Spinnaker sock trial run

[Kenneth K]

The last time I raised a spinnaker was in 1996 on my San Juan 21. I bought a used Spinnaker from Bacon's last year for my E323. It was about the right size and I liked that it came with a sock.

I've never used a sock before so I gave it a trial run today--make sure I fed the sail through correctly and understood how the lines work, etc. I had doubts that a sock could douse a flying spinnaker, but from the trial run it seemed to do just fine.



While lowering to remove it, the sock-hoisting lines got caught in the jib headboard, so I had to re-hoist before I could lower it.

All in all, I'm pretty excited about putting it into use.

 

[RCsailfast]

Love using a sock. Only wish our vintage asymmetrical was different colors. However when the wind picks up it is so easy to douse. No more risking dislocated shoulders pulling in a corner

 

[bigd14]

We just tried out ours for the first time last week too! I made one from the sail rite website instructions. Worked pretty well, with a little binding on the head of the sail. Now I am struggling with figuring out how to keep the tack line from fouling on the pulpit.

*Edit: I’ll fix the photos when I can get to my laptop, sorry

 

[Kenneth K]

I made one from the sail rite website instructions.

Pretty cool that you made your own sock!
I sure dont like the pricing on the new ones. I got a used spinnaker + sock + sailbag from Bacon's for about $300 though.

Who made your "E" sail?

 

[bigd14]

Forgot to rotate photos and I missed my edit window. Here they are. The "E" sail was made by Esprit, and appears to be fairly old, but in great condition. Purchased from member tclark here. Works great so far, we are figuring out how to use it! The sock was very easy to construct, with some materials purchased from Sailrite and the local fabric store. Just a normal sewing machine which handled it reasonably well. Total cost around $100. http://www.sailrite.com/PDF/Spinnaker_Sock_Instructions.pdf