Flying the Spinnaker

Weather: Winds NNW variable at 0-5 knots, Temp: 63F, Skys: Clear, Sea-State: Calm, Pressure: 1011mb. Time: 1300-1800

Crew: Sparkles & Pom Pom

Although, I worked nights last night, I did manage to get 3 hours of sleep and thus, opted to go sailing. We decided on Alum Creek Lake as the greater east-west width would allow for less tacking as we made our way up north from the south-easterly boat launch. I was eager to try out the new Spinnaker and confident that the light winds would make it more forgiving. Setting up we met a team from Hoover Sailing Club. They had brought their interlake sailing boat, and graciously offered some advise on how to launch the Spinnaker.

The trouble with Spinnakers is that they are notoriously difficult to sail. Spinnakers are very light weight sails with huge surface areas which are meant to catch the wind like a parachute (they are often called kites or chutes) and drive the boat down-wind. Given their size (sometimes twice the surface area of the mainsail) and that their rigging has to be supported completely outside all the other lines of the boat, just launching the Spinnaker can go terribly wrong.

Unfortunately, as Spinnakers are a down-wind sail and we were launching from the south end of the lake, we would need to make our way to the north end of the lake before we could do any down-wind sailing (The wind was blowing from North to South). The painfully light winds made getting north rather unfortunate. In fact, for the first 40 minutes or so Ponnila and I took turns paddling and tacking just to make it half way up the lake.

But then, at last it came; We turned the boat south and began to set up. I wish I could say that we deployed the spinnaker without fault on our first try, but that would be dishonest. First the lines were tangled, then the wind stopped, but finally, after drifting half way back down to the south end of the lake, a gust of wind caught the spinnaker at the right time and it filled with air. The boat came to life, surfing South propelled by a giant kite.

We reached the south end of the lake and by this time, the winds had picked up a little and we were able to sail (not paddle) back to the north. When we launched the spinnaker initially, we had taken pains to make sure that all the lines were in the proper position and ready to launch while on land. This time, however, we were dealing with a spinnaker we had recovered while under way after our last launch. The lines where no where near as organized. The winds, were also being shifty resulting in several unanticipated gybes. This time as I attempted to launch the spinnaker instead of going up into the air, it got sucked down into the water.

This is one of the most dreaded complications of spinnaker launch and retrieval. The huge parachute that was meant to fill with air now fills with water and essentially becomes a sea anchor. The thin material it is made out of is easily ripped by the drag of the water fighting with the momentum of the boat. We quickly untied two of the three lines that were attaching it to the boat, letting it float underneath the boat and pulling it up from the stern. With it, came half of alum creek lake into the boat leaving us a bit wet.

In spite of this set-back we were not to be detoured and we re-set the spinnaker. Our second attempt made for a successful second launch. We were able to ride it for some time, however, the wind started shifting more to the west and we recovered the kite and headed back in.

All in all an excellent day of sailing, albeit a little on the light side.