs to be eased and the new sheet trimmed.
• Don't turn up close to a beam reach until the spinnaker is completely jibed and flying.

Solutions:

• Try repeatedly jibing and heading up. This can sometimes unwrap the spinnaker fairly effectively.
• Send a person up on a bosun's chair to unwrap the chute by hand.
• Cut the spinnaker off (in heavy winds it may be simply impossible to unwrap the spinnaker).

Difficulty getting Spinnaker down
Solutions:
Blanket behind main by steering to a broad reach.

Chapter 3 - Advanced Spinnaker Techniques

This chapter describes how to handle a spinnaker safely in heavier winds. Flying a spinnaker in heavy winds is not only significantly more challenging than flying a spinnaker in light and moderate winds, but it is also more dangerous. The increased potential for harm to crew or boat results primarily from two potential problems: broaching and rolling. The rest of this chapter covers these two problems: what they are, when they can happen, how to prevent them, and how to resolve them if they do happen.

So if it is more dangerous, why would one ever want to use a spinnaker in heavy winds? First of all, the danger is minimal when the crew is knowledgeable and experienced. Secondly, given that danger can be minimized, flying a spinnaker in heavier winds provides the experienced sailor with an experience that can be both challenging and fun in the same way that experiences like navigating on Puget Sound at night can be challenging and fun. Thirdly, sailboat racers commonly fly spinnakers in heavy winds.

Broaching: What it is and What to do about it
What it is:
When one loses the ability to turn the boat using the rudder and it rounds up so that it is broadside to the wind and heeled over, usually at an extreme angle, one has broached.

A broach is not only a scary experience, but it can also be dangerous to crew (e.g., someone falls overboard) or it can result in damage to the boat (e.g., the boom breaks when it hits the water). In extreme cases, a broach could sink the boat by keeping it heeled far enough for it to fill with water.

When it can happen:
A broach usually happens when reaching hard in strong winds. It may be initiated by a gust (most common), a large wave, or helmsman inattention. The result is that, due to increased heeling, or a change in the balance of forces on the sails, and/or waves, the rudder loses it's ability to steer the boat, and the broach occurs. Read the box titled "Anatomy of a Broach" for more on how broaches occur.

Anatomy of a Broach As mentioned earlier, any of a number of factors may lead to a broach. Whatever the initial cause, the basic result is that the force acting to turn the boat into the wind (largely from the main) becomes stronger than the force acting to keep the boat from turning into the wind (the rudder and the spinnaker). So anything that reduces the forces generated by the rudder or the spinnaker relative to the force generated by the main can cause a broach. Thus a broach might occur, for example, when a wave lifts the rudder out of the water. More common, however, is a broach caused by a wind gust. Here's what happens when a gust hits the boat. First, the gust causes an increase in heeling of the boat. This reduces the effectiveness of the rudder by either by angling some of it's generated force down instead of sideways or by lifting all or part of the rudder out of the water. Second, the gust pushes the deepest part of the spinnaker aft. This moves the spinnaker's sideward force aft. When the spinnaker's side force moves aft (closer to the keel), it is no longer balances as much of the main's side force. This is similar to what happens when one of the two people who are balanced on a teeter-totter moves toward the middle. The reduced rudder effectiveness and the movement of the spinnaker's side force aft both reduce the forces keeping the boat from turning up into the wind and thus the broach occurs. Once the boat has turned into the wind, one would expect the spinnaker to luff and then completely collapse. However, the spinnaker actually stays full as the boat rounds up to windward because the wind is now entering the sail at the foot.

Prevention:

• Avoid close or beam reaching in heavy wind.
• Move the crew windward and aft to help keep the rudder in the water.
• Bear off (turn downwind) before a gust hits.
• Depower the main by flattening it, by letting the top twist off to leeward and luff (bring the traveler to windward and ease the sheet), or by luffing the entire sail.
• Move the pole farther back than usual. This will direct more of the force generated by the spinnaker forward. It will also flatten and thus depower the sail as the sheet will need to be trimmed harder to keep the spinnaker from luffing.

Solutions:
If you react quickly enough, you can luff the main to stop a broach. This will have two positive effects: the rudder will be more effective (as a result of reduced heeling) and weather helm (the twisting force causing boat to turn into the wind) will decrease.

If this doesn't work (and it won't by itself once you have fully broached), here's what to do:

1. Let the sheet run out until spinnaker collapses.

CAUTION: DON'T EASE THE GUY! The spinnaker won't collapse. Instead, it will just move farther away from the boat. This will make the problem worse.

2. Turn upwind (into the broach). This will increase the effectiveness of the rudder (through "reattached flow") and help collapse the spinnaker.

Once the boat has straightened up, turn down to a broad reach to build speed before coming back up to a hard reach. If you try to return to your previous course you may immediately broach again.

Rolling: What it is and What to do about it

What it is:
Rolling is occurring when the boat rocks from side to side. Rolling can increase in severity if it is allowed to continue as each roll causes the next roll to be more severe.

Probably the most serious consequence of rolling is an accidental jibe. In the heavy winds necessary for rolling to occur, the boom will fly across the boat at a terrifying speed. Considering that this can happen quickly and without warning, an accidental jibe caused by rolling can be a dangerous event. To make matters worse, a broach may occur after an accidental jibe.

Rolling can also cause the boom or the spinnaker pole to hit the water and break.

When it can happen:
Rolling usually occurs when running or sailing by the lee in strong winds and big waves with pole back and sheet eased.

Prevention:

• Don't carry a spinnaker in such conditions (a jib may be just as fast).
• Don't run dead down or by the lee in heavy winds and waves.
• Move the pole further forward than usual and slightly over trim the sheet (this directs more force forward rather than sideways).
• Drop the pole lower than usual to reduce the spinnaker's freedom of movement.
• Bring the sheet into the tweaker (a block attached to or near the gunwale amidships), again, to reduce the spinnaker's freedom of movement.
• Make sure the spinnaker is raised all the way up; not doing this allows the chute to swing back and forth more.
• Make sure the top of the mainsail isn't rotated too far forward. If the top rotates forward of the mast, the force generated will push the top of the mast to windward.

Solutions:
To stop rolling once it has started, steer to a higher course and ease the pole forward and trim the sheet.