Further to the discussion thread on asymmetrics, I guess I should 'fess up
that I also have an A-spin. I've been a little disappointed with it, but I
guess I haven't given it a fair test yet.
I got the A-spin (North) for several reasons:
- I do some single-handed racing. There are 5 point-to-point type races
in the year. Four of them are about 25 miles long and the fifth is 100
miles long. For the simplicity of an A-spin (when you're single-handed) and
the reaching potential (like Steve had in the Mac), I thought an A-spin
would be a good addition. As it turns out, I was able to do only 2 of the 5
races this year, and neither had a reaching leg.
- I participate in the Lake Ontario 300 every two years or so. Like the
name says, a 300 mile race up and down the lake. Further, I participate in
the double-handed division (this was the original concept of the race, but
it's now been extended to fully crewed boats). For the same reasons as in
#1, I thought an A-spin would be a good addition. As it turns out, this
year's L/O 300 was sailed in awful conditions that prompted 25 of the 34
starters to retire. I was one of the quitters and didn't see any spinnaker
action.
- Our club racing is around a course of fixed marks and reaches are often
very tight for a conventional spinnaker, so I though an A-spin would be a
good addition. Unfortunately, the wind tends to be fluky, and legs that
scope out as beam reaches pre-start turn out to be broad reaches when we get
there, etc. The difficulty (for us) of switching between the two types of
spinnakers during a race has made it impractical to use the A-spin for club
races.
- I think I got poor advice from North in one respect. I made it clear
that I was looking for simplicity (esp. in light of the single- and
double-handed racing) and that I would be flying the A-spin off the tack
horn (essentially treating it like an advanced DRS). North didn't warn me
to expect a big performance difference between doing that and using the
pole. Based on my limited experience flying it off the tack horn, I'd have
to guess that using the pole would lead to massively better performance.
But this would defeat the simplicity angle for me. Catch 22!
- Finally, I thought I would use the A-spin in some cruising situations.
Currently, however, I don't do any cruising.
As noted, the A-spin has been a disappointment in the short term, but I'm
still hoping it proves useful in the longer term in some of the specialty
situations I've described.
Klaus Schaefer
Jersey Girl
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Haislet [mailto:shaislet@speedsite.com]
Sent: September 18, 2002 2:27 PM
To: olson911 SailPix.com
Subject: Re: Fore guy and tack line rigging&In-Reply-To=<000c01c25f10$7
96e9180$47d...
On a long distance reaching leg, it has been wonderful. We used it on the
Mac race this year nearly 1/2 way up. Where it has been beneficial on the
can races has been the Olympic course with where we reach on the 2nd and 3rd
legs, from there it's been symmetrical. The shortage of crew has been an
issue in the Chicago area over last 2 years. Which has really pushed us
toward how to simplify.
The sail maker would agree that's it not a sail for can racing but again I
think its a matter that lends itself to getting used to.
Steve
On 9/18/02 11:08 AM, "Richard Canning" <rcanning@dimeo.com> wrote:
I crewed on and drove an O'Day 27 with an asymmetrical kite this past
season. The angles are weird and the mast head boats come roaring right down
the middle. At one point I was not heading for the mark so we gibed the main
and went wing on wing with no pole to get to the mark and then gibed onto a
reach. We only had four people on the boat with little experience. I would
say I would not go in that direction unless I was very short on crew. We
normally carry 8 experienced people and sometimes race with 6.
Rich Canning
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Received on Wed Sep 18 13:56:54 2002
