After having our spinnaker explode of Afterburner during the Ensenada race last week (see attached image), the owner will now be ordering a new kite and is considering a furler type spinnaker.
Why aren't beach cat-like snuffer systems appearing on larger multis and mono's? On Afterburner, it always amazes me how much time/crew effort it takes to setup/deploy the spinnaker and nearly as much time/effort to drop it. Keep thinking a snuffer (or perhaps a drum-type roller like on the M20) would be a breakthrough.
Does anyone know the largest sails ever snuffed?
Mike.
My ARC 22 has a 615sqft spin. According to Haberman/Roberts the larger spins coating really take a beating going into a snuffer. I have a roller furling spin from GMSails that works pretty well and has good shape. Furling this 450 sqft spin is a dream compared to jamming a chute into a bag.
thom
I have seen snuffers that are like big socks that start at the top of the mast and slide down, I would think that big boats do not use snuffers because they have stuffers (spare crew that can stand up front). It would not take much to tie a bag to the front cross bar and a few lines through the spin (the other reason a large spin might not stuff) and pull the spin into the bag. You might be on the frontier, go for it. 
I think there is one idea for large spin "snuffing".
Picture this: A snuffing line is rigged thru the chute and hangs off the foot. With a 2:1 or 3:1 set-up off the boom for purchase. When ready for a douse, head down, main out, and the line is then pulled, collapsing the chut, and nicely pulling it down under the protection of the main, under the boom, on the tramp.
That should be a nice set-up. We were talking about doing something like that on a formula 40.
What do you all you salts think?