proper length of whisker pole?

mherrcat

Contributing Partner
Good question, and one I would like to know the answer to as well.

My boat has an adjustable length Forespar whisker pole, but I seem to remember seeing somewhere that the adjustable type may not be ideal. My boat does not even have a spinnaker or spinnaker halyard, although the mast appears to be rigged to carry one.
 

sleather

Sustaining Member
It all depends on what sail you want to use. If it's a 100% jib it would be 1.4142 X the "J" assuming the sail would be set at 90* to the center line, wing-on-wing. Using a 150% it gets more complicated. That's why they're usually adjustable, to account for different sails. Dead down wind is really slow. It's faster to broad reach enough to keep the jib full and throw in a few jibes. Like mherrcat, mine came with the adjustable pole and mast eye, but no lift, so I added one(that dang pole is heavy:mad:)
 
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