I need some help guys. I recently upgraded from a Prindle 16 to and Prindle 19 MX. The MX that I bought was a serious racing machine that competed in the GT300 (www.gt300.com), a race from South Padre Island, Texas to Galveston, Texas on open waters over 4 days/legs. But I bought it from a guy that used this boat to learn how to sail on and so neither him or me realized what went where. This came with more blocks and lines than west marine...
So I have the cat setup in my backyard and going through everything. Just need to understand the jib now. So for my first dumb question,

What is the name of the pole that makes the cat look like a unicorn?
and how does that rig?
Ill be posting some pictures of the setup tomorrow with daylight.

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Costa Brava
Prindle 19 MX (La Santa Maria)
Prindle 16 (La Pinta)
Ranger 28 (La Nina)
Corpus Christi, Texas
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Im in corpus christi as well with a Supercat 19x with a self tacking jib. Might be a similar setup. Send me a pm so i can get in touch with you, you are welcome to check out how my self tacking jib is set up.

-jeff

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What is the name of the pole that makes the cat look like a unicorn?
and how does that rig?

spinnaker pole - attaches at 1 end to the center of the front beam (via hardware riveted into beam)
other end of pole attaches via at a set of bridal lines that attach at the bow tips

1 line under the jib pulls the entire pole up to add a "positive"/pre bend in the pole (eliminates the pole from inverting down during use)

a series of additional lines may also be used to further secure the pole - like at the tangs where your bow bridals attach. I don't use those for several reasons. 1. i don't race and can address an issue without losing a race, 2. they add extra gear to get caught in while rigging or capsized and it's already a nightmare with all the lines the spinnaker adds to ... everywhere - i currently don't use my spin, just makes it easier with less gear to fuss with - for the limited use

jdlg

Im in corpus christi as well with a Supercat 19x with a self tacking jib. Might be a similar setup. Send me a pm so i can get in touch with you, you are welcome to check out how my self tacking jib is set up.

-jeff

Would be great to post this data publicly so others can benefit from the knowledge



Edited by MN3 on Oct 03, 2017 - 11:17 AM.

The bag on the pole is to store the star dust ...

Andinista

The bag on the pole is to store the star dust ...

haha! Exactly right!

costabrava

I need some help guys. I recently upgraded from a Prindle 16 to and Prindle 19 MX. The MX that I bought was a serious racing machine...

Welcome costabrava!

You have made quite a jump in performance, the Prindle 19 was a beast to begin with, then Randy Smyth basically created special sails that turned it into the Prindle 19 MX, the Prindle 19 MX was a real handful in a breeze and didn't have a spinnaker.

Now adding a spinnaker to the 19 MX for a 300 mile race makes sense but you might want to get a handle on sailing the boat without it first, or maybe not, go for it, will be fun.

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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Costabrava, track down the original owner and through some pixie dust, aka greenbacks or $$ at him to help you rig the boat.

Also check the Nacra F18, Goodall C2 and Falcon F18 rigging manuals. They will likely help a great deal.

DamonLinkous

You have made quite a jump in performance, the Prindle 19 was a beast to begin with, then Randy Smyth basically created special sails that turned it into the Prindle 19 MX, the Prindle 19 MX was a real handful in a breeze and didn't have a spinnaker.

But self tackers are much less sail area than standard jibs, so the gain in hp will be realized only downwind - spin up

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Now adding a spinnaker to the 19 MX for a 300 mile race makes sense but you might want to get a handle on sailing the boat without it first, or maybe not, go for it, will be fun

+1

We have had a couple on our beach
a good friend purchased the original MX (randy's old boat but different owner), sold it to another local 2 seasons ago

it had a spin but it had no self tacking jib - but had a HUGE overlapping jib

I crewed on the boat a few times (and capsized in shallows coming in very hot to an island for a break) - fast and fun boat

for cruising - the spin is a mixed bag: a TON of additional lines ( laterally everywhere: up your mast, under your tramp, all over your deck, etc), blocks, shackles, parts, sails, etc to maintain and deal with while sailing and off the water handling the boat. Plus windage and weight!


for non racers, we usually suggest they leave the spin at home until they feel the need for it (and have sailed the boat without it until comfortable) - but you will lose some Horse Power down wind ...

They put a fuller on it

for a bunch of reasons:

He's not a racer
he doesn't need more HP on this rocket
he wanted the ability to depower the boat a lot by furling a jib in a storm

dealing with a non furling jib is a PITA if you like to park - you will watch your boat dance around in any wind and even capsize on anchor, or you have to manually drop/furl every time you park



Edited by MN3 on Oct 03, 2017 - 01:46 PM.

I'm back!
Since the last time I wrote I have taken the catamaran out twice. I figured out a way to rig the automatic jib such that i only have to adjust one line from the trampoline. It basically weaves from the jib sheet to a pulley on the automatic jib rail, then to a pully that i put between the two hulls and back to a fairlead at the trampoline. The pictures do a better job of explaining.




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Costa Brava
Prindle 19 MX (La Santa Maria)
Prindle 16 (La Pinta)
Ranger 28 (La Nina)
Corpus Christi, Texas
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This setup worked great and did not bind up any time. This was especially helpful since i solo this cat. I realize that the jib is "smaller" but it still measures six foot at the bottom and very fast anyway. So for me, i do not think an %120 or %150 sail would be better since i would have more adjustments on the trampoline and more power that is not needed.

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Costa Brava
Prindle 19 MX (La Santa Maria)
Prindle 16 (La Pinta)
Ranger 28 (La Nina)
Corpus Christi, Texas
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The way you have the jib sheet running forward to your lower jib bridle doesn’t look like it works very well. When you tension your jib sheet, you are inadvertently pulling the jib tack aft which is changing the profile at the bottom of the jib. Usually a setup like this is done in conjunction with having a spinnaker pole installed. The spinnaker pole holds the jib tack in position and provides compressive resistance against the portion of the jib sheet which runs forward/aft.

sm



Edited by Dogboy on Nov 14, 2017 - 06:21 PM.

This was the original Yo Baby! I thought for sure that boat was rotting in a backyard somewhere. I am tickled pink to see it rigged and on the water. I was the second owner of that boat and the one who created the spin setup and self tacking jib. I purchased the boat from Randy Smyth in 2002 after he won several national championships on it. My wife and I sailed it for many years in Texas and cleaned house in the non-spin fleet. I sold it to a guy in north Houston in 2011. That guy was in way over his head, but insisted on purchasing it. I already had the next boat in the driveway so it had to go.

Randy and I worked on the spin setup and self tacking jib specifically to run it in the GT. We ended up 1st in the open fleet that year through attrition. It was the roughest year the GT has seen in a long time. The open fleet had an ARC22, 3 Carbon20's, 2 I20's, a H18 with a C2 rig, and us. We only finished the first and last leg, but made it out of the surf every morning for a DNF instead of a DNS. Everyone except us was annihilated on the first day for one reason or another (mostly because of the 25kt puffs and 6-8ft rollers). We sailed the rest of the regatta by ourselves in the open class until the last day when pieces of all the Carbons was put together to make one sailable. It was the most energy and work I have ever expended in a 4 day period, absolutely exhausting. My point is, the P19 is one of the toughest boats money can buy.

The good news is the P19mx is a great entry into performance catamarans. The bad news is it drives like a school bus with a kite and breeze. Unfortunately the centerboards and rudders just can't do what they need to do downwind with a kite up. I'd take the spinnaker hardware and put it away for a season or two, that is not the boat to learn how to fly a kite on.

The spin pole is in two parts with a sleeve in the middle, if you don't run a kite, you need the first half of the pole installed with the pelican striker (vertical bar below the bridle attachment) to make the jib work properly. If the original sails and pelican striker/sprit pole came with the boat, you can run the original jib and it sheets to the trampoline grommets just inboard of the centerboards and not use the self tacker. This is the preferred method for sailing non-spin. The MX jib is giant compared to the one used for self tacking.

I'd love to see you at some of our local regattas. PLEASE COME OUT! If nothing else, come out to our beach house in Galveston (next door to Cat Alley) and we can rig it together.

Thanks,
Shannon

Nice offer to help Shannon, Costa, take him up on it. You'll learn a huge amount of useful info, and maybe make a friend. The advice to run the boat without the spin for a season or two seems sage to me. Learning to sail on a boat this powerful is task enough without the additional hardware and experience needed to run the spin. You'll still have plenty of fun without it.

MN3

for cruising - the spin is a mixed bag: a TON of additional lines ( laterally everywhere: up your mast, under your tramp, all over your deck, etc), blocks, shackles, parts, sails, etc to maintain and deal with while sailing and off the water handling the boat. Plus windage and weight!

For those not in Florida, I can attest that despite having lots more stuff on it than I have on my boat, Andrew's boat always looks tight with everything in place. To the contrary, no matter what I do, my boat looks like the Pigpen (of Charlie Brown fame) of the seas.

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Dana, Holly, Emma & Hannah

LJ/Stu's Dart 18 (Sold! :( )
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