Jiffy Jibe© - Ho!
by Gene & Cathy Ferguson
© Copyright 2002

Spinnaker

It all started at the 2001 Nationals in Florida. I noticed that no matter what we did, boats kept passing us downwind in the Genoa class. I also noticed that most of them had two and sometimes three people aboard. I wondered if the four of us on our boat could be the cause of our slower downwind progress.

We decided to test the theory by changing to just Cathy and me. Not a problem in the Genoa class, but what would we do about the Spinnaker? Give up racing Spinnaker — I don’t think so. But we had made the commitment so now something had to be done to make a 5’2” woman competitive on the foredeck and in the cockpit at the same time.

I began to think of what could be done to make the jibe easier. I remembered that the big boats have two sheets to each clue of the spinnaker. One is a lazy sheet and is used in a dip pole jibe configuration. How could this be configured to work without a foredeck person to release the pole from one and attach to the other and at the same time dip the pole?

After many sleepless nights and hours of visualizing, the concept was clear. Who said the sheet and guy must be fixed to the end of the pole. Why not make it adjustable so that it could be released or attached from the cockpit. Thus was born Cathy’s “Jiffy Jibe”.

A trip to the scrap metal place produced a section of 1 ¾” aluminum tubing for the main body of the “Jiffy Jibe” pole. A PVC end cap was added and two holes drilled in it for deck bushings with stainless steel inserts to be inserted in the holes. This is for the 3/16” “pole guy lines” (A) to run through and out the other end. The pole guy lines (A) go through a turning block (H) at the mast ring (K), down the mast and then back to the cockpit. This enables the pole outer end to be lowered or raised without adjusting the tension on the pole guy line (A). The pole guy lines (A) have a small ring (G) attached to the business end of the line, which is for the Spinnaker sheets to pass through. This allows the pole to be attached or unattached from the Spinnaker sheets.

Launching the Spinnaker

  1. Driver pulls the Spinnaker guy line tight. This is tied to the Spinnaker clue and run around the forestay and back to the starboard Spinnaker sheet turning block.

  2. Crew pulls the pole guy line (A) to bring the pole end out away from the mast and to the Spinnaker guy. The rings at the end of the pole guy lines (A) have the Spinnaker sheets run through them and they are 36 feet long. Long enough to go from the pole end back to behind the Genoa car on the leeward side of the boat.

  3. Crew raises the pole outer end with the pole topping lift (B).

  4. Crew slides the pole car (C) down into position with the pole car lines (D).

  5. Crew adjusts pole downhaul (foreguy) (E) to keep pole end from rising too high.

  6. Crew readjusts the pole guy line (A) to bring the Spinnaker guy line to the end of the pole.

  7. Driver pulls the Spinnaker guy to sneak the Spinnaker out behind the Genoa while the crew cleats the Spinnaker sheet at the proper length and gets the Spinnaker halyard ready for the driver to hoist.

  8. Driver hoists Spinnaker while rounding the weather mark and driving with tiller between knees.

  9. Crew pulls the Spinnaker guy to the proper position for flying.

  10. When Spinnaker is up the driver takes the Spinnaker guy and sheet to fly the spinnaker while the crew goes forward and drops and stows the Genoa.

It is very important to keep the pole end clip in a vertical position on the car ring. Therefore the two clips (F) with the line run through at each end are positioned on each side of the pole end. When the pole car lines (D) are pulled it prevents the pole end from twisting and hanging up.

Jibing the Spinnaker

  1. Driver jibes the main and takes the Spinnaker sheet and guy.

  2. Crew releases the pole topping lift (B) to dip the pole. Don’t let the pole dip any lower than to just clear the forestay.

  3. Crew releases the pole guy line (A), which releases the Spinnaker guy from the pole and it becomes the new sheet.

  4. Crew pulls in the lazy pole guy line (A), which pulls the opposite Spinnaker sheet in to the pole end and it becomes the new Spinnaker guy.

  5. Crew raises the pole outer end with the pole topping lift (B). on the opposite jibe.

  6. Crew takes Spinnaker new sheet and guy to fly the Spinnaker

Dousing the Spinnaker

  1. Driver takes the Spinnaker sheet and guy.

  2. Crew hoists the Genoa.

  3. Crew releases the pole topping lift (B).

  4. Crew releases the pole guy line (A).

  5. Crew raises the pole car (C) with the pole car line (D).

  6. Crew pulls the pole downhaul (foreguy) (E) to bring the pole back to the mast.

  7. Driver free flies the Spinnaker until the pole is stowed.

  8. Crew douses the spinnaker on the port side so it will be on the proper side for the next launch. Round the leeward mark.

  9. Driver pulls in the Genoa sheet and cleats it in preparation for the mark rounding.

  10. Driver trims Main as the mark is rounded.

  11. Crew readjusts Genoa and cleans up boat in preparation for the weather leg.

If you observe the photo on the front cover, you will note all the spaghetti on the Spinnaker pole of 160. However 752 has the conventional Spinnaker pole with the bridal for the topping lift and downhaul (foreguy).

Quite a simple operation, right? Wrong, it takes practice and timing and lots of patience in the beginning until all the steps become second nature. But it works and it works well. Surprisingly, the stronger the wind, the better it works. Now if I could just find a way to double our weight in heavy air — oh well, I guess some things just can’t be overcome. We just have to learn to change sails sooner.

After seeing how this new system worked, it was time to experiment with the same method of jibing with the Genoa.

Genoa

However that proved to be a little more difficult due to the fact that the pole had to turn 180° when moving the Genoa from one side to the other without disconnecting the pole from the Genoa sheet. The answer was to make the mast end of the pole swivel so that the pole could make the turn without being disconnected from the mast ring. This was accomplished by cutting the pole and inserting a bearing inside the pole so that the mast end could turn 360°. This allows the pole to turn 180° during the jib and lets the mast end of the pole remain attached to the ring without turning.

Now all we needed to do was slide the car up the track on the mast and pull the Genoa across to the other side and then pull the car back down the track to the designated position.

This has proved to be a very effective procedure for jibing with two people. The only thing that needs to be observed is keeping the car from traveling too high on the track. It needs to stop when the outer end of the pole will just clear the forestay. This is accomplished by a stopper knot in the line that lowers the car. If you let the car slide too high, the outer end of the pole will drop to the deck and prevent the Genoa clue from crossing to the opposite side for the jibe.

Another thing that is a must is to be sure that the mast end of the pole can not twist and get caught on the side of the car ring. This is accomplished by a fixture on the ring (F) to keep the end of the pole from going to the side of the ring and in a vertical position.

The procedure for setting the pole and jibing is as follows.

Starting down wind

  1. While rounding the weather mark, driver eases Genoa sheet and crew clips pole to pigtail between Genoa and sheets.

  2. After rounding, driver eases Genoa sheet and crew attaches pole to mast ring.

  3. Driver adjusts Main and Genoa.

  4. Crew takes position at bow.

Jibing down wind

  1. Crew returns to cockpit for jibe.

  2. Driver eases Genoa sheet as crew pulls Genoa car up the mast track.

  3. Driver pulls sheet back as car goes up track.

  4. When car is all the way up driver pulls the lazy sheet to bring the clue across the bow of the boat.

  5. Crew immediately pulls the car down when the clue clears the bow pulpit on the opposite side.

  6. Driver readjusts the new Genoa sheet to the proper down wind position.

  7. Crew jibes the main and then goes back to the bow position.

Leeward rounding

  1. Crew removes the pole from mast and then from Genoa clue.

  2. Driver readjusts Genoa sheet to free fly wing on wing while crew returns to cockpit with pole.

  3. As mark is rounded crew adjusts Genoa sheet and driver adjusts Main in preparation for sailing to the weather mark.

This project is relatively inexpensive and can be done in one weekend.

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Last Updated: 10/20/2006