I came up with a 1:2 spinnaker dousing rig over the winter. The main idea was to provide a way to leave part of the dousing line threaded in order to speed up rigging time. It also helps collapse the sail quickly - I had some complete beginners on the boat this spring douse smoothly with no problems. The rig uses a small line that is attached at the top and bottom grommets and runs through a small
kite block
. The main spinnaker halyard/dousing loop attaches to the kite block, runs through a cheek block under the rear beam, through a turning block forward, and up through a grommet in the tramp as usual. It gives you 1:2 advantage until the spinnaker is collapsed, and then 1:1 while stuffing.
If anyone is interested, I'll try to provide some diagrams/pix. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this has been done before.
I have an end-pole hoop, so I'm not absolutely certain this will work with a mid-pole hoop (because of the ratio of the distance between grommets to the length of the trampoline), but I suspect it will.
I'd be interested in how you did this. Some drawings or pictures would help.
Okay, so here's a crude schematic. The blue line is attached to the spinnaker top and bottom grommets and runs through the kite block. The black line is the rest of the halyard/dousing line and it is tied to the kite block.
![[Linked Image]](http://home.att.net/~jeffrey.becker/Tiger/spindousing.png)
This picture shows the attached part of the line sticking out of the end of the spinnaker sock, and the kite block.
![[Linked Image]](http://home.att.net/~jeffrey.becker/Tiger/SpinSockEnd.jpg)
This picture shows the bottom spinnaker patch. It's set up so one side of the line runs through the grommet, and the other side is attached (using a stopper ball).
![[Linked Image]](http://home.att.net/~jeffrey.becker/Tiger/SpinBottomPatchSide1.jpg)
This shows the modified stopper ball on the other side of the bottom patch. I enlarged the existing hole in the stopper ball and drilled a second hole at an angle to tie off the fixed end of the line. The remainder of this line is standard with one stopper ball used as a spacer one foot from the top, and another at the top grommet to hold the top end of the line.
![[Linked Image]](http://home.att.net/~jeffrey.becker/Tiger/SpinBottomPatchSide2.jpg)
Because the blue line in these pictures isn't handled, it can be quite small. It should be a very flexible line for running through the small kite block. I'm using a 1/8" single-braid.
how is it for hoisting?
Hoisting feels the same as before - no noticable difference between the standard rig I had before and the 1:2 rig.
I'm think that this could be done even simpler with a 3 patch setup. Just splice the end of the retrieval line in two tales and have both of them go through the middle patch and end on the patches higher and lower in the sail.
Maybe worth a try
Wouter
Interesting idea. I'm happy with my current setup for now, but will probably switch to a 3 patch/mid-pole setup in the future. If anyone tries this, please let us know how it goes.