Additional Spinnaker Sheet Blocks

[Paul White]

One of the issues with the standard way of rigging the spinnaker sheet is that the sheet is behind you and also really easy to get under your feet and to sit on.

If you tie two small blocks to the Ama arms where they meet the hull and feed the sheet from the rear block, through the new forward block on one side, across the cockpit and then to the new block on the other side and back to the other rear sheet this gives a number of advantages:

1. It reduces the strain on the hands since the sheet wraps around the ratchet block  further.
2. You’re less inclined to sit or stand on the sheet
3. The spinnaker sheet is situated in front of you next to the the daggerboard and jib sheet cleats so it makes gybing better (facing forward) and faster (as all the sheet adjustments are in front).
4. You only have to remember to pull on the sheet from the opposite forward block as you gybe and you can drop any excess old sheet without treading or sitting on it.

Requirements

• 2x Ronstan RF35101  Series 30 Orbit blocks (or similar)
• 1m x 4mm or 5mm Dyneema core rope to tie blocks to Ama arms. Tie it around the arm twice so it won’t slide off the arm during transport.
• 14m of 8-9mm sheet rope (The cheap 16 strand diamond braided polyester rope in 30m lengths available from hardware stores works well and is water repellent). Adjust the length to suit once you have tested your installation. You want it so that the sheets can lay on the tramp when the kite is furled.

Installation

Tie the blocks to the front ama arms where they meet the deck. They need to be tied loose enough so that when the sheet is under load the blocks are above the edge of the deck to avoid wear on the sheet.

 

• This topic was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by Paul White.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by Paul White.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by Paul White.

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