I just bought an FX one. I've never ran a spinnaker before. Would someone be so kind as to walk me through the steps of hoisting and dousing a spinnaker? Like at what points do you raise it? Rounding A mark??? How do you depower to bring it back in? I really have almost no idea what I'm getting into. My only exposer to a spinnaker was on a friends HC-18 last year, and we only hoisted it once for a long run back to the beach. Thanks for the help.
OK, here goes.
When to hoist, you need some experience to know what angles in what wind you can sail. Just go out with a compass and find out what angles you can sail in what winds.
Hoisting.
As you are single handed you need to bear off a fair amount to manage this in any real breeze.
1, Bear off to the appropiate point. Not DDW but not far off it.
2, Downhall off, rotation off; Plates up a little; Some also dump the traveller and all let SOME mainsheet off.
3, Either drop tiller extension or kneel down, then put the tiller on your legs and then carefully sit on the tiller resting on your legs - this will allow you to steer a little.
4, Pull like crazy on the hoist (I think the FX1 is usually single string). If not you can do the out before the up or after - depends onm what works best for you.
5, When the kite is up, (traveller back in if you dumped it), sheet in, head up and get a hull starting to fly and then (probably) out on the wire; but opinion differes on wiring down wind.
Drop.
1, Bear off a bit, but not as much as for the hoist unless it is very windy
2, I sit or stand on the spi sheets to stop them going around the bows, some do not do this.
3, Trip kite and pull down PQD, letting you foot off the sheet as it goes tight if you were standing on it
4, You boat may start to round up as you do this, keep the mainsheet handy in case you need to dump it.
5, Plates back down, Downhaul and mast rotation back on.
The above is a general guide, in light winds you can take a few more risks and hoist while sailing at higher angles and drop later and higher; you can also leave the plates down (or move them later).
Rotation off? Does this mean let the mast rotate?
Yes, You want it off so the mast spanner points along the front beam (roughly).